清代學者王念孫將刪字看成形聲字,認為刪從冊得聲,古音支元兩部相通。于省吾先生在釋讀甲骨文中(冊口)字時據此推斷古讀冊如刪,進而得出征伐、祭祀之(冊口)義同砍的結論。從古音學的視角進行考證可知,王念孫對刪字構造方式和支元兩部語音關係的認識有誤,于先生的推論也缺乏足夠的依據。

Wang Niansun,a scholar of the Qing dynasty,regarded the Chinese character 刪 as a pictophonetic character whose pronunciation came from with shared pronunciation in the two groups 支 and 元 in Old Chinese. Professor Yu Xingwu interpreted the oracle-bone character (冊口) as"cut off"while agreeing with Wang Niansun’s interpretation of its pronunciation. On the basis of classical phonetics,this paper concludes that both misinterpreted (冊口) due to their lack of correct understanding of the linguistic history and structure of 刪.