A name is the title of a thing. When human beings have linguistic thinking, they must give different names to different things in order to distinguish them. It's the same for different people. Reflected in human language, different languages represent different things, which is called "names".
At the beginning of writing, when a child is born, his grandparents or parents (family dignitaries) give the child a name. This name is only used to address, only refers to the child's voice symbol, and is not in a hurry to express it in words. After naming, the father told his son's name to his subordinate officials, who then told him. Subordinate officials wrote two copies, one for local officials and one for state officials.
Because of the richness of language, parents can give their children all kinds of names with all kinds of meanings. A baby from infancy, a child who grows into a teenager year by year, lives in a big clan family and needs human protection and support. These people are called by their first names, and most of them are elders or older people. Because of this relationship, it can be said that most people who call their names are people he should respect. Others call his brother by his number according to his ranking, such as Li Bai's name is Li Twelve, Bai Juyi's name is Bai Twenty-two, and so on.
The ancients believed that naming is a major event in life, and we should follow certain principles of destiny, otherwise it would not meet the etiquette requirements. "There are five names, faithfulness, righteousness, image, emptiness and category" (Spring and Autumn Zuo Zhuan Huan Gong Six Years). The so-called "letter" is named after the characteristics of the child at birth; The so-called "righteousness" means pointing out the good omen when you are born; The so-called elephant is named after similar things, and the so-called class is similar to the father.
Later, with the continuous development of Yin and Yang studies, people gradually paid attention to the "five elements" in eight characters and names. For example, Lu Xun's article "Hometown" said: "I heard the name of Runtu early, and I knew that I was born with him, and the five elements lacked soil, so his father called it Runtu." Zhang Bazi, a master of Chinese studies: Chen Wu was born in the second birthday, Guimao Gengshen, born in the twelfth lunar month, with golden cold and Shui Han, and the five elements lacked fire. His name is Lin Bing, and his name is too inflammatory. The five elements of Chinese characters sometimes hide unhealthy factors. For example, in the name Song * *, the sun belongs to fire, while the water of Bo Dai belongs to water, and fire and water intersect, so there are unhealthy factors.
word
Chinese characters are closely related to the ancient crown ceremony. Let's talk about the crown ceremony first. According to "Book of Rites Quli", "Twenty men are crowned by words." "Women are allowed to get married, and they are embarrassed." The word "Zi" here refers to the coronation ceremony, which is roughly equivalent to the initiation ceremony of many primitive tribes and is a coronation ceremony held to show that men are adults. After the coronation, women have the rights and obligations of adults, which are different from those before the coronation in society, marriage, religion, distribution, war and political participation. The ancients took the word by the crown ceremony. Since the coronation ceremony is so important, its etiquette must be very grand. Every move of the coronation ceremony has requirements, and guests take words for it. "When the crown is weak or married, a famous minister will address him with another title, which is called Zi" (Matteo Ricci China's Notes).
Why is the guest answering the phone? We infer that there were not many people who could master writing in ancient times, and this guest should be a person with a high level of writing. However, even so, in the face of many different names, it is not easy to attach the meaning of "name" to a limited number of words that are still out of touch with language. We must try our best to find a word close to the concept of this language name to express it. This word, when written, is "word".
In this way, people at that time not only had a name that they could say when they were young, but also a word that they could write and record. Names and characters are representative symbols of a person, one is a sound symbol, the other is a character symbol, and the bridge between them is their common meaning.
In ancient times, women and men were slightly different. Women have relatively little social interaction, which is mainly used for marriage and employment in adulthood: "Men and women are not known by their media." At this time, a "word" was quickly read out ("the woman promised to marry, and her mouth was full of words." ), for use, women's words are almost designed for engagement. Later generations called the girl who was not engaged to marry "Wei Zi" or "Dai Zi", while the girl who was engaged was called "Ji Zi". Therefore, in ancient times, some famous women had characters, such as Cai Yan and Cai Zhaoji. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, with the serious decline of women's status and the abolition of crown ceremony, there were very few women taking characters.
The relationship between names and words
1. From the requirements of feudal etiquette, it is mainly the need to distinguish between superiors and inferiors.
In ancient times, people only had names, but no words. Names and characters are produced with the gradual maturity of Confucianism, feudal ethics and the urgent needs of society. Shuowen: "Fame is pretentious. From morning till night. The evening is also a ghost. If you don't meet each other, you will call yourself. " In the dark, people touch each other. Because they can't see, they have to say some kind of sound symbol with their mouths to represent themselves. This is the original name of human beings. At this time, we still can't see any respect, but the ruling class should keep the ceremony of "Jun Jun, Minister, Father, Son" and "self-naming" should be different. Not everyone is the same, and calling others by their names is the same. If it is impolite, it is indecent.
Under normal circumstances, the ancients claimed to be. In front of the venerable person, they silently say their names to show humility and respect for each other. Talking to people lower than yourself is generally a compliment. "Ji Qin" says: "A monarch is a minister, and a gentleman is a master, and his name can also be named. As for the current party officials, brothers with the same surname and friends, you can call them by their first names, not by their first names. Therefore, The Biography of the Ram said:' People whose names are inferior to words do not mean that their names are inferior to words, but that their words are almost respectful and their names are almost humble'. " In other words, being called by name means that you are inferior to each other, and being called by words means that you are more noble than each other. So in ancient times, denouncing its name was a sign of disrespect for people. Among colleagues of the same age, it is also a respect for each other to address them in their words.
The regulations in this respect were very strict in ancient times. Say your name when addressing yourself in front of your father, and your father will call you by your first name, that is, "the name of your son's former father, the name of your former minister." Monarchs and emperors are the most respected, so there is a saying that "monarchs are not famous". The difference between a name and a word eventually becomes "name, you respect your own reasons, and the honorable person lives for yourself;" The word "self" is a special symbol to distinguish yourself from others. At this point, names and characters have simply become symbols and symbols to distinguish social status.
2. Personally, I think there is a certain connection between names and words.
"Ji Qin" says: "The crown has words, so respect its name, and the name becomes a gift, and the words are based on the name." "Words according to their names" shows that the meaning of "words" comes from "names". In this way, the two have an exterior-interior relationship, which the ancients called "exterior-interior". This relationship leads to "you know your name when you are famous, and you know your name when you smell it".
There are many relations between ancient names and characters in China. The following are typical cases:
First, the relationship between each other. That is, word interpretation and name interpretation, the two meanings complement each other. For example, Yue Fei, Fei Ming, the word Ju Peng, and Ju Peng are Dapeng who spread their wings and fly; Zhuge Liang is famous, his words are bright, Confucius is also bright, and Ming is bright; Qu Yuan's name is Ping, the word is original (one word is a word, special), and Ping and the original are mutually interpreted; Du Fu, surnamed Fu, has a beautiful word and is a good name for men. Su Shi, a famous poet, is a visionary. Stone is a bar of ancient money, which people can use to look into the distance in the car. Looking ahead means looking into the distance.
Second, the complementary relationship. The word is a supplement to the name in meaning, which makes its meaning more complete and perfect. For example, Chao, a writer in the Song Dynasty, has no blame for words, and words and names complement each other, which together means "no blame for editing"; Zhang Jiuling, minister of the Tang Dynasty, had the word longevity, and nine was supreme. The only age allowed is of course longevity. Du Fu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, advocated that the words should be simplified and the names of people should be supplemented by words, that is, "the judgment must be simplified"; Gao Song, a native of Song Dynasty, known as Guo Ying, was a great pillar. Together, it means that this "Takamatsu" will be called the pillar of the country in the future; Nie Jue, a native of Yuan Dynasty, was a jade article used by ancient emperors and generals when they held various ceremonies.
Third, the coordinate relationship. Names and words have the same or similar meanings. Such as Meng Jiao, the word Dongye, the countryside is similar. The word "Yao" mentioned by Mencius and the word "Yu Zi" have similar meanings to "Yao" and "Yu". Ban Gu, the name is solid, and the word Meng Jian means solid together; Zheng Qiao, a historian of the Song Dynasty, was a man of firewood and fishing.
Fourth, repeat the relationship. Names and words have exactly the same meaning, both of which are the same word, because words are generally two words, so just add a word before and after the name. Such as Li Bai, the word is too white; Du Mu, the word Mu Zhi; Gong Yechang, long word; Han Bo, the word Kangbo.
Fifth, the opposite relationship. Names and words have opposite meanings (words have opposite meanings, but they are complementary in politeness or reason). Wang Ji, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, is famous for his achievements. Merit is achievement, and those who take the word "reactive power" are modest; Confucius disciple Zi Gong, surnamed Duanmu, whose name is Ci, the word Zi Gong, Ci, went to Zhixia, Gong, and Shang on the Summer Solstice, with opposite meanings and complementary overall meanings. Similar situations are as follows: people in the southern dynasties lost money and benefited from words; Liao Deming, a native of the Southern Song Dynasty, was hazy. Lu rou in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Zi Gang and so on.
Numbers other than names and words
In ancient times, people were "born famous and strong with words", but after middle age, there were numbers, which were aliases other than people's names and words. This title is usually given by themselves, but it is also awarded by the highest local official. With the number, anyone can mention his number whether the person is present or not. Numbers do not necessarily have a meaningful relationship with names and words. Numbers are generally related to my living environment, personality characteristics, religious beliefs, ambitions and hobbies, and my attitude towards politics and other things. For example, Bai Juyi's Xiangshan laity, Su Shi's Dongpo laity and Ouyang Xiu's "Liu Yi laity" in his later years, that is, a thousands of books, a volume of epigraphy, a piano, a game of chess, a pot of wine and himself, are all for "Liu Yi". Lu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, is known as a "wanderer" because he is a Youzhou native and has the ambition to care about the country and the people.