从仲爯父簋铭看周代宗法

On the Zongfa(Patriarchal Clan System)Represented by the Inscriptions on Zhongchengfu Gui Vessel

仲爯父簋器铭“南申伯大宰仲爯父”之“伯”表示仲爯父的宗子身份,此处“伯”意即族长,与排行仲并不矛盾。周代“伯”具有族长、嫡长子两重含义,仲爯父簋铭表明,周代金文中称“伯”的宗子,其行第未必一定是嫡长,而行第不是“伯”的贵族,未必一定是小宗。嫡长子继承制是周代宗法的基础,在当时没有被严格执行。

This article presents a new explanation for the term‘bo’in the first line of the Zhongchengfu gui(仲爯父簋)inscriptions.This paper suggests that this term is used to indicate a clan leader,which can be used together with the term zhong to indicate his birth order(i.e.,the second son in the family).Therefore,this paper suggests that bo has two layers of meaning:one is related to the honorific name as a clan leader,and the other one stands for the first-born legitimate son in the Zhou Dynasty.This new interpretation reveals that the clan leader might not have been necessarily taken by the first-born legitimate son,and vice versa.In other words,the system of agnatic primogeniture might not have been strictly implemented in that time.