本文探討皋、㚖、睪三字關係，企圖擺脫字形省訛之說，而以出土文獻作為佐證。由於㚖、睪很早就出現，西周時期用法判然有別，直至春秋時期，因語音相近，產生通假互用，並延續到楚簡，但在這些材料中，㚖、睪皆屬鐸部，未見幽部。故推論「皋」源自「㚖（早）」，秦簡時期「皋」、「睪」存在字形的混用，並僅侷限於「睪」本字，其餘如澤、繹、擇等作為聲符時，則未見以「皋」代替，「皋」也未見鐸部音，顯然為單向字形混譌，非屬語音通假，於是連帶導致與「睪」通假的「㚖」兼具幽部音。文中並徵引文獻中以「皋」為「澤」，實因秦漢皋、睪混同，未能分辨「睪」其實是「澤」之本字，而仍以「皋」記錄之，導致今日訓詁上產生「皋」也有「澤」之義。

Based on discovered texts, this article seeks to remedy the improper ellipses and corruptions of “Gau” (皋), “Gau” (睪), and “Yi” (㚖) by carefully examining the relationships among the three words. “Yi” (㚖) and “Gau” (睪) appeared as early as in the Western Zhou Dynasty, when the two words were highly discriminable. Throughout the Spring and Autumn period, the two words were used interchangeably due to their phonetic resemblance. Their interchangeable use can also be seen in Chu Slips. However, in these historicalmaterials, both the two words had the final syllable sound of “ak” rather than “u”. Accordingly, this article argues that the word “Gau” (皋) was metamorphosed from “Zao” (㚖). Besides, the interchangeable use between “Gau” (皋) and “Gau” (睪) in Qin Slips was limited to substituting the former for the latter rather than other words with similar phonetic components such as “Ze” (澤), “Yi” (繹), and “Ze” (擇). Moreover, “Gau” (皋) did not have the final syllable sound of “ak” in Qin Slips. It clearly indicates that it was a unilateral corruption of character rather than phonetic interchange, which gave “Gau” (皋) the final syllable sound of “u”. This article further claims that the interchangeable use between “Gau” (皋) and “Ze” (澤) throughout the Qin and Han dynasties actually resulted from the confusion between “Gau” (皋) and “Gau” (睪) without knowing that “Gau” (睪) is in fact the original character of “Ze” (澤). The interchangeable use between “Gau” (皋) and “Ze” (澤) also led to the confusion between the two words in today's historical semantics.

古文字、皋、睪、㚖、混訛

ancient characters, “Gau”, “Gau”, “Yi”(㚖), improper ellipses, corruptions