伯■鼎铭“極”字校释与古極国探微

Interpretation of the‘Ji’Character in the Inscriptions of the Bochen Ding Bronze Tripod and a Discussion on the Ancient Ji State

伯■鼎铭"■侯""侯于■"之"■"从■、亙声,学界一般误亙为亘,故误释"■"为韩、垣、■之声"亙"与亟或亟声字音近,可读为"極"。伯■鼎铭中的極国是西周姬姓古国,地望在今山东省济宁市鱼台县,灭于公元前721年,始封则在周初平定三监东夷之乱后。

The ’ji’ character of the terms ’ji hou’ and ’hou yu ji’ on the bochen ding tripod follows the phonetic syllables of the ‘■’ and ‘ 亙 ’. The ‘ 亙 ’ is often mistaken as ‘ 亘 ’ by researchers and the character ’■’ is mistakenly read as ‘ 韩 ’, ‘ 垣 ’, ‘■’ or ‘■ ’. The ‘ 亙 ’ syllable of the ’■’ is phonetically close to ‘ji 亟 ’ and ’■’ should therefore be read the same as ‘ji 極 ’. The Ji( 極) State appearing in the inscriptions of the bochen ding tripod belonged to one of the ji-lineage states during the Western Zhou Dynasty. It was situated in the present Yutai county, Jining city of Shandong province. The state was first founded during the early Western Zhou after the riot of the Sanjian and Dongyi, was extirpated in 721 BC.