Hometown place names: simple, affectionate and interesting.

Hometown place names: simple, affectionate and interesting.

Chongyang Wang

After moving to the city recently, I haven't cultivated land in my rural hometown for ten years, and suddenly I remembered the name of cultivated land in my hometown because of a small matter. The more you think about it, the more interesting it is, and the more you ponder it, the more interesting it is. The name of a piece of cultivated land in my hometown is extremely grounded. No, these names themselves are obtained in pieces, that is, they are rustic and the soil is scum.

But the name, although the soil is scum, is so kind and interesting to call.

Dawa Village, Matoujian Town: The source of the Red River can be traced back.

My hometown is Matoujian Town, Longan District, 10 kilometers southwest of Anyang City, northern Henan Province, which belongs to the hilly area where Taihang Mountain area is in transition to North China Plain. The hills in our region belong to Nanling, Anyang City, and are dominated by an east-west ridge. The highest point is about 205 meters above sea level, with a total length of about 20 kilometers and a width of 10 kilometers. At the foot of the northern slope of Tuling, there is a seasonal river that passes through a series of more than a dozen villages along the coast and flows into Anyang city from west to east, becoming the second largest river in the city.

Our village is located on the north bank of the upper reaches of the Red River. Its name is Dawa, and it is also written as Dawa.

As the name implies, the old street is in a "depression", like a "depression", with a population of 100. A north-south river flows in front of the door and joins the main channel of the Red River at the southern end of the village. We call the section of the main channel in the upper reaches of the Red River "Nanhegou". The reason why the old street is in a "depression" is because everything has a soil bank. Originally, the east coast was cultivated land, and later a house was built, which became a "new street". At the northern end of the new street is a dirt slope, and there is a dirt road that leads directly to a north-south ridge, which we call Beiling.

Beiling is gradually raised from the head of the village. After walking on the gentle slope for about three kilometers, we reached the top of the ridge. Standing on the height of Beiling, you can overlook the whole Anyang city. When I was very young, when I was playing in front of my house, my grandfather next door often teased me when I was doing farm work: "Come, son, come with me to the top of Beiling." You can pick up a plane there. " Picking up the plane at the top of Northridge became one of my original ideals.

There are terraced fields on the Beiling, and there is a long north-south ditch on both sides of the Beiling, which is called Dongwa and Xiwa, and Xiwa is also called Huaishuwa. After extending all the way, it connects to Beigou, the old street of our village, where the river in the village originates. There used to be a dense reed in Beigou, which could conserve water, and the water in the river would keep flowing all year round. Now, the reeds are long gone, the water source is gone, and the river is dry.

East and west depressions are also cultivated land, and the quality is better than that of ridges. However, most of the cultivated land in Liangwali belongs to the neighboring Houhe Village, Xi 'an Village and Nanpo Village, and the cultivated land in our village is mainly on Beiling.

Second, the naming of plots is regular: orientation, shape and topography.

All right, time to get to the point. How did the name of cultivated land in our village come from and what was it called?

First of all, based on the old village, according to the location and topographical characteristics, a number of them were named: East Bank, West Bank, South Bank and Beigouli.

Then why add the word "head" and call it "shore" instead of "shore"? Because those places closely surround our old street, and the terrain is higher than that of the old street, as if it were just above people's heads. And there are not many plots there or plots belonging to our village. For example, there are many terraces on the west slope, but those belonging to our village slide away from north to south on the west slope, and the terraces on the west are mostly cultivated land in the west bank village of the neighboring village. How about "Nan 'antou"? The area is not large. Go to the south bank and look down at the south end. It's not long. It is Nanhegou.

There is a "Sanguan Temple" at the northern end of the old village, and the path along the river behind the temple leads to Beigou. There is a piece of land on the low bank of Ludong, which is called "Temple Queen". The "behind the temple" plot is about two acres, and then it goes north and enters the "Beigouli" plot.

Secondly, the plots in hilly areas are very scattered and irregular. In order to facilitate the division, the plot size is often taken as an integer. Villagers usually name plots according to their size and shape. In this way, the names of one mu, three mu, three mu, four mu, four mu pit, four mu, six mu, six mu, seven mu, eight mu, nine mu mouth, ten mu, thirteen mu, nineteen mu, thirty mu and forty mu appeared.

There are no more plots that reach "40 acres", which is the characteristic of our hilly land-the area is very small. Have you ever heard of "Woye Li Qian"? It belongs to the plain area, but in our hilly area, it can only be "poor for thousands of meters"-not only the plot is small, but also very barren. Because it is above the ridge, it is basically a land that depends on heaven and earth.

Among them, the word "strip" indicates that the plot is relatively long and narrow, but the trend is relatively straight; Hanging the word "pit" means that the ground is higher on all sides, just like being in a pit. Is the land of "Jiumukou" like a human mouth? That's not true, but the land is nine acres, at the crossroads of Dongwa.

The word "turn" indicates that the plot is not straight and there is a turn. There is also a piece of land that turns a lot, winding like a snake, which is simply called "stripping". "Peeling" is a common name for snakes in our country.

Third, the modeling of the plot is very interesting, and Feng Shui is more beautiful and kind.

The naming of Pi Landing is purely based on the shape of the plot.

My hometown is named after the shape of the plot, including cucumber land, trouser leg land and handle land. As the name implies, the plot is like a cucumber, like a trouser leg, like a handle. There is also a smelly land called "shit land". Now I don't know how this place name came from and how to classify it. The reason why I put the shit floor in this section is because it has the same characteristics as the trouser leg floor and the handle floor in front, that is, the feng shui is very good.

I once heard my uncle say that many years ago, when our family moved their ancestors' graves, we invited two folk geomancers to see the geomantic omen to see which land was suitable for burial. When he came to the edge of the shit field, Mr. Feng Shui took a look and said that the land was good in Feng Shui. But as soon as I heard it called "shit", I immediately said forget it. How can you bury your ancestors in shit? When I went to the trouser leg again, after some investigation, I felt that Feng Shui was also good. But as soon as I heard it called "trouser leg ground", I said forget it. We can't let our ancestors get into the trouser leg.

It's good to see feng shui when you go to the "knife handle land", especially when you hear the name "knife handle". Mr. Feng Shui said that if the ancestral grave is chosen here, future generations will produce "martial men", dancing guns and making guns, and make great achievements. No one dared to mess with it at that time. My uncle used to like this land very much, but after listening to Mr. Feng Shui, he soon smiled and said forget it. My family has been peaceful for generations, and I don't want future generations to bully others by force. Peace is happiness. Let's go somewhere else.

This shows that names are actually powerful. It makes sense for modern people to pay more and more attention to the eight characters and the five elements when naming the next generation, which means good meaning and chic. Of course, choosing a good name is only the first step, and cultivating good quality is the most critical. Because the fate of people, or the rise and fall of the whole family, is determined by the thickness of virtue and the quality of family style. Being kind to others and living in harmony with others is definitely an essential quality for a good fate and a prosperous family.

Speaking of cemeteries, if there are graves in some plots, they are directly named after the owner's surname. Like the west bank of the North River in our old street, it is the ancestral grave of our Wang family, and that land is directly called the graveyard. There are other tombs of the Zhang family, the Wang family and the Shaw family, which are all named after the ancestors of the Zhang family, the Wang family and the Shaw family. Moreover, these cemeteries have a certain history before they are named after the owner's surname.

Among them, "Shaojia Tomb" is located on the east bank of Xinjie Street in our village. It is said that an ancient military commander was buried with many funerary objects. Later, houses were built on that land, and some people really dug up more precious funerary objects when building houses. Especially the house on the east side of the land belongs to Houhe Village, a neighboring village. It is said that some homeowners have made a fortune by digging more treasures.

Fourth, the long years are like flowing water, and the past events on the Shiyan wall depend on it.

There are also several plots named after the special existence of the land edge, such as soft jujube tree, Zhang Maoer tree, west weir land and north weir land.

There are several soft jujube trees beside the soft jujube trees. The fruit of the tree is a little bigger than the full big grape, and the trunk can be grafted with persimmon trees. Persimmon is a unique economic tree species in mountainous and hilly areas. It has made great contributions in the era of material poverty-persimmon fruit can be eaten by itself, or it can be sold to supplement the family. My mother often tells me the experience of selling persimmons when I was a child.

When my mother got married, she was the boss of my grandmother's family. Because grandpa died early, she took on family responsibilities early. The cultivated land in my grandma's village seems to be poorer than that in the surrounding villages, so there are many persimmon trees that can be exchanged for some living money to give people hope. Every autumn, after the persimmon fruit is picked, my mother will carry the burden to Anyang City, or Hebi City nearby to sell persimmons. It is not easy to go back and forth for dozens of miles, all on foot and carrying the burden.

That "Zhang Mao Children's Tree Land" has always been puzzling. Why is it called such a name? Later, an old man in the village told me that the owner of the old persimmon tree near the land might be called "Bowie Cheung". Later, everyone called this land "Bowie Cheung Woodland" and it became "Zhangmaoer Woodland", which is really interesting.

It is worth saying a few more words about the two weirs.

The main source of Laojie River is Beigou. When it flows out of Beigou and enters the northern end of the village, another tributary joins it from the west. At both ends of the two sources of this river, there is an earth embankment about three meters high, which is wrapped by layers of big stones, and the length of the stone embankment is about 20 meters. What is this? Prevent soil erosion. Because Beigou is connected with Xiwa, which is several kilometers long, the amount of incoming water is large and rapid in summer rainstorm. If stone walls are not used to resist the erosion of water potential, the soil layer of several acres of flat land on the shore will be washed away in a few years. The tributary of this small river starts from the west and reaches the end of Xiling slope. When water comes in summer flood season, the stone weir wall also plays the same role. In this way, several acres of flat land on both sides of the two stone-wrapped soil were named "West Weir Land" and "North Weir Land" respectively.

I was born in the mid-1970s. When I was a child, I often climbed up and down two stone weir walls to play. I can't tell when the stone dikes were built, but I feel that it is also a big project for our small village to build these two stone dams in the era of pure handwork.

Now, the west weir land has almost disappeared.

Because a national highway 34 1 running through Xiling passes through the west weir, it was fully opened to traffic in June 20 19 after several years of construction. The west weir is three-quarters from the eastern end, leaving only a small amount of arable land under the high subgrade. Although the subgrade is raised by more than ten meters, the rising ridge slope in the west still needs water in rainy season, so a culvert is reserved under the subgrade as a water outlet. The water outlet is basically facing the original stone weir wall. However, in order to better protect the subgrade, the stone weir wall was demolished and rebuilt by the road construction team.

The stone weir wall in the mechanized era is neater and stronger than that in the manual era. Unfortunately, when I pass by there occasionally, I am always in a hurry and have no time to stop and climb up and down the stone wall.

5. Hometown place names have secrets, so explore and protect them with your heart.

Because the cultivated land in our village is mainly in Beiling, the distance from the village is the basic standard, and there are some "regional names":

After leaving the village, I walked up a big earth slope to the north, with eight acres of land in the west and a threshing floor in the east. That big slope is called "Beitianpo". Further north, there is a smaller threshing floor on the west side of the road, and the land on the side is called "Tianbian". Further on, the road to Shangbeiling is divided into three forks, one of which leads to Xiyandi above Beigou, the other leads to Huaishuwa, and the other continues to Shangbeiling. Therefore, Sanchakou area is called "Huai Shu Wa Kou".

I took a section of the road to Beiling, because it is close to the village, so it is called "Qianling Shang". Further north, it is estimated that there is an east-west dirt road connecting Dongwa and Xiwa, forming a crossroads with Shangbeiling Road, which is called "Lu Pipeline". Later, I realized that I was wrong. Father said that the east-west road was crossed by a big official a long time ago, so it was called "official road", not "closed road". As for official road, there is no textual research because there is no written record.

After the "closed road" area, go north and you will find "Beiling Road".

Although Beiling Mountain is uneven, it has been widened a lot in the end. The largest 30 mu and 40 mu of land in our village are there. But is this the farthest plot from the village? No, go north after "Northridge", and there is another place far from the village called "Heilongjiang Land".

Haha, thinking about Heilongjiang Province in the northeast of the Central Plains is just like thinking about our village's "enclave" beyond Beiling. I remember when I was very young, I followed my mother to that field to deliver food to my father. It was too far away for people to dare to go for the second time. Later, because it was too far away from the village, it was not convenient for farming and harvesting, our village rented the land to a village near the plot.

The place names in my hometown are all simple and interesting. Almost a place name, a story, not only contains the wisdom of our ancestors, carries the local culture, but also hides the password to open the history of the countryside. Just after I felt that I had a comprehensive grasp of the names of dozens of cultivated land in my hometown, I suddenly heard that the greening of National Highway 34 1 needed a piece of collective land rented by my uncle's family-"Mingjundi".

Ming Jundi? Why didn't I know there was such a piece of land? What is its origin? I think there are many secrets in rural land that need us to explore and protect seriously. ...

(Note: I went back to my hometown from the city after the epidemic control was relaxed. Dawa Village in Matoujian Town has a small population and no collective income. Among the surrounding villages, it is the only village without hardened roads. The two streets less than 1000 meters are very shabby and need the help of caring people urgently. The illustrations in this article are all selected online, and the actual situation is very bad. )