Amazing Oracle Bone Scripts｜How hard is deciphering oracle bone inscriptions?

了不起的甲骨文｜破译甲骨文到底有多难

Amazing Oracle Bone Inscriptions｜How hard is deciphering oracle bone inscriptions?

编者按

一片甲骨惊天下。安阳殷墟，甲骨文的出土把中国信史向上推进了约1000年。镌刻在龟甲兽骨上的甲骨文，是迄今为止发现最早、最为完备、最为系统且能表达完整思想的文字，是汉字的源头。习近平总书记在考察殷墟时指出，“中国的汉文字非常了不起，中华民族的形成和发展离不开汉文字的维系”。甲骨文，了不起，却凑不齐甲骨文“了不起”三个字。目前发现的甲骨文字4500字左右，能释读的只有三分之一，看似不可思议，却正是汉字的魅力。

Editor's note:

A piece of oracle bone amazes the world. The unearthing of oracle bones in Yin Ruins of Anyang helps to extend the recorded history of China by about 1,000 years. The oracle bone inscriptions, engraved on tortoise shells or animal bones, are the earliest, most complete, most systematic, and most expressive form of writing ever discovered, and they are the origin of Chinese characters. Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out during his inspection tour of Yin Ruins that Chinese characters are remarkable, and the formation and development of the Chinese nation cannot be separated from the preservation of them." The oracle bone scripts are remarkable; however, a complete set of characters to express the meaning of "remarkable" or "extraordinary" haven't been found in the oracle bone inscriptions. It is true that only about one-third of the approximately 4,500 oracle bone characters discovered so far can be interpreted, which may seem incredible. Still, it is precisely the charm of Chinese characters.

古来新学问，大都由于新发现。为推动中华文明创新发展，即日起，河南日报社重磅推出“了不起的甲骨文”系列报道，将以融媒的形式报道一个新时代。精心设计的logo以白文印章的形式、仿造甲骨卜辞的体例，从右至左、从上至下。这七个字当中，根据“殷契文渊”甲骨文大数据平台显示，“不”“起”“甲”“骨”字是甲骨文，其他字用的是小篆，即秦始皇统一六国后在大篆的基础上简化，创制的统一文字的汉字书写形式。字体虽不统一，风格却浑然一体，内含文化的传承、基因的延续之意。敬请垂注。

Throughout history, most new knowledge and disciplines have emerged due to discoveries. So, starting today, Henan Daily has launched a heavyweight series of reports titled "Remarkable Oracle Bone Inscriptions" to promote the innovation and development of Chinese civilization. The series logo is elaborately designed as a white seal, imitating the arrangement of oracle bone inscriptions. According to the "Yin Qi Wen Yuan," an oracle bone inscription big data platform, of the seven characters on the seal, the characters “不” (bù),“起” (qǐ), “甲” (jiǎ), and “骨” (gǔ) are in oracle bone inscription, while the remaining characters are in small seal script (小篆). The small seal script was simplified by Emperor Qin Shi Huang on the basis of the original big seal script (大篆) after he unified the six states as the standardized form of Chinese characters. Although the font is not unified, the style is harmonious, implying the inheritance of Chinese culture and Chinese character genes. Please stay tuned.

Shang Dynasty oracle bone unearthed from the Yin Ruins [Photo/Henan Daily]

刀笔留痕，甲骨呈奇。在安阳殷墟出土的文物中，甲骨文无疑是分量最重的一类。前不久，中国文字博物馆公布了《第二批征集甲骨文释读优秀成果获奖名单公示》，对破译未释读甲骨文并经专家委员会鉴定通过的研究成果，单字奖励10万元。

The oracle bone scripts are undoubtedly the most precious cultural relics unearthed in the Yin Ruins of Anyang City. The National Museum of Chinese Writing recently announced the "Second Batch of Excellent Achievements in Deciphering Oracle Bone Inscriptions." The researchers on the list can receive up to 100,000 yuan for identifying new characters.

甲骨文是一种独立的、自成系统的文字。据统计，目前已发现的甲骨文单字4000多个，取得共识的破译字仅占三分之一。甲骨文破译的进程为何如此缓慢？破译一个甲骨文到底有多难？

Oracle bone inscriptions are independent and systematic writing. According to statistics, more than 4,000 single characters of oracle bone inscriptions have been discovered so far, and only one-third of them have been deciphered by consensus. Why is the process of decoding oracle bone inscriptions so slow? How difficult is it to translate an oracle bone script?

破译一个甲骨文首先要做的是搜集所有的甲骨材料，把它的词条全部列出来，然后就会大致知道这个疑难字的方向，比如它是动词还是名词？确定一个大体范围后，再对这个字的形、音、义进行综合性考释，看跟后世哪个词能对上，最后返回到每一条甲骨卜辞中去验证结论是否成立。”12月22日，吉林大学考古学院古籍研究所教授周忠兵告诉记者，没能破译的都是“硬骨头”。

"The first step in deciphering oracle bone scripts is to collect all the oracle bone materials and list all the entries. This work will give a rough direction for decoding the character, such as whether it is a verb or a noun. Once a general range is determined, a comprehensive examination of the character's form, pronunciation, and meaning is conducted, comparing it with other words that may match. Finally, the conclusion is verified in the oracle bone inscriptions," said Prof. Zhou Zhongbing from the Institute of Ancient Books at the School of Archaeology at Jilin University. He added that all the undeciphered inscriptions are "hard nuts."

National Museum of Chinese Writing [Photo/Henan Daily]

此次，周忠兵凭借考释文章《出土文献所见“仆臣臺”之“臺”考》拿到“悬赏令”一等奖。他破译的甲骨文字形之一是“两个‘臣’字相叠，右边一个‘子’字”的符号。而周忠兵给出的答案是“臺”（“台”的繁体字）字。

This time, Zhou Zhongbing won the first prize in "Reward Order" with his explanation article - "The Examination of 臺 among 仆臣臺 Seen in the Excavated Documents." One of the oracle bone scripts she deciphered is a symbol that consists of two stacked "臣" (courtier) and a "子" (son) on the right. The answer Zhou gave is "臺" (the transitional Chinese character for "台").

臺”是古代对奴隶的一种称谓，“两个臣和一个子”的甲骨文符号，和“臺”咋能联系上？周忠兵撰写的论文，则从形、音、义多个角度对这个字第一次作出完整解释。

The word "臺" is an ancient appellation for enslaved people. How can the oracle bone inscriptions of two "臣" and a "子" be linked to "臺"? The paper by Zhou is the first complete explanation of this character from multiple perspectives of its shape, sound, and meaning.

“‘臺’作为一种身份低下的奴隶，它在传世文献中的用例很多，但在出土文献中的用例目前学界考订者只有4例，可谓罕见。相反，与‘臺’词义接近的‘臣’ ‘仆’，它们在出土文献中的用例很多。这种不对称现象是否真实反映了臺、臣、仆三者在出土文献中的实际用字情况呢？”在论文开头，周忠兵提出疑问。

As a term used to refer to a low-status slave, the character "臺" has numerous examples in surviving historical texts. However, in excavated documents, there are currently only four known instances of its usage, making it quite rare and uncommon in the academic community’s understanding and interpretation. On the contrary, the words '臣' and '仆,' with similar meanings to '臺,' are used in many cases in the excavated documents. Does this asymmetrical phenomenon genuinely reflect the actual usage of the characters 臺, 臣, and 仆 in the unearthed documents?" At the beginning of the paper, Zhou raised a question.

周忠兵推论，对于甲骨文、金文中有一些用作“臺”的文字以往未被准确地考释出来。

Zhou then theorized that some characters used as "臺" in the oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions had not been accurately interpreted in the past.

“这个字形的左边是两臣相叠，其造字本义仍应联系臣字考虑。臣为竖目之形，表示睁开眼睛专注看，两臣即两竖目，表现出的专注之意应比臣更甚，所以我们认为它应是《说文解字》中的‘眙’之本字。眙从‘台’，所以甲骨文、金文那些文字可以通假为‘台’。”周忠兵说。

"On the left side of this glyph are two "臣" overlapping, so its original meaning should still be considered with "臣." "臣" is the form of vertical eyes, meaning to open the eyes for an attentive look, and two "臣" means two vertical eyes, showing more concentration. So, he believed it should be the original character of '眙' in the "Analytical Dictionary of Chinese Characters" (Shuo Wen Jie Zi, the first Chinese dictionary that analyses the forms and origins of Chinese characters). The word '眙' can be inferred from '台,' so those characters in the oracle bones and bronze inscriptions are the interchangeable words of '台'" said Zhou.

为了破解这个字形，他从2016年开始搜集资料，到形成论文初稿，历经两年时间，还不包括前期数年的研究积累。

To decipher this character, he started collecting materials in 2016. It took him two years to form the initial draft of the paper, not including the previous years of research.

破译甲骨文还难在线索极少。周忠兵解释，甲骨文是商代占卜的记录，性质特别，并不是真正的古书，跟传世文献能直接对应上的信息有限。而且，甲骨文距离我们时代久远，传世的商代史料少而零散，以至于我们对商代社会历史知之甚少，“这增加了研究和破译的难度”。

The difficulty in deciphering the oracle bone inscriptions also lies in the need for more available references. Zhou explained that oracle bone inscriptions were the records of divination in the Shang Dynasty and were special. They are not real ancient books, and there needs to be more relevant information on the handed-down documents. Moreover, oracle bone inscriptions are so far from the present time, and the historical materials of the Shang Dynasty are so few and scattered that people know little about the social history of the Shang Dynasty, "which increases the difficulty of research and deciphering those characters," said Zhou.

甲骨文考释要求学者既要有古文字长期训练的素养，同时也能读懂古书，尤其是和甲骨文时代比较接近的古书，解读出的甲骨文和传世文献能够一一互证。为破解一个字，花费数年工夫，研究者却甘之如饴。

The interpretation of oracle bones requires scholars to have long-term training in ancient Chinese characters and to read and understand the ancient books, especially relatively close to the oracle bone scripts era so that the oracle bone scripts and the handed-down documents can be mutually verified. Researchers willingly devote several years of effortto deciphering a single character, and they find great pleasure and satisfaction in this pursuit.

“考释甲骨文字难在难以架起从已知到未知的桥梁，更难的是要坐冷板凳、下大功夫。”复旦大学出土文献与古文字研究中心研究员蒋玉斌就曾说，如果缺乏兴趣，缺乏持之以恒的毅力，很难取得新突破。

"It is difficult to interpret oracle bone inscriptions, and what is even more challenging is the need to sit on a cold stool and put in a lot of effort," said Jiang Yubin, a researcher at the Center for Research on Chinese Excavated Classics and Paleography in Shanghai's Fudan University. He once said it was challenging for scholars to make breakthroughs without interest and perseverance.

“常常因为能够考释出一个疑难字，或者是解决一个比较困难的问题而感到兴奋，作为年轻一代的老师，有义务、有责任发挥自己的能力。”此次拿到“悬赏令”二等奖的吉林大学考古学院古籍研究所教授李春桃表示。

"I often feel excited about deciphering a difficult word or solving a complex problem. As a teacher of the younger generation, I have the obligation and responsibility to give full play to my abilities," said Professor Li Chuntao from the Institute of Ancient Books at the School of Archaeology at Jilin University, who has received the second prize in the "bounty notice" of the National Museum of Chinese Writing.

"习近平总书记在致甲骨文发现和研究120周年的贺信中指出，甲骨文是迄今为止中国发现的年代最早的成熟文字系统，是汉字的源头和中华优秀传统文化的根脉，值得倍加珍视、更好传承发展。”周忠兵说，通过解锁甲骨文的奥秘，我们可以更深入地了解中国古代社会和文化的发展，为历史研究提供更多的珍贵资料。

"Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter on the 120th anniversary of the discovery and research of oracle bone inscriptions. According to the letter, oracle bone inscriptions are considered the origin of Chinese characters and represent the oldest fully-developed system of characters discovered in China so far, and are the roots of fine traditional Chinese culture that merits even better preservation and development,” said Zhou. He added that unlocking the secrets of the inscriptions can allow people to gain a deeper understanding of the development of ancient Chinese society and culture and can provide more precious materials for historical research.（中文来源/河南日报 记者/谢建晓 杨之甜 编译/李云娇 童林 审校/温晓梅）