A Study On The Verbs Of Sacrifice In Inscriptions On Oracle Bones

This paper tries to make a systematic study of verbs of sacrifice of Inscriptions on Oracle Bones.First of all,this paper clarifies the concept,and explains the three principles of judging verbs of sacrifice combining the views of former scholars.On the basis,28 verbs are regarded as verbs of sacrifice,and these words are divided into 7 categories according to their meanings.Another 10 words which had been regarded as verbs of sacrifice are excluded,and we explaine the reasons.According to the collected writing inscribed on oracle bones,we believe that the verbs which can be used as verbs of sacrifice can also be used as both the methods of sacrifice and the method of dealing with sacrifices.Then we discussed the grouping,sacrifices,gods,the methods of sacrifice and verbs which are used as both the methods of sacrifice and the method of dealing with sacrifices,which the verbs of sacrifice collocate,as well as the type of sentence structure of the 28 verbs.We find there are great differences in the grouping and frequency of use,and there are also some different emphasis on the collocation object.There are 167 basic sentence composition method.And according to syntactic function,there are both similarities and differences between the verbs of sacrifice and methods of sacrifice.When multiple predicates composed of these verbs are used together,they may form four kinds of structures: juxtapositional structure,conjunction predicate structure,subject-object structure,and the mixed use of the above three relations.