This is a study on the commentary and characters in Qin Bamboo Strips Collected in Yuelu Academy. This study used the results of the comparison and analysis of similar Chinese characters for its new interpretation and the studying of some Chinese char...
This is a study on the commentary and characters in Qin Bamboo Strips Collected in Yuelu Academy. This study used the results of the comparison and analysis of similar Chinese characters for its new interpretation and the studying of some Chinese characters. The phenomenon of using similar Chinese characters refers to the confused use of two similar-looking characters, and not a few misspellings by the writer are found in materials of Qin characters. In addition, errors made by the transcriber who did not have a clear understanding of similar Chinese characters are often found in the commentary of Qin Bamboo Strips Collected in Yuelu Academy. Therefore, this study found misspellings by the writer and errors by the transcriber in Qin Bamboo Strips Collected in Yuelu Academy by analyzing two pairs of similar Chinese characters the pair of 專(zhuān) and 尃(fū) and the pair of 夬(guài) and 史(shǐ) corrected the interpretation.
In Qin Bamboo Strips Collected in Yuelu Academy, 專(zhuān) and 尃(fū) look very similar but there is a clear difference. The upper part of 專(zhuān) is a combination of ‘屮’ and ‘田’, while that of 尃(fū) has a vertical stroke whose upper part is bent to the right. In Qin Bamboo Strips Collected in Yuelu Academy, there are two parts in which a character that does not correspond to these characteristics in shape. The character is 傳(zhuàn) in 肆1419正 and in 伍2025正. In this study, the character 傳(zhuàn) in the commentary has been both corrected to 傅(fù) by analyzing the characters and their shape. In addition, this study interprets the character interpreted as 鑄(zhù) as 鎛(bó) based on the characteristics of the Qin character 尃(fū).
In Qin Bamboo Strips Collected in Yuelu Academy. 夬(guài) and 史(shǐ) look quite similar but a clear difference can be found between the upper parts of the two characters through a close analysis. The upper part of 夬(guài) is similar to ‘中’ in kaishu, while that of 史(shǐ) is similar to a flat ‘ㅂ’ added with a vertical stoke in the middle. However, there are five parts in which characters cannot be interpreted by applying those characteristics in Qin Bamboo Strips Collected in Yuelu Academy. This study has reached the following conclusion by analyzing those five characters. The 夬(guài) in 壹1566 is a misspelling of 史(shǐ) made by the writer as they look similar and this study found no problem in interpreting the 夬(guài). The 夬(guài) in 壹1576 was a wrong interpretation, and this study has corrected it to 史(shǐ). The 夬(guài) in 叁438, which was a wrong interpretation, has been corrected to 史(shǐ). The 史(shǐ) in 壹567 was written by the writer in a shape similar to 夬(guài), and the 史(shǐ) in 肆1428 is a misspelling of 史(shǐ) made by the writer. This study confirmed that there were no problem in interpreting the 夬(guài).