“卞”字构形补议

Complementary Notes on the Graphic Shape of"bian"

“卞”“弁”均是晚出的字形。有学者将“卞”字的形体与战国楚文字中出现的“鞭”之古文“■”一类形体相联系,认为“卞”由这类字形的分化省简而来,也有学者认为“卞”为“弁”之俗体或省文。文章通过梳理相关字形,认为“卞”形出现于东汉前后,楚简中的“■”类字形与后世“卞”的字形并无关联,只是偶然造成的局部同形而已。而“弁”形的出现则要晚至约后赵时期,是隶书楷化的结果。隶、楷书中的“卞”与“弁”字,应均由早期隶书中的“■”形分化演变而来。

The present shapes of both the characters"卞"and"弃"are lately emerging forms.Some scholars have associated the form of the character"卞"with the ancient forms of the character"鞭"that occurred in the Chu writing system during the Warring States period,speculating that""was derived from the simplification of these types of characters.Other scholars believe that""is a vulgar form or abbreviation of"弁".This article reviews related character shapes and concludes that the shape of"卞"appeared around the Eastern Han Dynasty.The"■"character shapes in the Chu bamboo slips have no connection to the more recent"卞"character shape and they just resemble each other in some parts by chance.The appearance of the"弁"shape was as late as the late Zhao period,and was the result of the regularization of the clerical script.The"卞"and"弃"characters in clerical and regular scripts should both have evolved from the early"■"shape in the clerical script.