「南斗」一詞沿流探討

由於中國傳統信仰文化中的南斗崇拜信仰常與北斗崇拜信仰連在一起，因此一般認為「南斗」一詞的形成也應該跟「北斗」一詞一樣地古老。本文試圖由歷代史書中的記載來瞭解「南斗」這個辭彙成形的脈絡，透過自《史記》起到隋代的史書分析發現：一、「南斗」一詞可能源起於兩漢期間，但僅為靈台中負責天象紀錄的官吏所使用，其目的是為了不讓斗宿與中宮北斗有搞混的機會；二、民間開始流通「南斗」一詞的使用，肯定不會晚於東晉中期到南北朝成形初期之間，但絕非「興於兩漢」。

關鍵字

南斗；天文志；律曆志；星斗崇拜

並列摘要

Because the worship of stars ”Nan-Dou” is always associated with the worship of stars ”Bei-Dou” in the Chinese religious culture, it is believed that the formation of the words ”Nan-Dou” is as old as the words ”Bei-Dou”. In this article, we attempt to understand the course of the formation of the words ”Nan-Dou”. According to the analysis of the historical records until Sui Dynasty, we discover that: (i) the words ”Nan-Dou” seem to start during Liang-Han Dynasty by the official in Ling-Tai(靈台) which is in charge of the records of astronomical phenomenon, and its purpose is supposed to prevent that someone confused ”Dou-Xiu” with ”Zhong-Gong Bei-Dou” ; (ii) The words ”Nan-Dou” is used in non-governmental circles no later than the period between the middle of Eastern Jin Dynasty and the starting of Southern and Northern Dynasties, but not popular in Liang-Han Dynasty”.