试释“芽兰带”：残存在地方歌谣里的清代中外贸易信息  

An Explanation of 'Nga Lan Tai' as a Trace of Sino-foreign Trade Survived in Vernacular Songs of the Qing Dynasty

作　　者：程美宝 

机构地区：[1]香港城市大学中文及历史系 [2]中山大学历史人类学研究中心,广东广州510275

出　　处：《学术研究》2017年第11期122-128,共7页Academic Research

基　　金：作者主持的香港特别行政区研究资助局拨款支持的研究计划“画出自然:18-19世纪中叶广州绘制的动植物画”(General Research Fund,Project Number:11672416)的阶段性成果

摘　　要：查考粤海关志、地方志、外国人编纂的通商和语言学习手册等文献,可知在晚清粤语南音唱本《男烧衣》中出现的"芽兰"一词,应为西班牙语"grana"的粤音翻译,意指现代译作"胭脂虫"的一种染料原料。胭脂虫原产于南美,能生产出鲜艳亮丽的红色染料,自16世纪即为西班牙人所垄断,至迟在18世纪已通过马尼拉进口广州、厦门等口岸,用于染制出口的上等丝绸。19世纪英国东印度公司仍需仰赖与西班牙商人关系良好的广州行商购入胭脂虫。时至20世纪,"芽兰"逐渐被现代中译词汇"胭脂虫"取代,并从人们的记忆中消失。"芽兰"的例子从某个侧面反映了在漫长的历史过程中,许多外来物种和物产因为种种原因而有所变易甚或消失,其一度通用的名字间接残存在看来并不相干的文献中,本义也逐渐被人遗忘。Interregional trade involves exchange of species and products, which hence causes exchange of languages and vocabularies. Over time some species would go extinct, some products disappear, and the original meaning of some of their names would also be forgotten. One of such examples is Cantonese transliterated term Nga Lan Tai, which survives in local southern-tone song books which are still available today, and yet people no longer know what the term stands for. Using a variety of source materials such as custom records, local gazetteers, commercial guides, language-learning kits, and stone inscriptions, this article suggests that Nga Lan is the Cantonese transliteration for grana, which is a Spanish name for cochineal, a red dye made from a crushed insect native to Latin America. Imported into Canton and other Chinese ports via Manila by Spanish merchants since at least the eighteenth century, the use of this dye was confined to superior silk for exportation. As late as the nineteenth century, because the trade was still monopolized by the Spanish, the British East India Company had to depend on Chinese hong merchants in Canton for a reliable supply of cochineal. In the twentieth century, the Cantonese transliterated term Nga Lan was gradually replaced by the modern Chinese translated phrase Yanzhichong(crimson insect), and thence disappeared from people's memory.

关 键 词：“芽兰” 胭脂虫 西班牙 广州 中外贸易 

分 类 号：K25[历史地理—历史学] K207[历史地理—中国史]