Time Preposition“Yu（于）”in Oracle Bones Inscriptions

Zhang Yujin

Abstract：This paper made a systematic and comprehensive study on time prepositions“Yu（于）”in oracle bones inscriptions first.“Yu（于）”is a verb at fist，from here develop into“Wei shi”preposition，from“Wei shi”preposition develop into location preposition，then from location prepositions develop into time preposition.Time preposition“Yu（于）”is a time interval preposition，most can be explained as“Dao（到）”.The object of time preposition“Yu（于）”can be made by time noun，also can act as a predicate word.Prep-object phrases of“Yu（于）”expressing time，most appeared after the subject of sentence，before predicate center words.Subject，predicate，object and complement of“（于）”all can be omitted，time preposition“Yu（于）”itself can also be left out.“Yu（于）”can be used with“Nai（廼）”，“Ji（既）”and“Zu（卒）”forming into various fixed phrases，be used to express various complex time relation.

Key Words：Oracle Bones Inscriptions；Time Preposition；Yu（于）

（張玉金　華南師範大學文學院 510006）