- 期刊
認識臺灣舊地名的重要性－從雲林縣「土庫」鎮的沿革史談起
The Significance of Recognizing the Old Names of Taiwan's Districts-A Study of the History and Development of Tuku Town, Yuanlin County
摘要
臺灣一地，因歷經荷西、明鄭、清領及日據等時代的政權更迭，部分地名亦隨之發生變化，因此為了解一地的歷史沿革、民情、風俗等，若能從追溯研究舊地名著手，則必能收到事半功倍的效果。地名，常記錄一地之人文地理及人類活動歷史的發展軌跡，因此稱地名為「地理的化石」或「歷史的代言者」，洵非過當。就以雲林縣「土庫」鎮之地名為例，「土庫」在荷據時代稱「Docowang」（或Dacowang），但為何又稱之為猴悶「Chaumul」（或Goumol），勢又須與同為南島語族的馬來語解讀不可，否則是無法解開其具相同的涵義。原來「Docowang」（土庫）與「Chaumul」（猴悶）二者在南島語之涵義，皆有「牛稠、牛欄、牛寮」之義，在地理上，又因「土庫」地處虎尾溪下游，虎尾溪因常氾濫成災，時人比擬其有「黃河遺意」，故在乾隆、嘉慶等年間，常因洪水沖毀村舍而散村，原居「土庫」社之居民，乃遷徙分處鄰近各地，造成當時人有「土庫」與「猴悶」皆指同一地之誤解，其實二者乃是義同而地不同。「土庫」一地，開發極早，清康熙56年（1717）莊民合築「糞箕湖陂」，開鑿陂塘，築堤儲水，以灌溉臨近農田。土庫鎮的地形特徵，乃部分地區有由砂磧土所堆積而成的小砂崙，故在清初即有「黃吉崙」或「黃地崙」之別稱。清領時期，「塗庫」因位於周邊二十三庄之交易中心，及位居鹿港、北港、鹽水港等南北交通之要衝，乃發展為街肆。境內有許多廟宇古蹟，尤其土庫鎮內的順天宮，有兩塊由清咸豐2年（1852）所立的碑碣，詳細臚列當地商號名稱及其捐獻資助金額，充分反映「塗庫」附近繁盛的商業活動，彌足珍貴。土庫鎮內居民民風淳樸，大都以務農為業，昔日曾作為虎尾糖廠後盾的甘蔗供應區的繁榮景象，現已沒落，不可同日而語；然其位於雲林縣的地理中心位置，擁有無窮的潛力，假以時日再度發展繁榮，應指日可待。
並列摘要
Historically, Taiwan has been ruled by such political powers as Holland, Spain, Koxinga, the Ch'ing, and Japan. Because of this, some districts' names had changed. Therefore, it will be of great help to trace the changes of a district's name, in such a way that we might well understand its history, society as well as customs. District's names encode geographical and historical development of a place; thus, they are also known as a ＂Geography Fossil＂. Let's take Tuku Town of Yuanlin County (雲林縣土庫鎮) as an example. ＂Tuku＂ was before called ＂Docowang＂ (or ＂Dacowang＂) during the Dutch ruling period, but it is also interesting to note that the very place was also called ＂Chaumul＂ (or ＂Goumol＂). This is explicable in terms of its Austronesian origin. Otherwise, we will not be able to reveal the full meaning behind the place name. Both ＂Docowang＂ and ＂Chaumul＂ in Austronesian mean ＂stockade of cattle＂. Geographically, ＂Tuku＂ is located down the Huwei River, which had flooded and inflicted great damage upon the surrounding lands. Thus, native people thought of name that echoed the ＂Yellow River＂. In the Ch'ing's Ch'ien-lung (乾隆) and Chia-ch'ing (嘉慶) reign periods, the flood had destroyed the villages by the river, which forced the inhabitants to flee away and relocate themselves to a safer location nearby. Thus, the two names, ＂Tuku＂ and ＂Chaumul＂, in fact, are completely separate places with the same meaning, but some people misinterpreted them as the same place with two alternate names. ＂Tuku＂ was developed as early as 1717 when it was in the 56th year of the Ch'ing's K'ang-his (康熙) reign period. Then, villagers worked to construct a ＂Funchihu pool＂ (糞箕湖陂), which was a big pound that barricaded water and stored it, in order to irrigate neighboring farm fields. Topographically, Tuku had sand and soil because of floods. Because there was a small sandy hill accumulated in this area, it was also known as ＂Hwangchilun＂ (黃吉崙) or ＂Hwangtilun＂ (黃地崙). During the Ch'ing's rule, ＂Tuku＂ had been the commercial center of the 23 villages in the neighborhood; moreover, it was located as a major intersection where roads led to Lukang (鹿港), Peikang (北港), Yangshikang (鹽水港), so that there were shops and booming businesses. In this town, there are many temples and historic monuments, especially the Shunt'ian Temple (順天宮), where there are two stone inscriptions created in the 2nd year of the Ch'ing's Hsien-feng (咸豐)reign period. The two stone inscriptions had detailed lists of donation records of local commercial enterprises, which revealed that ＂Tuku＂ had been a town with prosperous commercial activities. At present, the people in Tuku lead a simple and frugal life. Most of them are farmers. Tuku had been prosperous because of its sugar industry backed by the Huwei Sugar Plant (虎尾糖廠). However, the plant has closed down, and Tuku's economic situation is not as prosperous as it was. Located in the geographic center of Yuanlin County, hopefully, Tuku has tremendous potential to thrive again.