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TO PUNISH THE PERSON: A READING NOTE REGARDING A PUNCTUATION MARK IN THE TSINGHUA MANUSCRIPT *MING XUN

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2017

Edward L. Shaughnessy
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Abstract

The Tsinghua manuscript *Ming xun 命訓 contains a compound sentence that reads: 大命殜罰少命＝身. In an earlier article, the author translated this sentence as “The great mandate for generations punishes; the minor mandates command the person,” understanding the “＝” mark to indicate that the preceding character ming 命 was to be repeated. However, scholars in China have recently noted that the “＝” mark can also indicate the repetition of characters that occur in the same context earlier in the text. This would suggest that the “＝” mark here indicates the repetition of the word fa 罰 in the preceding clause, such that the sentence should read “The great mandate punishes the world; minor mandates punish the person,” which is the reading of the received text of the Ming xun. This scribal practice has important implications for the reading of other manuscripts as well.

提要

清華簡本《命訓》載有“大命殜罰少命＝身”的句子。在以前發表的文章，作者理解了 “＝” 符號為重文號，表明前置的“命”字要重讀。然而，最近中國學者指出 “＝” 符號也可以表明上文的某一個字要重讀，於此表明前句的“罰”字要重讀，句子即讀作“大命世罰，小命罰身”，與傳世本《命訓》一樣。這種抄寫習慣在其他寫本也出現，對寫本的理解可能有重要意義。

Keywords

清華簡《逸周書》古文字學標點符號閱讀習慣Tsinghua manuscriptsYi Zhou shupaleographypunctuationreading practices

Information

Type
Research Note
Information
Early China , Volume 40 , 2017 , pp. 303 - 309
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Study of Early China and Cambridge University Press 2017 

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References

1. Shaughnessy, Edward L., “Varieties of Textual Variants: Evidence from the Tsinghua Bamboo-Strip *Ming Xun Manuscript,” Early China 39 (2016), 1–34 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. I am grateful to my colleagues Donald Harper and Jiang Wen 蔣文 for advice concerning this point.

2. Yuelong, Meng 孟躍龍, “Qinghua jian Ming xun ‘Shao ming ＝ shen’ de dufa: Jianlun gudai chaoben wenxian zhong chongwen fuhao de teshu yongfa” 清華簡《命訓》“少命＝身”的讀法：兼論古代抄本文獻中重文符號的特殊用法, Jian bo 簡帛 13 (2017), 71–77 Google Scholar.

3. Writing in Chinese, Meng of course does not offer a translation, and so I can only guess that this is how he understands the sentence. It leaves unexplained why shi 世 “the world” should come before fa in the first clause.

4. Yihui, Wei 魏宜輝, “Zailun Mawangdui boshu zhong de ‘shi ＝’ ju” 再論馬王堆帛書中的 “是＝”句, Dongnan wenhua 東南文化 2008.4, 56–57 Google Scholar.

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6. Xigui, Qiu 裘锡圭, “Tantan guwenzi ziliao dui gu Hanyu yanjiu de zhongyaoxing” 談談古文字資料對古漢語研究的重要性, Zhongguo yuwen 中國語文 1979.6, 437–42Google Scholar; rpt. with an afterword in which Qiu accepts the reading “shi wei 是謂”; Qiu Xigui xueshu wenji 裘锡圭學術文集 (Shanghai: Fudan daxue, 2014), p. 46Google Scholar.

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8. Gansu sheng Wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo ed., Tianshui Fangmatan Qin jian 天水放馬灘秦簡 (Beijing: Zhonghua, 2009)Google Scholar, “Rishu Yi zhong” 日書乙種, #18. See now Chen Wei 陳偉 ed.-in-chief, Wuhan daxue Jianbo yanjiu zhongxin, Hubei sheng bowuguan and Hubei sheng Wenwu kaogu yanjiusuo ed., Qin jiandu heji 秦簡牘合集 (Wuhan: Wuhan daxue, 2014), vol. 4, p. 40 Google ScholarPubMed, where this is transcribed directly as “shi wei 是謂.”

9. Tianshui Fangmatan Qin jian, “Rishu Yi zhong” #131. See too Qin jiandu heji, vol. 4, p. 86.

10. Shuihudi Qin mu zhujian zhengli xiaozu ed., Shuihudi Qin jian 睡虎地秦簡 (Beijing: Wenwu, 1990)Google Scholar, “Ri shu Jia zhong” 日書甲種, #119正3. See too Qin jiandu heji, vol. 1 Shang 上, p. 408.

11. Shuihudi Qin jian 睡虎地秦簡 (Beijing: Wenwu, 1990)Google Scholar, “Ri shu Jia zhong” #136背. See too Qin jiandu heji, vol. 1 Shang 上, p. 498.

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14. Liu Xinfang 劉信芳, Shangbo cang liu shi jie zhi san” 上博藏六試解之三, at www.bsm.org.cn, posted 9 August 2007, cited at Meng Yuelong, “Qinghua jian Ming xun ‘Shao ming ＝ shen’ de dufa,” p. 72 n. 2.

15. Yanzi chunqiu 晏子春秋 (Sibu beiyao ed.), 1 (“Nei pian Jian shang” 內篇諫上), 5b.

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