China Naming Network - Eight-character Q&A - Introduction to Ancient Horses

Introduction to Ancient Horses

When people talk about the famous horses in ancient China, the first thing people think of is often the "Eight Horses" of King Mu of the Western Zhou Dynasty. "The Biography of Emperor Mu" records: "The horses of the Emperor (Mu) are Chiji, Pirates, Baiyi, Yuolun, Shanzi, Quhuang, Hualiu, and Luer." [1] Although "Shiyiji" also mentions And "Eight Horses", but its name is very different from the "Biography of Emperor Mu": "The king controls the horses of the eight dragons: one of them is standing on the ground and does not touch the earth; two of them turn their feathers and fly over the birds; three of them fly into the sky and travel thousands of miles at night; Four of them are super shadows, walking towards the sun; five of them are super bright, their coats are shining brightly; six of them are super bright, with ten shadows in one shape; seven of them are flying in the fog, riding on the clouds; eight are carrying wings, with fleshy wings on their bodies. "Yan, press the bridle and move slowly, crossing the realm of heaven and earth." [2]

In addition, the six war horses favored by Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, the so-called "Six Horses of Zhaoling", were also frequently praised by later generations. and. The Zhaoling site is located on Jiujun Mountain in the northwest of today's Liquan County, Shaanxi Province. Emperor Taizong personally wrote an article, erected a monument here for Queen Wende, and carved six stone statues of his beloved horses. "Cefu Yuangui" records that in November of the 10th year of Zhenguan (636), Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty said to his ministers: "Since the expedition, I have ridden troops and broken formations to help those who are in trouble. I have published this in stone. The true shape is engraved and placed on the left and right sides to extend the meaning of the curtain. "[3] "Jinshilu" says: "In the "Praise of Six Horses in Zhaoling of the Tang Dynasty" on the right, Emperor Taizong made his own inscription on the burial of Empress Wende. The mausoleum was also carved with stones to resemble the six horses he rode during his lifetime, which were all engraved in praise of Ouyang Xun. "[4] The names of these six horses are: Sa Lu Zi, Te Le Piao, Quan Mao?, and Qing. Zou, Baitiwu, Shivachi.

Also, in the later period of Taizong's reign, the northern nomadic tribe Guligan (or its territory is north of today's Lake Baikal) sent envoys to sacrifice horses: "The chief of his army was so angry that the envoys offered horses. The ones with different names are named ten Ji, all of which have good names: Teng Shuang Bai, Jiao Xue Cong, Ning Lu Cong, County Guang Cong, Jue Bo Juan, Feixia Ciao, Dian Dian Chi, Liu. Jin?, said Xiang Lin Zi, said Ben Hong Chi. "[5]

In addition, there are many other "horses", "horses", "celestial horses" and "magic horses". Such as 郃騠[6], 镕褭[7], sweat-blooded horse[8], etc. This article will not go into detail.

Horses in ancient China - especially famous horses - were not "local products", but mostly obtained from outside the region (especially Central Asia and North Asia). This has long been recognized by the world, and there is no need to explain it here. Repeat. In fact, it is easy to identify the non-Chinese etymology from the names of these famous horses. For example, "Stealing Li", "Yulun", "Shiva Chi", "Tele Piao", etc., it is difficult to explain their meaning in Chinese. As for "Baiyi", "Quhuang", "Hualiu", "Saluzi", etc., although they seem to have Chinese meanings (the ancients indeed often made such explanations), they are probably still translations of foreign languages ​​and are just translations of foreign languages. It’s just about taking into account both pronunciation and meaning. As for the horse names listed in "Shi Yi Ji", I am afraid that most of them are names that have been "Chinese" and "deified" by later generations. They have been divorced from the true appearance of the real horses and distorted the original meaning of the names.

This article aims to discuss the original aspects of the titles of some famous horses in ancient China. The previous statements will be re-researched, and new discoveries, modifications, and enrichments may be made, in order to initially reveal the great influence of the "horse culture" of the nomadic peoples outside the region on ancient Chinese culture.

For the comparison of horse names, we strive to meet the following three conditions: First, be as consistent as possible in terms of pronunciation (of course, taking into account the differences in various dialects and the Chinese translator’s consideration of both pronunciation and meaning) Possible phonetic deviations, some phonetic pairs cannot match as accurately as modern translations). Second, most primitives should be related to color (although Guo Pu's statement that "the eight horses are all named because of their coat color" [9] may not necessarily be the case, but it cannot be completely ignored). Third, whether these primitive words contain the meaning of color or other meanings, they should be the title of horse, or words closely related to it. This is verified as follows.

1. The origin of "Robber Li" may be the Turkic language toru?0?6

Guo Pu's annotation of "Robber Li" in "The Biography of Emperor Mu" says: "It is a horse with a thin neck. Li is black." In Therefore, the word "Li" seems to have its Chinese meaning, but this kind of horse also has many synonyms. "Guangya Shuzheng" explains "駣?" It says: ""Historical Records of the Qin Dynasty" "Zeufu got Ji Wenli", Xu Guangyun said: "Wen, one was a thief." "Suoyin" said: "Zou was born in this work 駣, Yintao. 'Zhili is this 駣?'..."Yupian" refers to "Tao"; "Yu Lan" quotes "Guang Ya", also writes as 'Tao'; "Ji Yun" says: '駣?' The name of the animal is like a horse.

'" [10] It can be seen from this that "銣銊" can also be used as "駣?", "Tao?", "駣?", etc. However, the words "?" and "?" do not have the meaning of "black". It's just that the pronunciation is the same as "銊". In other words, it is very obvious that the name "銊" was originally a transliteration. Therefore, the original meaning of "銊" is not necessarily "thin-necked black horse". /p>

The 33rd line on the east side of "Que Teqin Monument" [11] records: "(Que Teqin) rode the y?0?1gin Silik officer's maroon horse with a horse coat to attack for the third time. The horse died there. "[12] Here, the Latin transliteration of the original Old Turkic text of "chestnut horse" is toru?0?6. This word still exists in all Turkic language groups; it is in the Tufan language of the Northeastern language group , can be written as doru?0?6, in the Ottoman language of the northwest language group, it can be written as doru, and so on. Tekin interpreted it as "bay, reddish-brown" [13], and Clauson interpreted it as ". (of a horse) bay" [14], which obviously further clarifies that this word is usually only used to modify horses. That is, it often refers to chestnut and auburn horses.

The ancient origin of the word "Robber Li" The pronunciations are *d'?0?3g and *lieg respectively, [15] in terms of phonetics, it can be the Chinese translation of toru?0?6 or doru?0?6

That's it. In terms of coat color, "銊" and "toru?0?6" are not completely unrelated. Generally speaking, although the word "銊" is used to mean "black" or directly refers to a black horse, it may also refer to something similar. The color of black. Take "黧" as an example: this word usually means "black", but it also means "yellow and black". "Guangyun" explains the word "黧" as "black and yellow." "[16] "The Sound and Meaning of All Sutras" explains the word "黧", citing "Putong Wen" as "black spots"; citing "Kaosheng" as "black and yellow". [17] Also, Hu Sansheng annotated "Zi" In "Zhi Tongjian", "(Yao) Xiang's horse is called a horse with an eyebrow and an eyebrow." It is explained at the time: "Black and yellow, it is called an armada... A yellow horse with a black beak is called an armada." "[18] In view of the fact that "黧" is related to "Li", and "銊" is also related to "Li", the words "銊" and "鈧" should have something in common in both pronunciation and meaning. Then, the word "銊" also has The meaning of "black and yellow" is not purely conjecture, but the color of "black and yellow" is quite close to maroon or auburn.

In fact, the ancients used this when explaining the color of "Robin Li". It was not considered pure black from the beginning. "Historical Records of the Qin Dynasty" "Suo Yin" quoted from "Liu Shi Yin Yi": "Stealing, stealing. Steal, light cyan. "Although this interpretation is far-fetched, the intention of not referring to "Stealing Li" as black is clear at a glance.

Since toru?0?6 has been used by all ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages ​​since ancient times. The name of the horse, and its pronunciation is quite consistent with "Robin Li", and the coat color it refers to is also similar to "Li", then we can think that the origin of "Robin Li" is indeed the Turkic language toru?0 ?6.

2. The origins of "Bai Yi", "Ben Xiao" and "Pu Shao" are basically the same.

"Bai Yi" is listed in "The Biography of Emperor Mu" "Benxiao" is the third of the "Eight Horses" listed in "Shi Yi Ji", and the name "Pushiao" is found in "Historical Records": "(Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty) attacked Dayuan later. Get a thousand-mile horse, and the horse's name is Pu Shao. "[19] "Han Shu" lists it as one of the four kinds of horses from the Western Regions: "Since then, the pearls, Wenjia, Tongxi, and Cuiyu have been abundant in the harem, and the Pu Shao, Longwen, and Yumu , Horses of sweat and blood fill the Yellow Gate. "[20]

"Bai Yi" can also be called "White Sacrifice" ("Liezi" has "(King Mu of Zhou) traveled far and wide wantonly, and ordered to drive eight horses: on the right he served Hualiu and on the left he was green. "Er, the right is red and the left is white" [21]). Since "yi" and "xi" can be interchanged, the entire title is probably a transliteration of the name. "Pushao" is also called "Puzhao" (Yuan Zhen's poem "Forty Rhymes by the River" contains the sentence "The high gate is rutted, and the Chinese stables are called Pu Cao" [22]); it can also be called "Pu Sao" ("Historical Records" implicitly refers to "(shao), "Also for show"). This word is obviously a transliterated name. As for "Benxiao", although it is quite similar to the meaning of "night travel (thousands of miles)", its pronunciation is very similar to "Pushao", and it is in the same category as "Baiyi" The third of the eight horses, so it may still be a "Chinese" transliteration name. Therefore, I think that these three horse names are the transliterations of the Turkic bo:z yunt and bo:z at, and the meanings of the two phrases are completely different. Same.

The word bo:z has long been widely used in Turkic languages, almost exclusively referring to the coat color of horses. It is a Mongolian loanword in the form boro . It still exists in all Turkic language groups, but with slight phonetic changes, it can also be used as bo:z, po:z, bo:s, po:s, etc.

bo:z refers to a wide range of colors, and its meanings vary greatly in different situations. For example, it can be interpreted as "gray"; bo:z at (at means horse) that appears repeatedly in "Que Te Qin Stele" and "Que Li Chuo Stele" is interpreted as "gray horse". [23] Kashgari said in its "Turkic Dictionary" that the word can be used for any animal with a coat color between white and gray spots (or white spots) maroon; also known as, when people say bo:z ko: When y is used, it means "brown sheep". [24] Mahdi Khan's "Chagatai-Persian Dictionary" says that boz is "blue tending to white" and "an indigo (that is, dark gray) horse". [25] In addition, some people interpret it as "white horse" or "iron gray horse". From this point of view, the color of bo:z is at least not pure white, but may be light gray or dark gray.

In modern Turkic language, people most often use at to refer to "horse", but in ancient Turkic language there is another completely synonymous word - yunt or yont. In the "Book of Divination" ("Irk Bitig"), this word often appears; in many early non-religious documents, it is the standard word to express the twelve earthly branches (or dates), such as "horse" The word "horse" in "年" and "马日" is both yunt (yont).

Therefore, we have reason to believe that the name "白义" is translated from the Turkic bo:z yunt. The ancient pronunciation of “白” is b’?0?0k; the pronunciation of “义” is ?0?7ia. It is well known that the initial nasal sound of ?0?7- in ancient times has evolved into y- today. That is to say, ?0?7- and y- can be connected. Pu Liben believes that there is evidence that at least in the Han Dynasty, the initial consonant ?0?7- was used to translate the initial consonant y- in non-Chinese languages. At that time, since the semivowel y- in Chinese had not yet evolved, the lingual nasal ?0?7- seemed to be the closest to the lingual surface sustained y- in non-Chinese languages. [26] In view of this, it is quite consistent to use bo:z yunt as the etymological origin of "白义".

On the other hand, as mentioned above, in Turkic languages, the more widely used word for "horse" is at. So, another possible form of bo:z yunt is bo:z at . The ancient pronunciations of "Pu" and "Shao (Sao)" are *b'wo and *s?0?3g respectively; the dental sounds s and z are close and can be converted to each other during translation, so the slang for "Pu Shao" can be Originally regarded as bo:z at. In the same way, "Benxiao (*pwEn siog)" can also be regarded as its variant translation. In view of this, the original Turkish meanings of Baiyi, Pushao and Benxiao may all be "gray (or dark gray) horse".

Aisin believes that there seems to be signs that the ancients used light-colored horses as mounts for nobles. In the heroic epic of Oghuz, the great Khan Baindi's mount is a bo:z horse; and in the legend of Alexander in early Anatolian literature, the immortal Kidder also rides a bo:z horse. :z horse. [27] Even if this conclusion may not be completely correct, it at least provides further evidence for the above comparison: the contributions made by the nomadic peoples from outside the region to the Han emperors probably included the bo:z mounts, which they considered to be a symbol of nobility.