“礼”字文字学、哲学文化内涵探源--以《论语》文本为例

摘要

从文字学上讲，“礼”字无论是作为对礼器和祭品合体描绘的“豊”，还是作为对人类仪礼核心形式描绘的“礼”，都已然包含了丰富的祭礼文化内涵。礼器（以豆为代表）可以说是对祭礼文化在器物上的落实，祭品（以珏为代表）则隐含了沟通天人的祭礼文化目标。作为礼字古文或体的“礼”则包含着人类在祭礼文化中的重要态度———恭敬。而所有这些文字学中所隐含的源头性的内涵与功用也在华夏文明重要的哲学文本《论语》中得到了充分的论证。%In terms of philology, the character "礼(li)", which is either depicted as "豊(li)", the inte-gration of sacrificial vessels and objects, or " 礼", the core form of human rituals, has obviously contained rich cultural connotation of sacrificial rites. Sacrificial vessels (represented by 豆, an ancient stemmed cup or bowl) can be thought as the ritual culture implemented on the vessels, while sacrifices (represented by珏, two pieces of jade put together) imply the cultural goals of sacrificial rites that connects the heaven and human beings. The ancient form of the character " 礼" contains the important attitude of humans to-wards the ritual culture, that is, great respect. And the sources of all of these connotations and functions implied in the literal study have also been fully demonstrated in Confucian A nalects, the significant book which represents the Chinese civilization.