生稱謚與銘文斷代獻疑

銅器斷代是金文研究中的重要課題。西周銘文中，少數記有西周王號，例如穆王、恭王等，傳統上認為這些王號是謚號。近世著名學者王國維首先提出金文中的這些王號是「生稱謚」，即原來被認為是死謚的穆王等王號變成了生時之稱。此後郭沫若、陳夢家、唐蘭等著名古文字學者都從其說，因而「王號生稱說」差不多成為定論了。然而，也有學者不同意「王號生稱說」。本文詳細討論了相關意見，並提出了應該注意的問題。

The chronology of the bronze vessels is a critical issue in the study of bronze inscriptions. Among the Western Zhou bronzes, a minority of them contain the posthumous titles of the Zhou kings, such as King Mu, King Gong, etc. These names are conventionally considered posthumous titles of the sovereigns. Wang Guowei for the first time hypothesizes that these “posthumous” titles were names given to the Zhou kings while they were alive, so-called “posthumous titles in life,” i.e. the titles of “Mu” and “Gong” were used to refer to the kings when they were alive. Guo Moruo, Chen Mengjia and Tang Lan unanimously followed Wang’s theory, and hence make it seemingly unquestionable. Nevertheless, still some scholars do not accept this theory. This paper discusses different opinions regarding “posthumous titles in life” theory, and poses some questions that need more attention.