What's the difference between a name, a word and a number? What are the names of the ancients?
The ancients attached great importance to people's names, and they were also very particular about choosing names.
Moreover, their naming methods are different from now. A person should not only have a famous surname, but also take another word and number.
What are the differences and connections between the names, characters and numbers of the ancients? Today, I will study with you. ...
What are names, characters and numbers?
In ancient times, after a person was born, the elders would give him the first name, that is, the "baby name".
When he grows up, he will take another word besides his name.
The Book of Rites: "If you crown it, you should respect its name. Your father used to call him by his name, and others called him by his name. "
According to the ancients, a person's "name" can only be used in front of kings or elders, while "word" is used to address peers or younger generations.
After entering the society, most colleagues and friends should call them by their first names, not by their first names.
Scholars often give themselves a nickname, which can be used as a proxy or as their own name when singing peace in articles.
The so-called "correct name, correct word and correct number" contains all personal qualities.
How did the ancients name it?
Everyone's name will be with him all his life, so naming is a very important thing. In order to name carefully, the Spring and Autumn Period also paid attention to "naming method".
Regarding the naming principle of the ancients, "Zuo Zhuan Huan Gong Six Years" clearly stipulates: "There are five names, faith, righteousness, image, falsehood and class."
▲ Letters refer to some signs and features that people are born with, such as a birthmark with special shape and distinctive appearance. In A Dream of Red Mansions, Jia Baoyu was born with jade, so he was named "Baoyu". Of course, this is mythical.
▲ Righteousness refers to the auspicious phenomenon that accompanies someone's birth.
▲ Elephants are named after similar things. Confucius was named "Qiu" because his head was sunken after birth, that is, his father was named after it.
▲ False refers to the name of everything. After Confucius had a son, Lu gave him a carp, and he named his son "carp" according to the principle of "taking things as false".
▲ Class means that you can take a name similar to your father.
In addition, the ancients also put forward six taboos to avoid in naming, namely, don't use the country, don't use officials, don't use mountains and rivers, don't use hidden diseases, don't use animals, and don't use coins.
If people's names have the same names as these things, it will cause a lot of inconvenience.
When Nuohou of Jin was named "Situ" and Duke Wu of Song was named "Sikong", Situ and his two official names were abolished, but they were named "Ju" and Duke Wu named "Ao", and the two mountain names of Ju and Ao were abolished.
Since the Song Dynasty, people have paid more and more attention to naming names, including family generation, date of birth, zodiac and so on.
Chen Yinque, a famous historian, ranks "Ke" in his family. He was born in Yin Shi, so he was named "Yin Ke".
In the names of the ancients, it inherits the blood of the family, entrusts the high hopes of the elders, symbolizes the identity and status of people, and is an important support for a person to settle down.
What's so particular about ancient Chinese characters?
The word "zi" in ancient times was a name other than a name, and the number of words could be 1~2. In most cases, the choice of words is related to the name. The relationship between names and words is as follows:
▲ juxtaposition, that is, the name and the word have the same meaning or the same meaning, which is a juxtaposition relationship. For example, Qu Ping, etymology. As the old saying goes, "Guangping said the original", so they have the same meaning. Another example is Monk, the word Yu Zi. "East" and "Yu" both mean cars in Chinese.
▲ Auxiliary words refer to similar meanings and names, but they are not exactly the same and can complement each other. For example, Lu Ji, the word Shi Heng. Machine and scale are the names of the Big Dipper, which complement each other.
▲ Contradiction means that words and names have opposite meanings. Zhu, the word is dark, light means morning light, which means dawn, and dark means darkness, which means darkness.
▲ Complementarity means that the meanings of words and names are inherited, mutually causal or can be used to explain names, such as Zhao Yun and Zi Zilong.
The Book of Changes said, "Clouds follow dragons and winds follow tigers." Belong to the same sentence and have the same meaning; The words Yu Qian and Tingting come from the word "modest benefit" in Shangshu, and they are mutually causal.
▲ extension, such as Li Bai, Taibai, Taibai refers to Taibai Venus, which is an extension of the meaning of white characters.
Moreover, the words of the ancients can be taken by both men and women, not men. In A Dream of Red Mansions, Jia Baoyu asked Lin Daiyu, "What's the word?" Daiyu replied, "No words."
On the one hand, it shows that Daiyu is not yet fifteen years old, unmarried, and not old enough to take characters. On the other hand, it also shows that ancient women can take characters.
How did you get the nickname?
Compared with names and characters, the ancients chose nicknames more freely, and there were no restrictions on the number of words, words or words.
As mentioned above, posthumous title is generally used by literati to address each other or claim to be themselves, and pays more attention to his master's feelings, personality, hobbies and life experiences, which is the embodiment of his life pursuit.
For example, Su Shi's Dongpo Jushi shows that he believes in Buddhism and once took care of a wasteland in the east of Huangzhou. Dongpo is synonymous with that wasteland.
Sometimes, you can also use official positions and people's hometown as numbers, such as Wang Wei's number "Wang Youcheng" and Liu Zongyuan's number "Liuhe East".
Emperors, literati and officials were also dubbed "posthumous title" and "Temple Name" after their death, which is also a kind of posthumous title. Such as Gong, Ceng Gong,.
The names, words and figures of the ancients contained their cultural connotations and attitudes towards life.
Knowing these exquisite things, when you have nothing to do, you can take individual figures for yourself, which is both pleasing to the eye and nourishing, and makes it elegant.