说北白鹅墓地“太保”——兼谈宪鼎铭文

On the"tai bao"of the Beibai'e cemetery:A discussion on the inscriptions of the Xian ding tripod

西周时期,“太保”是召公的生称,也用作召公家族的族名。山西北白鹅墓地出土铜器铭文中的“太保”是族名。与之类似,梁山七器之一的宪鼎铭文中的“太保”也应该是族名,不可与正文连读。

During the Western Zhou period,‘taibao’was used to call the Duke of Shao when he was alive but also used for the name of the clan of the duke’s family.According to this,the‘taibao’phrase in the inscriptions on the bronze vessels discovered at the Beibai’e cemetery in Shanxi province should be also to refer to the name of the clan.Similar to this,the‘taibao’phrase occurring in the inscriptions of the Xian ding tripod,one of the seven bronze vessels of Liangshan,should be also the name of the clan.It cannot be read together with the main text of the inscriptions.