摘要
自東漢許慎撰成《說文解字》，開創了我國文字學研究的先河，下迄清乾、嘉時代，說文學大盛，研究金文者，也風起雲湧，降及晚清，殷商甲骨文字大量出土，研究者取前代說文之學和金文研究的成果，合冶於一爐，我國文字學研究，大放異彩，可謂前無古人。自許慎以下，兩千年間，研究文字學者，幾乎全都師法許氏，從微觀的角度，靜態的分析每一個漢字的偏旁結構，對甲骨文、金文、小篆的判讀解釋，大抵已臻美備；時至今日，研究文字學者，如仍循此故轍，實已沒有太大的發展空間。筆者，於1968年，想探討漢字的起源與演變這個課題，嘗試將前人微觀、靜態研究的成果，串連起來，用宏觀的角度，全面的觀察不同時代的文字資料，然後作動態的、系統的描述，二十多年來，撰成若干篇專論，集結成《漢字的原始與演變論叢》這本小冊子。本文之作，即將各文的撰寫和思考過程，作一簡要的描述，這就是筆者對文字學研究，所採取的新方向，也可作為《論叢》一書的後序讀。
When Hsu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220A.D.) compiled the Shuo-wen chieh-tzu (an etymological dictionary), he became the forerunner of a long Chinese tradition of the study of Chinese characters that continued into the Ch'ien-lung and Chia-ch'ing reigns of the Ch'ing dynasty. Both Shuo-wen chieh-tzu scholarship and bronze inscription (Chin-wen) scholarship were unrivalled until the end of the Ch'ing dynasty. When the Shang dynasty oracle bones were discovered in large numbers, scholars built on the achievements of Shuo-wen and bronze inscription scholars of previous dynasties, creating a new synthesis and yielding outstanding results that can be said to have been without precedent. In the 2,000 years since Hsu Shen, almost all scholars of Chinese characters have learned from his methods. Through detailed and careful analysis of the structure of character radicals it has been possible to read and explicate most characters in oracle bones, bronze inscriptions, and "small seal" (hsiao-chuan) characters. Today, if scholars continue to tread along this path, there is little room for further development. When, in 1968, the author planned to discuss the origin and development of Chinese characters he tried to delineate the detailed and careful achievements of previous scholars. Taking a panoramic approach and employing materials on Chinese characters from different dynasties, he systematically described the development of Chinese characters. Certain specialized articles written in the past twenty years have been collected in a small volume entitled Collected Writings on the Origin and Development of Chinese Characters (Han-tzu de yuan-shih yu yen-pien lun-ts'ung). The purpose of this paper is to briefly describe the contents and thought processes behind each of these articles. The author's new approach to the study of Chinese characters is thus also an introduction to the Collected Writings.