《文心雕龙·颂赞》中的“颂”“诵”之辨

The distinction between“song(eulogy)”and“song(recitation)”in The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons

秦汉之际,“颂”逐渐脱离宗教祭祀的诵词体系成为一种独立的文体,之后更是成为了“风雅颂”之“颂”体的特称。“颂”的发展,并非是一种由简至繁的不断增义的过程,“容”、“诵”等释字也不应被看做是“颂”的本字。“颂”义流变应是一个由一般到特殊,被不断分解、代替的过程。“颂”本义所代表的崇高的政治性和神圣性,注定它只能被一步步拉下神坛。从唐代开始,“颂”与“诵”之义已混淆不分,但“颂”字仍被使用,而清代的传世文献中“颂”之本义几乎不存,以至于人们多以“诵”代“颂”、“颂诵本通”。

During the Qin and Han Dynasties,“song”gradually separated from sacrificial ceremony and became an independent literary style,and later became the specific referencetothe“song”of“FengYaSong”(three genres in the Book of Songs).The development of“song”is not a process of increasing meaning from simple to complex.In the same time,“Rong(virtue)”and“song(recitation)”should not be regarded as the original characters of“song”.The evolution of the meaning of“song”should be a process from general to special,which is constantly decomposed and replaced.Because of the political nature and sacredness contained in the original meaning of“song(eulogy)”,it is doomed to be pulled down from the altar step by step.Since the Tang Dynasty,the meanings of“song(eulogy)”and“song(recitation)”have been confused,but the word“song(eulogy)”is still used,and the original meaning of“song(eulogy)”in the literature of Qing Dynasty almost does not exist,so that people often use“song(recitation)”instead of“song(eulogy)”.