形训与非形训辨析

The discrimination on Chinese character exegesis

形训是训诂方法中的一种重要手段,但并不是所有从拆分字形入手的方法都可称为形训,有些是文化学上的训释或者完全错误的训释。训诂学形训、文化学训释、错误训释三者之间存在差异,训诂学形训是将汉字追本溯源后,用科学的文字学理论分析得出词义的训诂方法,而文化学训释、错误训释则是望文生义,只是根据当前的汉字形体和字义进行分析,具有局限性,属于非形训。正确的形训应结合汉字演变过程探究最初字形和造字本意,而不是局限于当前字形的线条笔画和引申义进行解释。

"Chinese character exegesis" is an important method of exegesis, but not all methods of disassembling Chinese characters can be called the correct one. Some of them are cultural explanations or completely wrong explanations. There are differences between exegetical explanations, cultural explanations, and wrong explanations: exegetical one is to trace the source of Chinese characters, and to analyze the method of exegesis with scientific theory, while cultural explanations and wrong explanations analyze the characters according to the current Chinese characters and meanings, which have limitations and do not belong to "Chinese character exegesis". So the correct method to analyze Chinese characters is exploring the original form of Chinese characters, instead of being limited to the line drawings and extended meaning of the current glyph.