明太祖“易名史”考——兼议明朝开国史料的使用问题

The History of Changing Name of Emperor Taizu of Ming:On the Use of Historical Data about the Founding Ming Dynasty

明朝国史仅记明太祖“讳元璋”,而太祖旧撰之《朱氏世德碑》,透露了他“重八”的初名。但在各种明清典籍中,重八之名从未与太祖直接挂钩,也不知他何时更改雅讳。然而“元璋”的御名定于明朝建国前夕,是可以考知的。明代后期出现了几个太祖的“曾用名”,从其出现的时代以及相关记载的史源关系上考察,可知:“兴宗”之名当存疑,“元龍”之名不可信;这些名字可能皆出自民间想象,是民众参与明太祖形象构建的产物。对明太祖“易名史”的考察,引出了明初史料的可信性问题,对于较为特殊的明朝开国史料,应放在相关的史料系统中,梳理其源流关系,以断其真伪,不可不加考辨地使用。

The national history of the Ming Dynasty only recorded that Ming Taizu’s name is“Yuanzhang”,while the Zhu’s Shide Stele,written by Taizu,revealed his original name“Chongba”which had never been directly linked to Taizu in books of Ming and Qing,and it didn’t known when he changed to“Yuanzhang”.However,the name of“Yuanzhang”was set on the eve of the founding Ming Dynasty,which can be verified.There are Several“former names”of Taizu appeared in the late Ming Dynasty.The name of“Xingzong”should be in doubt,and the“Yuanlong”is unbelievable.These names come from folk tradition and are the product of people’s participation in the construction of the images of Taizu.A research on the history of changing name of Emperor Taizu’s raises questions about the credibility of historical data in the early Ming Dynasty.The historical data of the founding Ming Dynasty is special,and should be research carefully.