Many people know that the Big Ding was unearthed in the Village of Wuguan in Anyang City, Henan Province. In fact, this Dading has several names.
This Shang Dynasty Dading was unearthed in 1939, and because it was during the War of Resistance Against Japan, it was buried in the soil for the need for protection.
In a hurry, people did not have time to study, so they casually named it - "Anyang Furnace". After the founding of the People's Republic of China, people resumed research and renamed it "Simu E".
The name "Simu E" is related to Guo Moruo.
Guo Moruo was originally a medical student, and when he was in exile in Japan, he saw a book called "Yin Xu Shu Qi Kao Shi", so he became interested and began to study oracle bones. Starting from the oracle bones, Guo Lao went to archaeology to study Dading in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties.
When studying the "Anyang Furnace", according to the inscription on the inner wall of the Abdomen, Guo Lao named it "Simu Pengding". The si here means sacrifice, and the "Simu Peng" Ding is the artifact of sacrifice.
This statement has been used for decades.
In hindsight, this was obviously Guo Lao's "mistake". In the 1970s, some scholars questioned it. Some scholars have suggested that the word "si" here should be interpreted as "hou", because in ancient texts, "si" and "hou" are the same word, and "hou" can better reflect the respect for the mother.
In the original meaning, "hou" is not what everyone thinks, such as queens, queens, and women, but a symbol representing men, even emperors and sons of heaven.
The "Sayings" has an explanation: "After that, follow the body Junye." Like the shape of a human being. Give orders to the four parties, the trumpeter, the queen also. "The Houyi we know as houyi is a king named Yi.
From the perspective of oracle bone glyphs, the ancient "Hou" and "Si" are both homologous words, in fact, the two are almost a word. The lower left of "back" is a mouth word, and the upper right is a folded hand. If the "after" is reversed, it is the word "division".
In the bronzes of the Shang Dynasty such as Yuanzun and Fangzun that have been excavated, the word "hou" is written in both front and back, and it cannot be considered that they are different characters.
Let's look at Simu Pengding again. The "mother E" here is the temple number of the mother of the Shang king Wen Ding, "hou" means the king, and "the queen mother" is the mother of the king.
If the "queen mother E" is connected, it means to dedicate this ding to "beloved mother E". This explanation seems to be more expressive of the original will of the caster.
At present, the saying of "post-mother penta" has been recognized by more and more people, and even the national museum and news network directly changed the original "Simu Pengding" to "Houmu Pengding".
Change it to "Stepmother Pengding" and everything will be fine? Not necessarily. Because around the inscription inside the Ding, there is also a controversy of two words and three words. Each combination has a name.
The existence of the "stepmother" controversy illustrates many issues. One of the things that cannot be ignored is that our civilization is long and vicissitudes, and the ancient writing is infinitely mysterious, and we need to continue to work hard to completely unravel the mysteries.