殷墟卜辭田獵動詞「牧」補說

Interpretaion of the Character Mu 牧 in the Yinxu Oracle-Bone Inscriptions Concerning Hunting

姚萱(Yao Xuan)

《中國文字》 總第九期 (2023/06) Pp. 59-72

摘要

殷墟卜辭的「牧」字，有一類作田獵動詞的特殊用法，以其本義或引申義講不通。其辭多以「雉」為賓語亦即捕獵對象，據此結合其讀音，可以推斷「牧」應讀為「雉網」義之「䍙」。卜辭田獵動詞「牧（䍙）」，義為「用雉網捕雉」，亦偶可意義泛化用於指「用網捕鹿」。

關鍵字

殷墟卜辭 ； 牧 ； 田獵動詞 ； 䍙 ； 雉網

並列摘要

The character mu (牧) in the Yinxu oracle-bone inscriptions has a special usage as a verb related to hunting, which cannot be explained by its original or extended meanings. The object of the verb is often zhi (雉, pheasant), which is the target of the hunt. Based on this and the pronunciation of mu (牧), this paper suggests that the mu (牧) should be read as the word mei (䍙, pheasant net). The verb mei (䍙) in the oracle bone inscriptions refers to "using a pheasant net to catch pheasants" and occasionally it is also used in a generalized sense to mean "using a net to catch deer".

並列關鍵字

Yinxu Oracle-Bone Inscriptions ； mu (牧) ； verb related to hunting ； mei (䍙) ； pheasant net