从卜辞“来”“麦”谈殷商小麦的推广种植

Wheat Cultivation in Yin-shang Dynasty through the Oracle"Lai"(来)and"Mai"(麦)

甲骨文中,"来""麦"二字皆是相对小麦而言,其中,"来"指成熟后可供收获的小麦,"麦"则指正在田间生长的小麦,是一种异体专用现象。通过对甲骨文中所见"告麦""月一正曰食麦""登来""白来"等刻辞的考证,可以发现:殷商时期是中原地区小麦推广种植的关键时间节点,殷商王朝在这一历史进程中发挥了极为重要的作用;在中原地区推广种植的小麦为冬小麦,这是因为小麦的供给时间能够在固有农业结构中发挥接绝继乏的作用;小麦最终进入祭品行列,说明殷商王朝在中原地区推广种植小麦的行为最终获得成功。此外,殷人更加青睐白皮小麦,与传世文献反映的周人青睐红皮小麦有所不同,揭示出中原地区与关中地区在小麦种植的目的上存在一定差异。

The characters"Lai"and"Mai"in the oracle bone script refer to wheat,in which"Lai"refers to wheat that can be harvested when it is ripe and"Mai"refers to wheat that is growing in the field.Based on the textual research of the inscriptions,such as"Gao Mai"(告麦),"Yue Yi Zheng Yue Shi Mai"(月一正日食麦),"Deng Lai"(登来)and"Bai Lai"(白来).It can be found that the Yin-Shang Period was the key time nodes for promoting the planting of wheat in the central plains,and they played an extremely important role in this historical process.The wheat cultivated in the central Plains is winter wheat,which is based on the fact that the supply time of wheat can play a role in the inherent agricultural structure.Judging from the fact that wheat was finally included in the list of sacrificial offerings,the promotion of wheat planting in the Central Plains of the Yin-Shang Period was undoubtedly successful.At the same time,the preference of the Yin-Shang to"Bai Lai"and the preference of the Zhou people to"Hong Lai"(红来)reflected in the handed down documents revealed that there were certain differences in the purpose of wheat cultivation between the central plains and Guanzhong regions.