試論秦簡中的「作務」

“zuò wù” (作務) in Qin wood slips

本文以為，學界目前將秦簡及文獻中的「作務」均解為「手工業」的主流解釋，在里耶秦簡作徒簿中難以成立。考察傳世文獻與秦簡中對「作務」的用法後，本文認為傳世文獻中的「作務」大多是近於「工作」或「勞動」等，包括廣泛勞動內容的概念。這是「作務」最普遍的意思。至於秦代律令與行政文件中的「作務」，其意義常為了官吏操作制度的方便而被限縮，在作徒簿等以官府為主體的簿冊中被官吏理解為「為官府產錢的各種勞動」。其術語化後的意思必須與秦漢時期的勞動制度結合才有意義，且僅作用於涉及相關制度的特殊情境中。這種常詞術語化為法律用語的現象，在睡虎地秦簡〈法律答問〉中有其他例證。

This paper argues that “zuò wù” (作務) in Qin wood slips and handed literature Should not be interpreted as “handicraft”. The word in the handed down literature was close to the concept of “labor” or “work”. This was the most common meaning of “zuò wù”. Different from the common meaning, “zuò wù” in Qin law and administrative documents as a legal term, was limited its meaning for the convenience of the operation of the law, which means “official laborer earn money for the government”. This meaning was only valid for specific legal and administrative situations.“zuò wù” in Qin law was a case of daily vocabulary becoming a legal term. The similar case can be found in other terms of Qin law.