《楚辭》、《淮南》、《文子》三書楚語探究——再論《淮南》《文子》兩書因襲關係兼與王利器敎授商榷

A Comparative Study of the vocabulary in Chu Dialect to be found in the Chuci, Huainanzi and Wenzi

Abstract

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.

屈宋諸騷，皆書楚語，其實《淮南》亦然。考劉安自幼生長於淮南，受封於阜陵，阜陵屬九江郡，其地即漢高祖所立淮南國。其後，劉安襲父封淮南，此後未嘗遷封。淮南地在淮水、廬江附近，而戰國楚地則在江、淮、漢、湘流域之間，兩者所處地域其實相同，是以劉安及其門客編撰《淮南》一書，每用楚語。顧炎武嘗謂「《淮南》多楚語」，其實不難理解。本文嘗試比勘《楚辭》、《淮南》兩書，蒐集兩書互見楚語，考證此等楚語其用例與義訓可有異同之處。

此外，新近出版王利器敖授遺著〈《文子疏義》序〉，指出《淮南》、《文子》兩書內容每多重複，當中每為《淮南》用楚語而《文子》作常用語，王氏因而論斷《淮南》抄襲《文子》，並將常用語改作楚語。本文嘗試全面比對《淮南》、《文子》兩書內容，發現《文子》其實亦有用楚語者，而此等楚語恰巧又見《淮南》，可見王利器論説並不成立。

It is a well known fact that the Chu dialect was widely used in the Chuci 楚辭 (Elegies of Chu), but few scholars of the Huainanzi 淮南子 realise that vocabulary in the Chu dialect is also found in the Huainanzi. The Huainanzi was put together by Liu An 劉安, the king of Huainan 淮南 in the Western Han 西漢, whose biography is to be found in the Shiji 史記. Liu An grew up in Huainan, which was located in the Empire of Chu 楚國 of the Pre-Qin period. For this reason a considerable number of vocabulary items from the Chu dialects can be found in the Huainanzi. This article attempts to make a comparative study of the meanings of the Chu dialect words which appear in both the Chuci and the Huainanzi.

The Huainanzi and the Wenzi 文子 overlap to a large extent. Recently, Wang Li-qi 王利器 discovered that in such duplications, the Wenzi would use the Lingua Franca where the Huainanzi used the Chu vocabulary and concluded that in all such cases the difference came about, because the Huainanzi replaced the generally accepted Lingua Franca by the Chu vocabulary.

This article points out the cases where some of the Chu vocabulary which is also found in the Wenzi. Thus it would seem that the theory put forward by Professor Wang Li-qi leaves room for doubt.