寒瓜与西瓜辨析--“寒瓜”概念的传承、演变和认知

Is Han’gua Watermelon:Inheritance,Evolution and Cognition of the Concept of"Han’gua"

寒瓜所指经历了一个漫长的历史演变过程,起先表示我国古已有之的一个甜瓜品种,西瓜传入中土之后,又成为其别称之一。本文通过梳理相关文献资料,可以明确:最初的寒瓜是一种于深秋至初冬成熟的甜瓜,在中国境内普遍分布。南宋(金)时期,西瓜开始在中国南北各地广泛传播,元代更是实现了快速发展,寒瓜逐渐成为西瓜的代称或雅称。明朝中后期,寒瓜一称最终成为西瓜的别名。西瓜之性甘寒,有消暑解渴等多种功效,这是其取代原有寒瓜而得以冠名的最主要原因。然而,到了清至民国时期,寒瓜之名已非独指西瓜,在某些地区又成为冬瓜、南瓜等瓜类作物的别称,有时还被用来泛指秋瓜。但是,此时寒瓜所指仍主要是西瓜。而今,作为西瓜别名的寒瓜已经很少使用,通常只会出现在一些特殊的情境之下。

The term"Han’gua"has experienced a long historical evolution.It was a melon variety that existed in ancient China at first.Han’gua became one of its nicknames after watermelon was introduced into China.By combing the relevant literature,it can be made clear that the original Han’gua was a kind of melon that matured in late autumn to early winter and was widely spread in China.During the Southern Song Dynasty(the Jin Dynasty),watermelons began spreading widely throughout the north and south of China,and it achieved rapid development in the Yuan Dynasty.Han’gua gradually became another name or elegant name of watermelon.In the middle and late Ming Dynasties,the Han’gua eventually became an alias for watermelons.The nature of Watermelon is sweet and cold,so there are a variety of effects of watermelon such as heat quenching thirst,which is the most important reason for its replacement of the original name of Han’gua.However,in the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China,the name of the Han’gua not only referred to watermelon,but in some areas became Chinese waxgourd,pumpkin and other melon crops,and sometimes was used to refer to autumn melons.Nonetheless,Han'gua referred mainly to watermelon at this time.Today,Han'gua,which is alias for watermelons,is rarely used and usually appears only in some special situations.