南朝、北朝与南北朝——兼论中国古代史学科术语的时空界定问题

“Southern Dynasties”,“Northern Dynasties” and “Northern and Southern Dynasties”——The Time-Space Definition of Ancient Chinese History Terms

南朝与北朝都是在晋隋之间南、北各政权互不承认对方正统地位的背景下产生的辞令,最初仅用以称谓敌对的某个政权。李延寿编撰《南史》与《北史》时将南朝与北朝分别拓展成总括南方宋、齐、梁、陈诸朝与北方魏、齐、周、隋诸朝的概念,此后二词逐渐固化成历史研究中的学科术语。不过,当此二词组合成南北朝之词时,上下时限的不相契合便会给表述造成不便。由于习惯使然,这样的困惑实难解脱。

The terms of'Southern dynasties'and'Northern dynasties'came into being during Jin to Sui dynasty,for the reason that northern and southern governments did not give diplomatic recognition to each other. So,these terms were firstly used to represent some hostile regimes. In the Nanshi and Beishi written by Li Yanshou,the author expanded Southern dynasties to Song,Qi,Liang and Chen dynasties,and Northern dynasties to the Wei,Qi,Zhou and Sui dynasties. Since then,the two words gradually solidified into historical terms. However,it will lead to inconvenience in expression when the two words merge into'Northern and Southern dynasties',because the upper and lower time limit cannot fit each other. As to the habit,such confusion is difficult to escape.