“芝兰”考论

A Study about“Zhilan”

先秦汉魏等早期文献中的“芝兰”皆应写作“芷兰”,“芝兰之室”“芝兰玉树”等典故中的“芝兰”亦应写作“芷兰”。“芝兰”指白芷和兰草,而非灵芝与兰草。后世人们逐渐将“芝兰”误解成了灵芝和兰草。秦汉时“芷兰”因形近而误为“芝兰”。魏晋时“芝兰”误解成灵芝和兰草更多。唐诗中大量描写灵芝芳香,这是“芝兰”误解加深的重要标志。宋元以后,“芝兰”指灵芝和兰草已经约定俗成,再与白芷无涉。

Zhilan(芝兰)should be written as Zhilan(芷兰)in the early literature of the pre Qin,Han and Wei dynasties,as well as in the allusions such as“Zhilan's Room”and“Zhilan Yushu”.It refers to angelica dahurian and orchid,rather than ganoderma lucidum and orchid.Later people gradually misunderstood it as ganoderma lucidum and orchid.In Qin and Han Dynasties,it was mistakenly called“Zhilan”(芝兰)because of their similar shapes.In the Wei and Jin Dynasties,there were more evidence of such misunderstandings.There are a lot of descriptions of ganoderma fragrance in Tang poetry,which is an important evidence of this kind of misunderstanding.After the Song and Yuan Dynasties,using“Zhilan”(芝兰)to refer the combination of Ganoderma lucidum and orchid has been established by convention,and it has nothing to do with angelica dahurica anymore.