Are there any taboos about surnames?
The taboo of surnames
approximately originated in the Zhou Dynasty. In the process of recording history, Confucius clearly stated that "taboo should be taboo for the respected, taboo for the relatives, and taboo for the wise". At the same time, in the bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty, it can be seen that in front of the venerable, people with low status or seniority usually only address themselves by their names, not by words, let alone titles. This, in fact, is consistent with the avoidance of His Holiness’s name. However, in the Zhou Dynasty, a strict taboo avoidance system had not yet been formed.
In the Qin Dynasty, this "national taboo" began to be institutionalized. Originally, emperors before the Qin Dynasty had to accept the worship of civil and military officials and decide the political affairs of the year in the first month of each year, so the first month of each year in the lunar calendar was called the political month. However, in the Qin Dynasty, because Qin Shihuang was born in January, he was named "Ying Zheng". After Ying Zheng became emperor, he replaced "Zheng" with the homonym "Zheng". In some rural areas today, in spoken language, "Zhengyue" is still spoken as "Zhengyue" (even the pronunciation is changed and becomes "Zheyue"). But this change is not enough, and the avoidance of taboos is not complete. Furthermore, it was changed to "Duanyue" with similar pronunciation and meaning. Not only that, Qin Shihuang's father's name was Zi Chu. To avoid taboos, "Chu Di" was changed to "Jing Di".
In the Han Dynasty, as Confucianism occupied a dominant position in the field of feudal superstructure, the taboo system became more complete and the scope of taboo became wider. For example, the name "Bang" for the founder of the Han Dynasty was taboo. Not only did he use "Guo" instead of "Bang" when speaking or writing, but also had to change the long-established documents. For example, in "The Analects of Confucius? Wei Zi": "Why go to the country of parents", the broken stele of the Han Shi Jing changed it to "Why go to the country of parents". The Empress Lu of Han Emperor Gaozu was named "Pheasant". In the documents at that time, whenever the word "pheasant" was encountered, it was changed to "pheasant", which is synonymous with "pheasant". The Chinese emperor's name was Liu Heng, because "heng" and "长" They have the same meaning, so "Hengshan" was changed to "Changshan" and "?'e" was changed to "Chang'e". Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty had a secret ambition, named Ayu. Because of the taboo, the word "水" next to "渝" was changed to the word "口", and the surname "Yu" became the surname "Yu". Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was named Liu "Che", and there was a very famous debater named Kuai Che at that time. In order to avoid conflicts with Liu Che, the history books had to change Kuai Che's word "Che" to the word "tong" which is synonymous with "Che". It's called Kuai Tong. Xun Kuang, an educator during the Warring States Period, was revered as Xun Qing. Since Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty was named Liu Xun, people in the Han Dynasty avoided the taboo of Emperor Xuan, so Xun Qing was changed to Sun Qing. Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty named Liu Xiu, so he changed "Xiucai" to "Maocai". Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty named Liu Zhuang, and at that time he changed the name "Zhuangzi" to "Yanzi". Moreover, all those with the surname "Zhuang" were changed to "Yan". For example, change "Zhuang Zhu" to "Yan Zhu", and change "Zhuang An" to "Yan An".
The Tang and Song Dynasties were another peak period of advocating Confucianism in China. This custom of avoiding character names became even more popular in the Tang Dynasty.
In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, the central government had six ministries, one of which was called the "Minbu". However, because Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty was named Li Shimin, in order to avoid taboos, the "Minbu" was changed to "Hubu", and the name "Hubu" has been used ever since.
The name of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty was Li Shimin. The taboo "Shi" was changed to "Dai" or "Xi", "Min" was changed to "人", and "三世" was called "Three Generations". This is still preserved in some literature and classics. For example, at the end of Liu Zongyuan's "Snake Catcher's Theory", "Therefore, it is said that those who observe people's style will get it." Among them, the word "人风" , should have been "folk customs", but due to taboos, it was changed to "people's customs". The earliest book in my country that records the origin of surnames, "Shiben", was written as early as the late Warring States Period. At this time, "Shiben" was also changed to "Xieben".
Tang Xianzong's name was Li Chun, so everyone with the surname "Chun" was changed to "Yu".
In the Song Dynasty, this taboo-avoidance trend could be said to have reached its peak. Not only did words with the same shape, sound, and meaning have to be tabooed, but also words with the same or even similar sounds had to be avoided. .
For example, the name of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty was Zhao Zhen. The word "Zhen" should be absolutely taboo. Needless to say, the word "Zheng", which has the same pronunciation as "Zhen" (in modern Beijing dialect, Zhen zhēn and Zheng zhēng, are similar in pronunciation) and should also be avoided. , the word "Zhao" for steamed rice had to be changed to "Cui", but the meaning is similar, and the shape and sound are completely different.
What's more striking is that the name of Emperor Gaozong of Song Dynasty was Zhao Gou. The word "construct" itself cannot be used, and any words that have the same pronunciation as "construct" or even have similar sounds and similar shapes, such as "go", "媾", "gou", "go", "遘", "hub", "簏", "诏", "gou", "寣", etc. There are more than 50 characters Every word must be avoided and cannot be used. For example, in Sichuan at that time, there was a surname with the same pronunciation as "Gou". To avoid the taboo, everyone also changed their surname.
It was even more serious. What is comical is that because the Gou family is too big and scattered in various places, it is difficult to communicate with each other, so in the process of changing their surnames, they had to go their own way, sometimes adding the word "金" next to it. The surname became "Gou"; some added "Hansi" next to it and changed it to "Xuan", and some had to change the pronunciation of "Gou". By the Qing Dynasty, this taboo not only reached the point of being inexhaustible, but also became a surname. It was greatly expanded and extended. In the fourth year of Yongzheng's reign, Zha Si, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, was appointed as an examiner in Jiangxi Province. As an exam question. This sentence originally came from the poem "Ode to the Shang Dynasty", which praised the king. Unexpectedly, it caused the disaster of killing and annihilating the family. At that time, someone reported that the words "wei" and "zhi" in the original sentence. The word "Yongzheng" was removed. When Emperor Yongzheng heard this, he was furious and immediately dismissed Zha Siting. After Zha Siting died of illness in prison, his son's body was also displayed to the public. When he died, his family members were also exiled. Not only that, but because Zha Siting was from Zhejiang, Zhejiang Province was also implicated and ordered to stop the township examination for six years.
This is close to a literary prison. This serious phenomenon lasted until the early years of the Republic of China. After Yuan Shikai restored the imperial system, he also vigorously avoided the words "Yuan Mei" on the walls of Beijing coal shops, because "Yuan Mei" and "Yuan Mei" were all written out. There is no homophony for "Yuanxiao". "Yuanmei" is easily misunderstood as "Yuan Shikai is gone". By analogy, "Yuanxiao" must also be changed to "tangyuan", because "Yuanxiao" and "Yuan Xiao" are homophonic. Call "Yuanxiao" " This custom of "glutinous rice balls" is still popular in many places.
In the West, there is no example of naming that avoids the emperor. On the contrary, sometimes the names of emperors or national leaders are used to replace place names. For example, the capital of the United States was originally named Philadelphia; later, out of respect for President Washington, people named the capital after "Washington" and it has been used until now. Leningrad in the Soviet Union was originally called "Petersburg". After the October Revolution, "Petersburg" was renamed "Leningrad" after the great revolutionary teacher Lenin.
However, in China. In feudal society, not only the name of the emperor was taboo, but also the names of officials below the emperor had to be taboo. "Notes of Lao Xue'an" once recorded such a story. There was a state official named Tian Deng. Since "deng" and "deng" have the same pronunciation as "deng", when the lanterns are set off during the Lantern Festival, the notice issued says "the state sets fires for three days according to regulations", but cannot say "sets lanterns for three days". This story later became a proverb: "Only state officials are allowed to set fires, and people are not allowed to light lamps."
"Family taboo" is originally a taboo limited to relatives; but when interacting with outsiders, During the process, outsiders must also respect other people's "family taboos." If we encounter certain political and social reasons, over time, some "family taboos" will not be completely "private taboos", but will become a kind of "public taboo" in society---the public will avoid it. For example, when investigating Hancheng County in Shaanxi Province, the two major families with the surnames "Tong" and "Feng" are both descendants of the "Sima" surname. According to legend, as far back as the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, they were the same clan of Sima Qian; later, Sima Qian was imprisoned and castrated for the Li Ling incident. The Sima clan in Hancheng County were afraid of being implicated, so they tabooed the surname "Sima" and changed their surname. . Some added a vertical line to the left of the character "SI" and changed it to the character "Tong"; some added two dots to the left of the character "马" and changed it to the character "Feng".
"Family taboos" are of course not all taboos for avoiding fathers, but also include taboos for avoiding mothers.
There is a record in "The Biography of Wang Kun in Southern History": "If the taboo is too much, the father's name is Yi and the mother's name is Gongxin. This is not an offense. It may be called overkill."
Du Fu, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, was called As the "Sage of Poetry", he wrote nearly 3,000 poems in his life, and there are still more than 1,400 poems left. There are also a lot of pastoral landscape poems written in it, but there is not a single word about begonia flowers. This point has long been pointed out by Su Shi, the great poet of the Song Dynasty who was very familiar with and admired Du Fu. Su Shi said: "Shaoling (that is, Du Fu) was responsible for the rise of poetry, but he had no intention of praising Begonia." Why did Du Fu avoid tabooing Begonia? In this regard, "Ancient and Modern Poetry" gave a very accurate answer: "The mother's name of Du Zimei (that is, Du Fu) is Haitang, and Zimei is taboo, so there are no poems about Haitang in "Du Collection"."
"Home "Taboo" is not necessarily limited to the father's generation, and some also extend to the ancestors. For example, Su Shi's grandfather's name was "Xu", and in the articles written by Su Shi's father Su Xun, "Xu" was changed to "Quote". When Su Shi wrote "preface" for others, he often changed "preface" to "narration".
In the Song Dynasty, due to the spread of private taboos, it sometimes developed to the point of being almost ridiculous. Xu Ji, a poet of the Northern Song Dynasty, because his father's name was "Shi", Xu Ji never used stone tools in his life. If he encountered "stones" when walking, he should avoid them and never step on "stones" with his feet. If he encounters a "stone" bridge and cannot avoid it, he will have to be carried across the bridge, but he will never step on the "stone" bridge.
Liu Wensou, who was also in the Song Dynasty, because his father's name was "Yue", he never listened to music in his life (because "Le" has the same pronunciation as "Yue") and did not go to tall mountains (because tall mountains The mountain is "Yue").
Wei Yi's father was famous for his music. Since "乐" is a polyphonic character, it can be read as "乐" for "music" and as "乐" for "joy". Therefore, Wei Yi not only Do not listen to music, do not travel to high mountains and mountains, do not drink alcohol (because drinking can bring "fun"), and do not participate in activities that can make people "joyful" (because "joyful" means "joyful").
Although "sacred taboos" are not as strict and widespread as "family taboos", especially "national taboos", in China, they are not entirely spontaneous, but are imposed from top to bottom. Regulation. In the seventh year of Xiangfu's reign in Dazhong of the Song Dynasty, it was clearly stipulated: "It is forbidden to write stories that use the name of the Yellow Emperor." The regulations of the Jin Dynasty were more specific: "It is forbidden for officials and common people to offend the ancient emperors and have the same surname. The names of Zhou Gong and Confucius should also be avoided. "The regulations of Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty were expanded. In addition to the sage Confucius, a sage of Mencius (Mencius) was added, and it was stipulated that taboos about Confucius and Mencius must be avoided.
Of course the three taboos of "national taboo", "family taboo" and "sacred taboo" are not exactly the same in terms of strictness and people's feelings towards them.
"National taboos" belong to the category of feudal legal system and are extremely coercive. Everyone must abide by them regardless of subjects, men, women, old or young. Once violated, at least it will be condemned by public opinion, and at worst it will be severely punished by the law. For example, "Tang Lv Shu Yi" stipulates that deliberately calling the emperor by his first name is a crime of "great disrespect". This is one of the "Ten Evil" crimes, the most serious crimes in feudal society. Even unintentional secrecy about the emperor's relatives would be punished. In the imperial examinations of the Song Dynasty, if someone broke the rules, he would be immediately reprimanded and deposed, which would cause lifelong consequences.
Although "family taboos" are also recognized by the law, they belong to the category of feudal ethics and morals, and they also embody the feelings of respect, admiration and nostalgia for the elders, with varying degrees of spontaneity.
"Sacred Taboo" is right in between the above two and belongs to the category of feudal etiquette. It includes the execution of etiquette and the respect of sages, both mandatory and spontaneous.