上世紀初，西人斯坦因 (Marc Aurel Stein) 在敦煌附近的長城碉堡中發現木簡縑帛等物，其中有書札九通，皆用紙書寫。中國學術史自有紙產生之後，其學術之形態、實質、內容等均與此前的簡牘時代漸漸劃出一條鴻溝。這一紙張的「鈔本時代」中，「鈔」與「寫」兩個概念並不等同於現代漢語中同義複指的「鈔寫」。在六朝知識人的學術世界裏面，「鈔」與「寫」存在本質的不同。關於這一點，僅呂思勉、田曉菲等極少數學者有所談及，然而有待申論處尚多。故本文首先處理「鈔寫有別論」這一命題的外緣性史料，然後從訓詁字源開始，作此二字之「本字」考證，再回溯先秦兩漢典籍，進而全面梳理六朝書籍文化之史料，指出「鈔」與「寫」二字在六朝時代有本質之不同。並且推測此二字的混淆與合用大約出現在唐代。期望本文之論述，對今後之中古鈔本研究有所裨益。

Early in the last century, documents written on materials such as wood and silk were discovered by Marc Aurel Stein in a blockhouse situated on the Great wall near Dunhuang 敦煌 . Among these documents were nine letters written on paper. After the invention of paper, Chinese academic history gradually diverged in form, substance and content from that of the time of wooden and bamboo documents. To scholars during the Six Dynasties, the time when documents had already begun to be hand-copied on to paper, there was an essential distinction in meaning between the terms chao鈔 and xie 寫 and the modern Chinese word chaoxie 鈔寫 . Only a few scholars have touched on this, most notably Lü Simian 呂思勉 and Tian Xiaofei 田曉菲 , and many points remain to be discussed. This paper first examines the discourse in the historical literature on the difference between the terms chao and xie. The origins of the two characters are then analyzed beginning with ancient exegetical materials, followed by a look at their use in the classics of the pre-Qin to Han period. This study then comprehensively deals with the historical material relating to Six Dynasties book culture. On this basis, the author deduces that an essential distinction was made between the two terms chao and xie in the Six Dynasties, and conjectures that both the confusion between the terms and their compound use begins around the Tang Dynasty. The author hopes this research will benefit future research into hand-copied manuscripts during the medieval period.