卦兆之辭曰“繇”之原因及相關問題探析

Abstract

In the ancient literature, the statements aboutGua(卦) and Zhao(兆) frequently be called “Zhou(繇)”. About the reason of the name, some scholars believe that it is connected to the letter “Yao(謡)”, and others consider it is connected to the character “Zhou(籀)”. “Zhou(繇)” is the designed said for the concept of trigrams and omens according to the fact that character “Zhou(繇)” arose in “bronze inscriptions”(金文) in Western Zhou Dynasty, moreover, “Yao(謡)”and “Zhou(繇)” had been applied separately in the literature before Qin Dynasty, and character “Zhou(籀)” arose relatively late. The name of “Zhou(繇)” is originated from “Du(讀)”; “Zhou(籀)” appeared later, which is refer to the book that historiographers taught the students. “Zhou(籀)” sounds similar to “Du(讀)” and their meanings are same. “Zhou(繇)” and “Zhou(籀)” have the same pronunciation, they were mixed in the literature probably. The connotation of “Zhou(繇)”, which is also called “Song(頌)”, is accumulated in the long term. Its language form is similar to poem. This phenomenon is related to the ritual of divination and the mode of spreading, which needs further researches.