Chapter 577: Name Culture

Due to the particularity of Chinese character culture, it has created the complexity of Chinese national culture in many aspects, and at the same time, it has also added an aesthetic experience that other civilizations cannot understand.

Especially when it comes to naming.

As the saying goes, a person's name, the shadow of a tree, although it refers to the quality of reputation, the size of fame, the level of fame, the presence or absence of fame, etc., these things related to "fame" are like shadows, accompanied by reputation, and they can't get rid of it if they want to.

But it also confirms the importance of the name for a person, in philosophy, the name is an important criterion for a person to recognize the 'self' from the outside world, because the name represents not only you as a person, but also represents your memories and traces in this world, if you lose your name, then the outside world's memories and traces of you will also disappear.

Of course, this disappearance is in the external sense, and has nothing to do with my own cognition.

Most civilizations have a direct relationship with the habit of making words, and the names are mostly given figuratively or according to the description of the situation at birth, and the names of gods in Greek mythology are like this, such as Athena means "elegant maiden" in ancient Greek, and the name of Vienna is "born from the foam of the sea" because she was born in the sea by the goddess of the ice sea, and was wrapped in foam and surfaced when she was born.

The customs of the ancient Egyptian civilization were similar, and the name of the sun god Amun is 'the hidden one' in Egyptian, because as an Egyptian god, Amun was hidden in every corner of the world.

These are the customary rules of naming ancient civilizations, the names are simple and straightforward with symbolism and meaning, and in the middle of civilization, the West takes medieval European civilization as an example, which is mainly divided into three categories in meaning, the first is to remember the ancestors, the second is to pursue virtue, and the third is to seek God's protection. For example, the common Germanic name Frederick means "peaceful and powerful".

Beginning in the 11th century, these traditional Germanic names were replaced by the names of saints or biblical figures, often from Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. The Christianization of names and the general Christianization of medieval Western European societies went hand in hand. The most common names among Europeans today, such as Peter, John, Jacques, Mary, etc., are derived from Christianity.

Later, when theocracy declined, Europeans began to define their identity by fiefdoms. For example, Charles, the founder of the Valois dynasty in France, was originally the son of Philip III of the Gappé dynasty, but was renamed Charles de Valois because he was divided into the Valois region of northwestern France at the end of the 13th century.

Later, this law of taking the family name as the surname, the Bible or the ancient mythological epic has been passed down in the West to this day.

The custom of naming in China was similar at first, but with the prevalence of the poetic culture of Chinese literature, many other meanings were gradually added to the naming of children.

All surnames in Huaxia, when they were first created, must have something to do with the position of the ancestor who was given the surname at the beginning.

In ancient times, China also used tribes as a unified surname, except for some important figures, ordinary people did not have names, such as Chiyou, Xuanyuan, Shennong, Fuxi, Nuwa and so on.

After Cangjie made words, he began to name most of the people who had meritorious service to the tribe, and the names of these people became the surnames of their descendants, so the early Chinese ancestors were all single words, and the Chinese surnames belonged to the continuation of the matrilineal society, so the oldest surnames are related to the word "female", and the totem culture is closely related.

For example, Emperor Yan's surname is Jiang, because he was born in the Jiang Shui generation, and the oracle bone inscription of the Jiang character is composed of a sheep and a kneeling woman, representing that Emperor Yan's mother is a shepherdess, in the Jiang Shui generation.

The Yellow Emperor's surname is Ji, because he lives in the Ji Shui generation, the oracle bone inscription of the Ji character is a comb and a kneeling woman, representing that the Yellow Emperor's mother is a very beautiful woman, and the area of Ji Shui is also very beautiful, and later this word is also used to call beautiful women.

In the tribal era, there was a surname, and then the place name was named after the surname of the tribal leader, and then the clan appeared, which is a manifestation of the transformation of China from a matrilineal society to a patrilineal society, and the emergence of the clan means the emergence of a patriarchal society.

At the same time, the establishment of a patriarchal society also means the extinction of tribal culture, and there is a class division, so the creation of characters is directly related to the back cover, official position, title, and male reproductive characteristics totem.

In the matriarchal society, most of the totems unearthed were fish and frog images, which were representatives of female reproductive characteristics totems.

After the establishment of the patriarchal society, the totem was transformed into a bird, snake, cow, and horse pattern, and then with the invention of various tools, the totem also became diversified, and the clan of the character became diversified.

In the early days, surnames and surnames were two meanings, surnames referred to blood relatives, and clans referred to titles or signs, which were also somewhat different from names, but later surnames were combined, and 'names and characters' appeared.

The Yellow Emperor's surname is Ji, Xuanyuan's, there are currently two theories, one is that the Yellow Emperor created the earliest car, Xuanyuan together is a trace of the car, and the other is that the place where the Yellow Emperor lives is Xuanyuan Hill, so it should be Ji's surname Xuanyuan.

The source of other surnames is based on the surname Xie as an example, Xie is derived from the surname Ji Houyi, that is, the mythical Houyi who shoots the sun, Xie's oracle bone inscription is like a person pulling a bow and arrow, and the words Xie and shooting are common in ancient times.

Therefore, the Xie people are a clan that is good at shooting, and the name of the Xie Ming clan and the name of the place eventually forms the state.

And Hou Yi itself is one of the five emperors of the emperor Yu (ku) personally sealed the 'shooter' is an official position, but also Xie's again, Xie and shoot in the Chinese characters for the fake character.

Kong's surname is derived from the surname of the child, and the oracle bone inscription of Kong is composed of a humanoid child on the left and a bird flying with wings on the right. The son is derived from the legend of "the bird died of the egg".

"Xuanniao Dead Eggs" is a legend of the Dongyi people. Shaohao's descendant Emperor Yu accompanied his wife Jian Di and Jian Wei to Sanshe, and the swallow that flew in laid an egg, and Jian Di swallowed the egg and gave birth to Shang's ancestor Qi.

Zu Qi is the son of Emperor Yu, and Di Yao is a brother, Di Yao succeeded to the throne after the deed of 'Xuan Wang', fief in Shangqiu, and given the surname Zi, the surname later has Shang Dynasty Yin, Kong, Shang, Tang and other twenty-eight clans.

The surname culture of China did not stabilize until the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and slowly formed a 'name', the name and the word, are also two things that are separated, the name is the original name, mostly refers to the ancient father to give a single word name, the word is a table word, is a name other than the name that indicates the meaning of virtue or the original name, most of them are two-character names.

The people before the Qin and Han dynasties were basically the list characters, and the table words were double, such as Kong Qiu, the word Zhongni, the word Wei Qing Zhongqing, the word Liu Bei Xuande, the word Zhang Fei Yide, and the word Cao Cao Mengde, basically their original names were single, and the table words were double.

Therefore, before the Jin Dynasty, there was a saying that the single name was noble, and the double eye was cheap.

The ancients were very particular about taking table characters, and the situation was also very complicated, but careful investigation, analysis, and research also showed that there were rules to be found. For example, it is common to take words according to the order of the eldest and youngest of the brothers, such as Confucius ranks second, so the word Zhongni, he also has an eldest brother, the word Meng lame.

The most typical is the four sons of Sun Jian during the Three Kingdoms: the eldest son Sun Cezi Bofu, the second son Sun Quan Zi Zhongmou, Sun Yi ranked third, the word Shubi, Sun Kuang ranked fourth, and the word Ji Zuo.

There are also many cases where "Zi" is used in the table characters, because "Zi" was a good or honorific title for men in ancient times. Therefore, people like to use it, such as hole pile, Zisi, Zhongyou, Zilu, Sima Qian, Zichang, Cao Zhi, Zijian, Su Shi, Zizhan, Du Fu, Zimei.

In addition to these regular words, there is also a form of tabular wording in Chinese culture called 'juxtaposition phrases', which refers to a phrase consisting of two words with similar or opposite meanings.

For example, Qu Ping, the word original. The well-known Qu Yuan's real name is actually Qu Ping, which is his word, and "Erya" has clouds: Guangping said Yuan, Ping and Yuan have the same meaning.

Yan Hui, the word Ziyuan. "Shuowen" has clouds: yuan, backwater, Yan Hui's 'hui' has the same meaning as yuan.

Bangu, the word Meng Jian. Solid and solid mean the same thing.

Du Fu, the word is beautiful. Zimei refers to a handsome man, and Fu also refers to a beautiful man.

In addition to this, there is also a kind of table words that complement each other, echo each other, and generate each other.

For example, Li Yu, the word Liweng. The fisherman often wears a lily hat, and the lonely boat lily man refers to the fisherman with the lily hat.

Zhang Boju is a horse with the word Jiaqi, and the horse refers to a tamed pony, and Qi is a precious horse.

There is also a contradiction between the words and the word.

For example, Zhu Xi, the character is obscure. Xi is the dawn, and obscurity is the night.

Liu Guo, the word was changed. If you change it, you won't be at fault.

In addition, the words and names often come from a sentence, the meaning is the same, and the meaning of the word is supplemented or modified for the meaning of the name.

For example, Zhao Yun, the word Zilong. "Zhou Yi" said: "The cloud is from the dragon, and the wind is from the tiger." "The name and the word are in the same sentence and have the same meaning.

Cao Cao, the word Mengde. "Xunzi Persuasion" says: "Life is due to being, death is due to being, and the husband is called moral exercise." In a sentence, the word and the name are combined into virtue, that is, moral conduct, and the word makes a decorative explanation and supplement to the name.

Lu Yu, the word is gradual. "Zhou Yi" said: "Hong gradually can be used as a ritual in Lu Qiyu." The word explains the name.

Yu Qian, the word Tingyi. The Book of Shang says: "Humility benefits. "In a sentence, humility is the prerequisite, and benefit is the consequence of humility.

Finally, there is an extended form of the word method, which means the extension of the meaning of the name.

Li Bai, the word is too white. Too white refers to too platinum star, which is an extension of the meaning of white.

Du Mu, the word Muzhi. Pastoral means grazing, which by extension explains the meaning of herding.

can make the name so complicated, I'm afraid only the Chinese civilization.

The name is the good wishes and expectations given by parents to their children outside of blood relationship, and in the names of children, you can see the character and spirit that parents hope for their children to grow up, as well as the beautiful meaning of integrating Chinese civilization.

The importance of a name is overlooked by many people, in fact, the quality of the name really has a great impact on a child's development.

Especially the embarrassment of some goods in modern civilization after they are loaded with names, such as Alipay, Fu Yanjie, and the like.

What's even more terrifying is that some names have been given deformities under modern civilization, for example, Ren Junshuang, Jun Shuang is a chapter in "Shangshu Jun Shuang" that describes the story between the famous and the king in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and the meaning of the word Shuang originally refers to bright and clear.

But in a modern context, the name is terrifying.

Imagine how much social pressure you have endured since childhood to the general assembly because of this name.

There are also boys named Luo Li, Lu Chuxue, and Lu Yifa.

It can be seen how much impact not having a good name can have on a person's childhood and adolescence.