翼刀之辨

Distinction of the Wing and the Blade

2018年，山西聞喜酒務頭商代墓地追繳回一批銘有「□」的銅器，2022年，孫合肥於《古文字研究》發表〈釋酒務頭墓地銅器銘文中的「翼」〉一文。後「殷周金文暨青銅器資料庫」亦收錄了載於《山右吉金：聞喜酒務頭商代墓地出土青銅器精粹》及《山西出土青銅器全集‧聞喜酒務頭卷》兩書當中的這批青銅器，「□」是新見族氏銘文，孫合肥與「殷周金文暨青銅器資料庫」皆隸定為「翼」，塙無疑義。但孫文中將甲骨金文的「翼」與族氏銘文的「刀」混同，並主張一些本釋作「子刀」的銘文應改釋為「子翼」。本文在孫文的基礎上，提出兩個有疑之處，從觀察字形開始，接著回顧文獻、檢視實物照片、應用類型學整理歸納、透過上下文字詞關係，辨析金文中「翼」與「刀」之形體，釐清孫文混同二者之可能原因。

In 2018, a batch of bronze vessels inscribed with the character“□”was retrieved from the Shang Dynasty cemetery at Jiuwutou, Wenxi, Shanxi. In 2022, Sun Hefei published an article titled ''Interpretation of the Character“□”in the Inscriptions on the Bronze Vessels from the Jiuwutou Cemetery'' in Ancient Script Research. Later, the“Yin-Zhou Bronze Inscriptions and Bronze Artifacts Database”also included this batch of bronze vessels, which were documented in the books Shanyou Ji Jin: The Bronze Vessels Unearthed from the Jiuwutou Shang Dynasty Cemetery and Complete Collection of Bronzes Unearthed in Shanxi: Wenxi Jiuwutou Volume. The character“□”is a newly discovered clan inscription, and both Sun Hefei and the database have confirmed it as“翼”without doubt. However, in his article, Sun Hefei conflates the character“翼”from oracle bone inscriptions with“刀”from clan inscriptions and suggests that some inscriptions originally read as“子刀”should instead be interpreted as“子翼”. Based on Sun Hefei's work, this article raises two points of doubt, beginning with an analysis of the character forms. It then reviews the relevant literature, examines photographs of the artifacts, applies typological analysis, and investigates the relationship between the context and wording of the inscriptions to distinguish between the shapes of“翼”and“刀”in the bronze inscriptions, aiming to clarify the possible reasons behind Sun Hefei's confusion of the two characters.