A Study On The Variants In The “Identical” Inscriptions Of Shang And Zhou Dynasties

It’s common that different bronzes or a single bronze’s cover and vessel are bearing“identical”inscriptions in Shang and Zhou dynasties,which bronzes are so-called tongmingqi(同铭器).Although bronzes spread as treasure to future generations,and the ancients are cautious in the production process,some bronzes,even with tongmingqi exist variants phenomenon when we read the inscriptions.The dissertation has a study on Shang Zhou qingtongqi mingwen ji tuxiang jicheng worked by Wu Zhenfeng, collecting and organizing the inscriptions of tongmingqi comprehensively. In addition, the paper differentiates and analyzes the variants in the angle of the character, vocabulary, sentence and ordinance. From the point of character, which contains variant characters, borrowed characters and misused characters. Due to the number of variant characters is numerous and complex, we divide them into two types, which are heterogeneous words and different writings. From the perspective of vocabulary, which only contains synonyms. From the perspective of sentence analysis, which contains elliptical sentence and different order of the sentence. From the point of ordinance, the missing words, unwanted words and reversal words are included.This text is based on the research of several experts and scholars,studies some questions about variants in tongmingqi.First of all,the academic value of research about variants in tongmingqi,mainly have two aspects:the reading of the inscriptions and the discrimination of the inscriptions.Besides,the value of the former reflects in filling the missing part of the inscriptions,correcting the characters,showing the borrowed words,and inspecting the meaning of a word.Second,there are two distinctive features about the variants in the“identical”inscriptions,they are not only reflect on the consistence of distribution,but also the number of different types,which varies greatly.The former may be related to the production method of inscriptions.The causes of the latter are mainly influenced by the development of the characters,as well as the writing habit and the writing activities of human.At last,this paper also discusses the issue of Bifu(避复),according to the occurrence frequency of the repetition of deforming words.