, In response to the attack on me by some readers, saying that I don't understand the name of Datang, so I racked my brains and responded to you with a chapter... In the previous section, we talked about the language problem after traveling back to the Tang Dynasty, and some guests said: We learn English, from primary school to adulthood, and we haven't tossed it for more than ten years, and it is impossible to learn all Chinese in the Tang Dynasty for a year and a half, right? How about you, the tour guide, teach us some of the most urgent and useful Tang Dynasty dialects?

There is a point. In this way, let's talk about the first "salutation" that people use when they open their mouths.

According to my limited understanding, in addition to being reincarnated as emperors, the probability of reincarnating as concubines, princes, princesses, and children of nobles is the greatest. So after you are reincarnated as a prince, princess, noble man or woman, what should you call when you open your eyes and see the person in front of you?

With a "ding dong", you win the battle with the soul of the original host, take possession of his/her body, and wake up feeling that you are lying on a large bed with soft and gorgeous bedding, and your nose smells the strong smell of smoke and decoction. Someone shouted outside the screen in front of the bed: "Queen, Lang Jun/Princess has finally woken up!" Then the bed curtain was lifted, and a richly dressed woman leaned over to look at you—

At this time, it is okay for you to call "A-Niang" affectionately, or "Queen" seriously, and it is better not to call "Queen Mother" - this word was not used as a face-to-face address in the Tang Dynasty, and her old man may think that you are confused.

The words used by children in the Tang Dynasty to call their mothers in person are not unfamiliar to modern people, and they are mainly derived from "Niang" and "Niangniang" (not specifically used to call concubines, but ordinary children call their mothers). If you feel that you are an adult with status and need to be serious in front of your mother, then you are called "mother".

If the prince or princess who was crossed by you was very close to the queen, then in informal occasions you can be called "A-Niang" directly like ordinary people, and the etiquette rules in the Tang Dynasty court were not as cold and strict as in later generations. If it's a formal occasion, or if you make the Empress angry and need to be careful to make amends, then you have to follow outsiders and address her to her face as "Her Royal Highness" – not "Her Majesty", only the Emperor can be called "Your Majesty".

You called "Ah Niang", the queen agreed, called your nickname, or "son" or something like that, the two of them were talking, and the slave and maid outside announced: "The saint is here." ”

It was not Confucius, nor Guan Erye, it was your father who was the emperor.

In the Tang Dynasty, the more popular person-in-person titles for the emperor were "sage", "lord", "everyone" (used by people around the emperor, but generally not used by ministers), and the traditional "Your Majesty" can of course also be used. As for the popular word "emperor", it seems to be a written term in the Tang Dynasty, and there are no examples of living people calling the emperor in person. "Long live" is used by the masses to pat the emperor when they are emotional, and they do not regard this word as a title in daily life.

As for you, the prince and princess who has just crossed the upper body, it is not recommended to be called "father", and this word did not appear as a salutation in the Tang Dynasty. Similarly, if the relationship is intimate, you can just call "Father" or "Aya" as a civilian family.

Compared with the "Niang" series called mother, the title of father in the Tang Dynasty will seem stranger, more chaotic, and more cheating. The most popular titles are various derivatives of "yes" (ye), such as "yes" (grandpa), "aya" (grandpa). It is very common for parents to be called "Ye (Ye) Niang", such as Lao Du's "Soldier Carriage Travel", "Ye Niang's wife is gone, and the dust does not see Xianyang Bridge", and "Mulan Poem" "Ye Niang heard that the girl was coming, and Guo Xiang helped the general".

But there is also a kind of title for the father, which is "elder brother". "Old Tang Book: The Biography of Wang Ju": "Xuanzong cried and said: 'Fourth Brother Renxiao ......'" The "fourth brother" here refers to Xuanzong's father Ruizong (ranked fourth among the half-brothers). "Old Tang Book: The Biography of Di Wang Yan": "Only the third brother argues his sinner." The "third brother" here also refers to his father Xuanzong (the third in line among the brothers). Li Shimin has a letter to his son Li Zhi, and the signature at the end of the article also calls himself "elder brother".

In the Tang Dynasty, the title of "elder brother" referred to both the father and the elder brother, such as Tang Xuanzong once called his eldest brother Ning Wang "eldest brother" and "Ning Ge" in public[10]. It is said that this title was passed down from the grassland peoples, and it was not finalized in the Tang Dynasty. So I solemnly suggest that all travelers, don't just manage passers-by, and even call your own brother "big brother" and "brother", this title is easy for people to take advantage of you in terms of seniority - the safe name of the elder brother in the Tang Dynasty is "Brother" (ranking) + brother", which is recommended to use.

When we came back, we also said that we could call our father affectionately, and in colloquial language, we could call "yes" and "brother", and in written language or in serious situations, we should naturally call us "father" or "adult".

As a face-to-face oral salutation, "adult" was only used to call parents in the Tang Dynasty, and in some cases it could be used to call direct blood relatives and elders, and it was never possible to use "Lord Zhang", "Lord Wang" and "Lord Li" to address various officials. For example, when Li Shimin persuaded his father Li Yuan to raise troops against Sui in Taiyuan, he said: "The adults are edicted to beg the thief ......" Dunhuang Variation [11] There is also in "Shunzi Change": "Shunzi forks hands to enlighten the adult: If you kill a mother, Shun Yuan has no filial piety, and the adult thinks about it." ”

The practical use of "adult" to address the father has been preserved in the habit of correspondence until modern times. For example, we can see from "Dream of Red Mansions" that people in the Qing Dynasty no longer call their fathers "adults" in oral language, Jia Baoyu calls his father "master", Jia Huan and Jia Rong are called "fathers", but as soon as they write letters, such as Jia Yun, who recognized Baoyu as his godfather, he writes "Buxiao Nanyun respectfully asks his father to be blessed with Jin'an".

When did "adult" become a term for officials? I can't tell the specific time, but the evolution process of the titles of "adult" and "lord" is the same, they are gradually expanding and extending from "calling father", a phenomenon called "externalization of relatives predicates" is combined with flattery, and finally the semantics of "adult" changes to address officials, and "lord" (lord) changes to address the master and noble.

Okay, you ask: Since in the Tang Dynasty, you can't use "Lord Zhang" and "Lord Wang" to call officials, then there are two big officials surnamed Zhang surnamed Wang standing in front of me, how should I call them? You can't just call your name, can you? It's also rude.

Mmmm, good boys who know how to be polite...... In the Tang Dynasty, there were roughly the following names for officials.

One is "surname" + "official". The "official" here does not have to be the full name, for example, Liu is a "free rider and a regular attendant", and is often only called "Liu Changshi". Basically, each official has some conventional titles, the surname Zhao "Bingbu Shangshu" and the surname Qian "Rite Department Shangshu" are called "Zhao Shangshu" and "Qian Shangshu", and the surname Wang surnamed Li "Si Xun Chief, Examination Chief" is called "Wang Chief" and "Li Chief", and so on.

The second is honorific titles such as "surname" + "gong", which are widely used and can be used by the people and officialdom. If you travel to the Zhenguan period, see Fang Xuanling and say "Fang Gong is good", and see Wei Zheng and say "Wei Gong Wanfu", people will think that you are a very educated child. In addition, the name of the font and the name of the place [12] can also be used, "Taibai has a new sentence today?" "When will Liu Hedong leave for the south?" Such.

The third is "surname" + "official name alias". For example, the Tang people called the county order "Ming Mansion", so the Zhang County Order and Li County Order would be called "Zhang Ming Mansion" and "Li Ming Mansion".

In short, if you want to call "adults" any official you want to meet, this lazy method will not work. The person who is called "Lord" will stroke your head and smile without saying a word, and your real lord will probably be so angry that he will beat you with a stick when he hears it.