Chapter 284: Deciphering the Oracle Bone Inscription!
A "Biáng" word,Stumped many students,Of course, there are some students who know,This word can't be typed by various input methods,Or the type is not a Chinese character,But a picture with the word "Biáng" written,This word can be said to be a combination of words。
Biáng, dedicated to Biángbiáng noodles, a traditional flavor specialty noodle dish in Guanzhong, the word "Biáng" is written in a variety of ways, and its origin is different.
Li Fan picked out the word he wrote, and elaborated one of the stories, he said:
"Legend has it that when he passed by a noodle shop, he heard the sound of 'biang-biang' in his ears, and he was hungry for a while, so he couldn't help but pace in.
This bowl of noodles smelled very fragrant, Xiucai salivated at the corners of his mouth, called a bowl of noodles, ate it so much that it was called a gobble, and the bowl was clean in an instant, he wiped the sweat on his head, touched his pocket, and suddenly panicked, and his bag was empty. At this time, he regretted this, he couldn't wait to slap himself a few mouths, why was he a Wen Xiucai, if he was a martial artist, eat a bully meal, what can you do to me?
The shopkeeper who was standing on the side squinted his shoulders and shrugged his shoulders, smiling evilly, and had already seen Xiucai's embarrassment very clearly. Just as Xiu was about to speak, Xiao Er blocked his words, "Guest officer, our store operates on a small budget, and it will not be credited." ’
Xiucai had no choice but to touch and touch on his body, thinking about finding a few changes, and thinking about a plan to get out in his head, he also casually talked to Xiao Er to delay time.
Xiucai asked, 'Little Er, what's the name of your family?'
"What is the name Biáng!" said the shopkeeper in a Xiucai tone: "Biángbiáng noodles." ’
Xiucai asked suspiciously: 'Biángbiáng noodles?'
This noodle shop is a well-known time-honored brand, and its noodles are made specially, and the noodles and panels collide to produce the sound of 'biangbiang', so it is called 'Biángbiáng noodles'.
How to write the word 'biangbiang', the store makes noodles, the guests eat noodles, no one has ever thought about it, besides, there was no nine-year compulsory education in ancient times, there were few literate people, and there were many illiterate people.
Seeing that the shopkeeper couldn't answer, Xiucai suddenly had an idea, and he said: "Xiaoer, you have discussed with the boss, I don't have money today, can you write the word 'Biángbiáng' and eat it in exchange for this bowl of noodles?"
After asking the boss, the shopkeeper came back and said, "Cheng." ’
Xiucai muttered in his heart, how can he repay his debts? There has never been the word 'Biángbiáng' throughout the ages. If it is not in the book, how can it be made?"
The students asked:
"yes, how can you pay the bill?"
"How did you come up with the word Biáng?"
……
Li Fan said with a smile: "Xiucai is so bad, at this time he is in a predicament, full of sadness, melancholy, remembering his sad life, studying hard for decades, and now he has not succeeded, his reputation is not good, everyone is watching, and he falls into such a field as a debt, which is unfair!"
He was in a hurry, and scolded the emperor in his heart: What sun and moon shine in the sky? The people are suffering and mourning all over the wilderness; The palace is rolling, and the jackals are in charge; corrupt officials and corrupt officials run rampant in the countryside; I have no money and no one, I can't get through the joints, and I can't get fame, how can the sun and the moon shine!
Xiucai thought of this and shouted: "Pen and ink are waiting!"
When Li Fan said this, he lifted the fountain pen, the pen walked the dragon and snake, and said while writing: "A little fly to the sky, the Yellow River bends on both sides; One is long in the west, one is long in the east, and a king of horses is added in the middle; At the bottom of the heart, next to the word moon, leave a hook to hang hemp candy; Push the cart and go to Xianyang!"
The word "Biáng" fell into writing again, and everyone suddenly realized that this was the original meaning.
Li Fan put down the pen and said: "One word, the geography of the mountains and rivers has been written, and the world is hot and cold." Since then, Biángbiáng has been famous in Guanzhong. This character shocked the world with its huge and complex strokes! The traditional Chinese characters reached 56 strokes! When our chairman entertained the guests, he also specially mentioned this Biángbiáng noodles. ”
Everyone said:
"One more word, Li Fan!"
"One more word!"
"I've seen it for a long time. ”
……
Gu Yating was holding a notebook in her arms, and as soon as she walked into the classroom, she saw that everyone was surrounding Li Fan, and she asked suspiciously, "What are they doing?"
One girl thought for a moment, "Hey, it's color-eating!"
This girl either misunderstands this sentence, or it is used in ancient times for the present, "color eating sex" comes from "Mencius", which is what Confucius said, the normal structure should be "food color, sex also", that is, "liking beautiful things, is the nature of people". This sentence has nothing to do with Confucius, nor does it have anything to do with "food, color, and sex" as it is commonly understood today.
But don't worry, this sentence is too accurate to summarize their conversation, they did talk about "sex" from the beginning to "food", and there is nothing wrong with it.
When Gu Yating walked into the room, the bell rang and the class started.
Sitting next to Li Fan, she glanced at the font on Li Fan's notebook and asked, "Is this noodle delicious?"
"I haven't eaten it either, or during the 11th Golden Week, let's take time to go to the local area for a meal, what biangbiang noodles, meat sandwich buns, meatballs and spicy soup, eat to your heart's content!"
Speaking of which, the two of them wanted to open their taste buds, and then they both put their fingers on their fingers to count the time, and then they stopped talking, and the topic was stopped, how could there be any extra time in this Golden Week?
After a while, Professor Sun walked into the classroom and apologized, "I'm sorry, students, I'm late!"
Walk to the podium, insert the USB flash drive into the device, turn down the curtain, and today's lesson "A Brief History of the Development of Chinese Characters" begins.
"Students, in today's lesson, we will start with the oracle bone inscription, which is the oldest mature script in the dynastic period of our country, which records the political, economic, and cultural information of China more than 3,000 years ago. The discovery of the oracle bone inscription opened up a new era in China's academic history and advanced the history of China's letter by more than 1,000 years.
……
Students, do you know who first discovered the oracle?"
Professor Sun glanced at the students in the audience, and his gaze fell on Li Fan's face first (or his gaze fell on Li Fan's face many times at the beginning of the class). At this time, Li Fan's facial expression was a little solemn, his eyebrows were slightly locked, and the two sword eyebrows looked slightly taller.
This is a puzzled expression, or a questioning expression, because the two expressions are too similar, Professor Sun obviously understood the former, so he didn't ask him, his gaze shifted slightly, and said, "Gu Yating, you answer." ”
Gu Yating got up and said: "Wang Yirong in the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty discovered it in 1899, this person is a goldsmith, he found that the keels sold in the Chinese medicine store were engraved with some very ancient patterns that seem to be words, and after realizing that this is a very precious cultural relic, he bought all the keels and found that each keel has a similar pattern. He was convinced that this was a script, and that it was relatively perfect, and it should be from the Yin Shang period, so the oracle bone inscription officially appeared. ”
Professor Sun nodded with satisfaction, "That's right, please take a seat." In 1900, Wang Yirong's oracle bones were transferred to Liu Yi, and his in-law Luo Zhenyu learned that these oracle bones came from Xiaotun Village in Anyang, so he sent people there many times to buy oracle bones.
After the decline of the dynasty and the turbulence of the times, the villagers of Xiaotun Village learned that the oracle bones were profitable, and began to dig indiscriminately countless times. They set up tents, set up stoves, fought for territory, and often fought for this, digging up Xiaotun Village 'full of holes, ravines and ravines', and the oracle bones dug up were swept away by merchants and foreigners who sat on the ground to buy them, and a large number of them were left behind or lost overseas. ”
When Professor Sun said this, he began to sigh and sigh.
"The oracle bone inscription has only been discovered for 119 years today, and through the joint efforts of our Chinese experts and scholars in the past dynasties, about 1,500 oracle bone characters have been interpreted, but there are still nearly 3,000 oracle bone characters that have not been interpreted, and even if the words are interpreted, there are still about 500 that are very doubtful......
The official website of the Chinese Character Museum is preparing to issue a reward announcement in the past few days, if there is a group or individual who deciphers the unread oracle bone inscription, or makes a new interpretation of the controversial oracle bone inscription, once the research results are identified and approved by the expert committee, then a single word reward of 100,000 yuan. ”
Wow!
Everyone was amazed.
"How much? 100,000 per word?"
"It's worth a lot of money, isn't it?"
"Knowledge is power, and if you have knowledge, you can get rich!"
……
Ma Qiang pulled Li Fan and asked, "How much did the teacher say there are still undeciphered?"
"More than 3000. ”
Ma Qiang slapped the table, "Get rich! Crack 100 for 10 million, with this rich buddy to travel the world for a lifetime!"
It involves linguistics, archaeology and other disciplines, it is not an exaggeration to call it unpopular, and it is easy to decipher has already been deciphered by the predecessors, and what remains is the "old and difficult" problem, and there are a large number of place names, clan names, sacrificial names and other proper nouns, many of which seem to have no connection with our world.
Nowadays, there are very few scholars who study oracle bone inscriptions, and the reason is very simple, the oracle bone tortoiseshell beast bone materials are relatively old, and it is difficult to study.
As a result, many young scholars have changed careers to do research on Qin and Han Jian, and these newly discovered materials are easier to produce research articles and become more famous.
Professor Sun pressed the flip pen, and a pattern was projected on the curtain, which read: an animal has two pointed ears on its head, and further down, it has four limbs, arms and two legs. (Oracle can't be typed, but what can I do, collapse!)
"Students, what do you pronounce in this cute word? ”
Countless students raised their hands.
"Teacher, this word is pronounced 'cat'!"
"Fox, fox's 'fox'!"
……
"It's not right, this word is the word 'Ding', and the ancients used 'Ding'. ”
The students made up for it and suddenly realized.
Pressing the flip pen and another word, the students continued to answer incorrectly, and Professor Sun smiled: "This word is 'sheep'!"
After a few words in a row, Professor Sun's eyes glanced at Li Fan from time to time, after all, Li Fan is the most outstanding foundation of Chinese studies in this classroom, not to mention this classroom, even in the Chinese cultural circle, among all the scholars from the age of 30 onward, Li Fan will "kill everything" anyone else.
When a teacher throws out a difficult question, he will basically ask the best student in the class if he will be able to, which is the teacher's nature, but Professor Sun glanced at Li Fan again and again, and then gradually was confused by his expression.
What kind of expression is this? He was serious, his brows were tightly locked, he had not been smiling, he was not a normal student listening to a lecture, and his brows were tightened more and more, as if he still had a slight tendency to shake his head, and Professor Sun slowly finally read out another meaning, that is, the questioning that wanted to speak and stopped.
At this time, there is such a word on the curtain: a "vertical", and the left side of the "vertical" is followed by four "horizontal" with a certain arc, and the four horizontal are in groups of two and two, and there is an obvious gap between the two groups. The shape of the whole character is like a flag fluttering in the wind.
"The character is '㫃' (Note: yǎn), 㫃, like a flag fluttering. Everyone, pay attention, isn't this 'vertical' of the oracle bone inscription very similar to a flagpole?" Professor Sun couldn't hold back when he said this, he pointed at Li Fan and said, "Li Fan, do you have any high opinions?"
Note that Professor Sun kept saying things like "what do you think" and "what do you think" to other students, but when he came to Li Fan, it became "Do you have any high opinions?" Professor Sun would not think of any appropriate wording for his students to ask about this matter in class, which may be a subconscious emphasis, after all, Li Fan is already a scholar in the academic circle.
Li Fan got up and said, "Professor Sun, can I explain my humble opinion to you after class?"
"It's okay, but it's okay!"
Li Fan sighed for a moment and said, "Professor Sun, I personally think that this character should be the word 'Zhong'. ”
Professor Sun frowned, puzzled, and said, "Why?"
"Professor Sun, can I come up to the stage and write a few words?" Seeing Professor Sun nodding, Li Fan walked to the podium, opened a blackboard, and wrote several oracle bone inscriptions in succession.
It's really impossible to explain that Oracle is not on the stage, after all, the mouth can't describe the appearance of Oracle.
The characters written by Li Fan are very similar to the characters projected on the screen, and there is an obvious feature that there is an extra "mouth" character in the middle of a "vertical" (alternatively, it can also be made as follows: the Chinese character 'zhong', in which the side of the 'vertical' is connected to two groups (or a) 'horizontal' with a certain arc, and placed above and below the word "mouth" respectively, unified on the left or right side of the "vertical" are established).
As soon as these words came out, the other students were confused, but Professor Sun knew in his heart that this Li Fan really understood the oracle bone inscription!
Li Fan said: "The oracle bone inscription, also known as the 'deed' and 'oracle bone divination', is mainly used for divination in the late Shang Dynasty in China. The word can be borrowed to represent the 'zhong' of 'Zhongding' and 'Bozhong'—" Li Fan said this, and circled the oracle bone inscription on the curtain on the blackboard, "I think this character is the text of the other words." ”
Professor Sun frowned and said: ""Shuo Wen Jie Zi" said, the tour of the flag, the appearance of the sword. And the meaning of this word is also in the Kangxi Dictionary, and there is no problem with using it to decipher this oracle bone inscription. ”
Li Fan stood on the stage with a smile and said loudly: "The image of this word is like the flag shape of Jianzhong, and the divination has 'Lizhong' and 'Jianzhong Flag' means that there are 'big events can gather people in Lizhong, and can be used to observe the wind direction...... Therefore, students think that the word is 'medium', not '㫃'. ”
The students were stupid, confused, like falling into a fog, they couldn't understand at all, and what they said was completely beyond their knowledge base.
Professor Sun pondered, "Your point of view is very novel!"
Under the podium, Gu Yating sneered, it's okay, 100,000! Anyway, in Gu Yating's memory, after knowing Li Fan, Li Fan has never missed a hand in Chinese studies.
Professor Sun asked again, "What about the other words, do you have any opinions?"
Two oracle bones fell on the blackboard again, namely the oracle bones of "wolf" and "embarrassment".
Li Fan said: "Everyone is familiar with the idiom of 'embarrassment', it is said that the wolf's hind legs are short and the front legs are short, so the wolf and the embarrassment go out to forage together. The wolf uses its front legs, and the hind legs are used for embarrassment, and the front legs are placed on the wolf's body. This way they can run very fast. That's embarrassment.
However, the embarrassment is actually just a legend, and there is no such animal as 'embarrassment' in nature, but the oracle bone inscription deciphers this word as 'embarrassment', and I personally have reservations. ”
Professor Sun asked, "What is your opinion?"
"Teacher, I'm just analyzing. Let's see that this 'embarrassment' is made up of two parts, this is a 'shell (oracle)' clamping the tail of a 'dog (oracle)'. In the Jin Wen of the Western Zhou Dynasty, this 'shell' was moved to the right side of the dog, what does this mean?
The oracle bone inscription '狈' is used as a verb in divination, and is used in conjunction with dogs and horses, and we can understand 狈 as an action and behavior aimed at horses or dogs.
Clipping a live shell to a dog's tail may be an attempt to domesticate the dog so that it loses its wildness in its incessant struggle. The Late Shang era was a period when wild animals were gradually domesticated and raised, and the animal domestication technology at this stage was relatively mature.
That's why I said that the embarrassment should be a technique for taming dogs, not animals. Late Shang tombs often saw the burial of dogs in waist pits, and the appearance of dog-accompanied warriors as burials, indicating the emergence of the Late Shang dog martyrdom technology.
This word is also misunderstood!"
Professor Sun nodded again, "That makes sense!"
Gu Yating in the audience said in her heart: It's okay, 200,000!