In modern times, people of various identities have a fixed title, which seems to be conventional, but in ancient times, these common titles are not necessarily the meaning of the modern universality.
Just like the term "husband", which makes the modern little sister feel affectionate, it can refer to the eunuch at the earliest, and the title cannot be called casually.
Modern names vary, and different regions have different names for the same identity.
If you were in the Song Dynasty, although everyone spoke Chinese, these names still exist in modern times, but their meaning has changed.
To put it simply, if you travel to the Song Dynasty, you may not be able to understand the situation at all when faced with these seemingly familiar titles applied to the actual scene, after all, their names are indeed a bit chaotic in the current view, and people can't understand their heads at all.
To take a simple example, the tenth emperor of the Song Dynasty, the founding emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty, Emperor Gaozong of Song, was still alive, and gave the throne to his adopted son Zhao Xuan, who was crowned Emperor Xiaozong and had a brother named Zhao Xuan.
In daily life, the two people communicate with each other according to the etiquette of honor and inferiority, after all, as the emperor still has to hold a shelf, privately, Zhao Xuan still calls Xiaozong the eldest brother to show closeness.
Once, Emperor Xiaozong went to the current Emperor Taishang to ask for peace, and also took his newly baked calligraphy works, and as soon as the two met, the Emperor Taishang was very happy and opened his mouth and shouted:
''Big brother, sit down.' You brought me something, oh! It turned out to be your ink treasure, not bad, recently there has been a lot of progress. ''
Are you confused when you see this? It is normal for the younger brother to be called brother, how come even the father has begun to call his son the eldest brother? Isn't that a mess?
I tell you, that's not wrong. Song Dynasty people are called brothers among brothers, fathers call sons also called brothers, according to the rank to distinguish between the elder and young, the first few are a few brothers, but no matter who is the younger brother and who is the older brother.
For example, Emperor Zhao Of Taishang, he ranked ninth among his brothers and sisters, and his father Song Huizong also called him Ninth Brother, and his brother Song Qinzong, although he was the eldest, also called him Ninth Brother.
Now I know how messy the names between the fathers and sons of the Song people are.
In fact, this can still be sorted out, the Song people's name for female relatives is more complicated, but also very interesting.
Also mention Song Gaozong, but this time the protagonist is his wife, Empress Xiansheng Empress Wu. She entered the Middle Palace in 1143 AD. Another major event occurred that year, that is, Emperor Gaozong's birth mother, Empress Xianren, was finally released by the Jin Dynasty. She heard that the throne of Emperor Gaozong's harem had been vacant, so she persuaded Emperor Gaozong to put Wu on the right throne.
Wu's mother's family is the world, the first thing to thank is of course this mother-in-law who speaks for her, coupled with the idea of the empress dowager, as soon as she saw the empress dowager, she said almost:
''Big sister, you've been living in the cold north all these years, and I'm so ashamed that my daughter-in-law can't serve you. ''
See no, in the Song Dynasty, a daughter-in-law could call her mother-in-law a big sister, and even Emperor Gaozong of Song could call her own mother.
In fact, in ancient times, the official name of the mother-in-law in the modern sense should be called ''Gu'', while the father-in-law was ''Weng'''. In the Song Dynasty, his great-grandfather was called "Gonggong", and his grandfather was called "Weng Weng" or "Big Daddy".
In ancient times, the reference to "mother-in-law" did not describe one's husband and his mother, but one who called "mother-in-law" may be one's own grandmother or great-grandmother. These two generations of people can be called ''Taimu'' during the Northern Song Dynasty, ''Great Mother'' in the Southern Song Dynasty, and ''Tai-Ma-in-law'" in the Southern Song Dynasty.
''Big sister'' refers to one's own mother or mother-in-law, while 'sister' can refer not only to female elders, but also to real sisters, and the elderly of the female relatives are the elderly sisters, and modern times have also retained this meaning. However, the daughter and niece should also be called sister, so it may only be seen in the history books now.
The mother and mother-in-law are ''sister'', the sister is ''sister'', even the daughter and niece are ''sister'', the imperial princess in the palace can also shout ''sister'' to the birth mother as a concubine, how can this be clearly distinguished?
You shout ''Sister'', I don't know what kind of relationship people have with you.
The Song Dynasty people alone are not chaotic enough, and add another one: the eldest daughter can not only be called ''big sister''' but also ''big bride''.
In the Song Dynasty, the status of "mother" was not limited to the status of mother, it could refer not only to the elders, but also to the peers and juniors. How exactly do you distinguish between generations? There is a way.
The Song Dynasty mixed the characters ''Niang'' differently, and the generational division became clear. Superimposing ''Niang'' into 'Niangniang'' refers to the mother, and also adds the distinction of ''Big Niangniang'' and 'Little Niangniang''.
For example, Emperor Renzong of Song referred to his concubine (Empress Liu of the Zhenggong Palace) as "Grand Niangniang", and another concubine, Yang Shi, who raised him, as "Little Niangniang", in order to reflect the distinction between rank and inferiority.
Folk also have such a distinction, children refer to their father's concubines as ''young mother'',' which sounds a bit like a little mother in the modern sense, but in fact, it is almost less.
Regarding the ''Niang''' and the addition of a '''Zi'' word is what we are familiar with in the "Legend of the New White Lady", Xu Xian's title of Bai Suzhen, but the title of ''Niangzi'' is not monopolized by the identity of the wife. In the Song Dynasty and before the Song Dynasty, as long as the woman's age is not too big, whether she is familiar with others or not, she can be called 'Niangzi'', you see this 'White Niangzi'' is not what we call it? In addition, if a woman is young and beautiful at first sight or has not yet married, we will call her "little lady".
Don't you see Ximen Qing flirting with other people's married young woman Pan Jinlian a mouthful of 'little lady'?'" After all, "Miss" in the Song Dynasty refers to women in special industries such as prostitutes, and it is absolutely not like the TV series in which the students have a "Miss", that is not the daughter of a large family.
During the Tang Dynasty, the meaning of 'niangzi'' changed, and the meaning of ''wife'' began to have ,but it is not clear that in the Yuan Dynasty and Ming Dynasty, the meaning of 'niangzi'' was generally narrowed to the scope of married women.
Having said so many names in the family, it is time to talk about the outside of the family.
Social interaction is a very important thing, after all, there are more contacts, the road is better, in the face of different people, the ancient people are heavy, and their titles are also very exquisite. There is communication in the official field, communication between literati, and communication between commoners, so what is the appropriate name among these people who are not related by blood?
Remember a principled thing: address each other with respect, be humble when referring to yourself, and be polite when addressing others.
Where was the concept of dignity and inferiority the most rigorous in the Great Song Dynasty, and the title was also the most exquisite? Of course it was the imperial court.
In informal settings, the Song Dynasty people could call the emperor "official", but if it was a formal occasion, such as in front of the palace, it was natural to honor the emperor as "Your Majesty". The emperor does not need to be modest, "'朕'' has become the exclusive title of the emperor since the Qin, and monopolizing it can highlight the position of the emperor above ten thousand people and the dominance of one person, which is also a kind of mind control.
In many film and television dramas set in the Song Dynasty, the emperor generally referred to the ministers left and right as 'Ai Qing'' in the court, which was actually wrong.
In the Song Dynasty, ''AiQing'' referred to prostitutes on many occasions, and the emperor naturally did not use this word to refer to his subordinates. Whether it is for the civil and military officials or the emperor's grandson, they must call themselves "subjects" in front of the emperor, and noble women such as queen concubines can call themselves "concubines" or "concubines".
I mentioned the word "eunuch" above, the eunuch of the Song Dynasty is not the meaning we often think, this eunuch is not another eunuch, no one in the Song Dynasty called the eunuch eunuch, and the meaning of eunuch refers to the state sub-supervisor, the military weapon supervisor and the Si Tianjian this kind of institutional chief, surprise? Surprised?
Although the way ordinary people are called is not strict, it is also clear and more diverse. Whether you are a high-ranking official or a commoner, you can call yourself ''I'' or ''I''. Even the emperor would use such a self-designation in private, after all, he was not just the emperor.
If you walk on the streets of the Song Dynasty, you may hear the small people of the city humbly calling themselves ''Xiao Ke'', 'Xiao Di'' or ''Under'. Like ''old body'',' ''slave',' ''slave', 'slave', etc. These are also familiar to us today, you are not surprised, then I will mention some things that you may not know.
As we all know, ''Old Decay'' and ''Little Old Man'' are the self-designations of old men, but in fact, the elderly men of the Song Dynasty can also call themselves 'inferior fathers', and 'Old Er'' is the pronoun of their children when they introduce or mention their fathers to others.
''Zhang'' is an honorific title, similar to ''Jun'' and 'Gong'' and can be preceded by a surname, called ''So-and-so''Jun''. The special feature of ''Zhang'' is that it can be added after its previous surname, such as Fan Zhongyun's sixth rank at home, people call him ''Fan Liu Zhang''. Not only the surname, but also after the nickname ''Zhang'' can also be preceded by the rank to indicate the honorific title, such as the Su Shi Number Dongpo Resident Ranking Second, can be called ''Dongpo Erzhang''.
Calling one's own family is still not the same as someone else's. Calling one's wife is a, and someone else's wife is a noble (阃 kǔn, boudoir). Their own son is a dog, the other person's is Ling Lang, mention the parents to be tough, this does not need to be too modest, the father, the family Yan is the father, the mother is the family ci, ask the father that is the Zun Fu, Ling Zun, ask the mother that is Ling Ci, Ling Tang.
In the official field, we should pay more attention to the title, everyone generally refers to each other as officials, Shi Nai'an set the story background of "Water Margin" to the Song Dynasty, in the book, the flower monk Lu Zhishen was not once an officer in Weizhou, and everyone called him Lu Tidu. And Lin Chonglin's head of the sect and Wu Song's wudu head also mentioned their official positions.
Didn't you just say ''Lady''? Now it's finally time to mention 'Xiang Gong'.
The word "Xianggong" is not something that can be used casually. In a narrow sense, Xianggong refers specifically to the honorific title of Xiang Xiang, and broadly it refers to the honorific title of a general high-ranking official, which is more widely used. After the famous Southern Song Dynasty general Yue Fei was promoted from a low-level military general to Xuanfu envoy, he was known as 'Xuanfu Xianggong',' also referred to as 'Xuanfu Xiang',' and later, his official position was promoted to Privy Councillor, equivalent to deputy prime minister, which was also known as 'Yue Shu Xiang'.'
In the commentaries we hear, Yue Fei is often referred to as "Marshal Yue", which is actually a wrong name, but Emperor Gaozong of Song, who ordered Yue Fei's killing, still bears the title of "Great Marshal of the Terracotta Army", and Yue Fei has never been a marshal.
Husbands and wives do not call each other fair, so what is it called?
They have a romantic name – ''Good Man'''. Calling "good people" "regardless of men and women, husband and wife can be called, and calling each other 'good people'" not only reflects the relationship between husband and wife, but also reflects the relatively equal status of men and women in the Song Dynasty. Although such a name is beneficial, it will also bring inconvenience to the husband and wife without distinction. Although the White Lady was wrongly called ''Xianggong'', ''Official'' was not wrong. Among the common people, it is more common to call their husbands "official". In modern folklore, the habit of jokingly calling newlywed men "groom official" has been retained.
The avoidance of names is also a big problem.
In ancient times, people could not directly call or write the names of emperors, elders, and sages, and needed to take certain methods to avoid these disrespects, which is called avoidance, referring to avoidance and taboo.
The Song Dynasty was a very strict era of the avoidance system, the Song dynasty will avoid the scope and object of the continuous expansion, about the names of the emperors of the past, the words and even the zodiac are to avoid, the Song Huizong will be about the emperor related titles are banned, whether high-ranking officials or ordinary people, are not allowed to use ''Emperor',' 'Holy',' '''Heaven', ''Dragon',' ''King', 'Shang'' and so on as their own names. Like Zhou Dunyi, who wrote "The Story of Eileen", his original name Zhou Dunshi coincided with Song Yingzong Zhao Shu (formerly known as Zhao Zongshi), and in the second year of Emperor Yingzong's reign, he was nearly fifty years old and reluctantly changed his name to Zhou Dunyi.
Don't say it's a person's name, not even the name of the place.
For example, there is a county under Chenzhou in Hunan Province called Yizhang County, which was established in 671 AD and was called Yizhang County in ancient times. Guess which emperor this is bumping into, yes, it is the second emperor of our Great Song Dynasty, Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi, Zhao Guangyi ascended the throne in 976 AD, and Yizhang County was officially changed to Yizhang County in this year.
In addition to the names and place names of the people just mentioned, the scope of avoidance also includes official titles, official ranks and books.
The general method of avoiding secrecy is the above-mentioned method of changing the word, and in the "Qingyuan Article Legal Affairs Class" supervised by Xie Shenfu in the Southern Song Dynasty, the words "Xuan" and "Lang" of the Song Ancestor Xuan Lang were encountered, so what to do? Can't be ignored, right? That can't be. In the book, the "Xuan" is directly changed to "Yuan", and when it encounters "Lang", its "Moon" is taken away twice, the former is still changed to the orthography, and the latter becomes the missing word method.
In the "Tribute Article Style", the "Chunxi Re-revision Of the Instrument Style" stipulates that in order to avoid taboos, sensitive words can be written a little, which is also the lack of words. In addition, there are also methods of avoidance, such as transliteration method, empty character method, etc., and the yellow paper covering method is the creation of Song.
In addition to the above-mentioned national secrets, there is also a kind of avoidance called family secrets, also known as private secrets.
In 985, Emperor Taizong issued an edict that officials could only be in their own homes, and that the governors of prefectures and counties were not allowed to list their families on the guest list, and that officials who offended the names of their elders would be punished, and would be imprisoned or punished in serious cases. Officials should also avoid being secretive when accepting dispatches, and if there is anything that conflicts with their families, some change their land, some change their assignments and change their officials, some change their official titles and official names, and so on.
For private secrets, the Song Dynasty was more loose than the state, not only allowing the "two names not to be shy" and not to avoid the name of suspicion, but the imperial court would sometimes open a side.
In fact, there are more than just the Song Dynasty, but the Song Dynasty is undoubtedly very representative. The title embodies the epitome of ancient society, full of respect and humility, which is not only because of the hierarchy, but also because we Chinese the quality in our bones, and the warmth is naturally revealed in communication. Although the title reflects the strict shackles of feudal society, it also reflects the essential integrity of the Chinese nation that has been passed down for a long time.
Reference: "Living in the Great Song Dynasty" by Liu Shugang