中药黄芪的名实考证

目的:通过对中药黄芪的字义进行考证,以阐明黄芪名实。方法:查阅汉至明清时期的辞书及历代中草药书籍,对黄芪进行字义与名实溯源考证。结果:我国历代本草皆以黄耆为现在中药黄芪的名称,我国现代书籍皆以黄芪字形为名。芪在《说文解字》,《玉篇》,《集韵》,《广韵》,《类篇》,《字汇》中释义为芪母,芪母即指中药知母,而不是指中药黄芪。芪释义为现在中药黄芪始自明代辞书《正字通》,《康熙字典》和《汉语大词典》对芪列有中药黄芪及知母二种释义。明代李中立在其《本草原始》一书中特意指出当时黄耆的耆字书写为芪字是错误的,可见中药黄芪字形名称使用始于明代。耆在历代辞书中释义为长,耆的字义表述了现在中药黄芪的植物形态特征,因此以黄耆为其名称符合我国中草药命名习惯。结论:将古籍文献及历代中草药书籍中包含的本草学内容进行比对,阐明其词义,梳理药物的名实关系,找出中药黄芪名称变化原因,为人们在研究中草药时查阅古籍文献提供参考价值。

Textual Research of Names of Traditional Chinese Medicine Astragali Radix

Objective: To elucidate the names of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) of Astragali Radix through the textual research for the literal meaning of Astragali Radix. Method: Dictionaries of the Han dynasty to the Ming and Qing dynasties and ancient Chinese herbal medicine books were retrieved for the textual research of the meaning and origin of name of Astragali Radix. Result: Old radical of Qi refers to the names of Chinese herbal medicine Astragali Radix in the ancient TCM books,while grass radical of Qi refers to the TCM names of Astragali Radix in the modern books. Grass radical of Qi was interpreted as Qimu, and is now interpreted as TCM Anemarrhenae Rhizoma but not TCM Astragali Radix in Shuowen Jiezi, Yupian, Guangyun, Jiyun, Leipian and Zihui. In the Ming dynasty dictionary Zhengzitong, grass radical of Qi was interpreted as TCM Astragali Radix. Grass radical of Qi was interpreted as TCM Astragali Radix and Anemarrhenae Rhizoma in Kangxi Zidian and Hanyu Dacidian. LI Zhong-li of the Ming dynasty specially pointed out that it was wrong to write old radical of Qi as grass radical of Qi in his book of Zhengzitong. It suggested that the glyph of grass radical of Qi started to be used in the Ming dynasty. Old radical of Qi was interpreted as long in all of the previous dictionaries, and expressed its botanical morphological characteristic. Therefore, the name of old radical of Qi is consistent with the naming habit of Chinese herbal medicine. Conclusion: The herbal contents of ancient documents and Chinese herbal medicine books are compared to illuminate the literal meaning, distinguish clearly the relationship between the literal meaning and the TCM names, find out the reasons for changing the name of Astragali Radix, and provide the reference value for consulting ancient documents in the study of Chinese herbal medicine books.