Oh, me too. In ancient times, the dignity and inferiority were common, and the noble and the inferior were not suspected, then they could be called the same righteousness. - Cai Yong,"Dictatorship"
Since 221 BC, When Qin Shi Huang unified the Six Kingdoms and established the Qin Dynasty, the title of Emperor was officially established. Along with it, the emperor's special self-designation "朕" was born. Why did Qin Shi Huang choose "朕" from many self-designations, instead of the self-proclaimed names of widows, orphans, and other emperors?
In this regard, we must first understand why ancient emperors used self-designation, and ancient emperors used different self-designations in order to distinguish their identities and show their status. For example, Zhou Tianzi called himself "Yu Yiren", the princes of the Warring States period called themselves "widows", and the princes of the Han Dynasty called themselves "lonely".
"Widow" is the emperor's humble name for himself, which means that the person who is widowed is a person who is still lacking in morality, so as to remind himself that his virtue is not good enough and he needs to continue to work hard. And it is also a humble title, lonely and widowed, are people who have shortcomings in life, so they are used by ancient kings as humble titles.
Qin Shi Huang was the king of the Three Emperors, the Fifth Emperor of Dechao, and he naturally would not use such a humble self-designation. So he abandoned the humble titles of "lonely" and "widowed", and even the "Yu Yiren" of the Western Zhou Dynasty was not adopted, but instead used the self-proclaimed "Yuan" that everyone could use at that time. In fact, by taking apart the "朕", you can know the reason.
The original meaning of "朕" is "I", qu Yuan has a sentence in "Leaving the Troubles": "Returning to the car to return to the road, and the journey is not far away." Here, "朕" is Qu Yuan's self-designation, and the Shuowen Jiezi also records: "朕, I too." Que. However, when people take the word apart, they will find that the meaning of this word is extraordinary.
First of all, the "朕" of the Qin Dynasty period is not the simplified character "朕", but a small seal composed of "zhou" and "灷", written "zhouhao". This word originates from the oracle bones of the Shang Dynasty, meaning from "boat" sound from "灷", combined with the meaning of boat and fire.
In the "Xunzi Royal System", it is recorded: "The king's boat is also the same, and the shuren water is also." "The monarch is the boat, and the people are the source of the river, so the boat represents the status of the monarch. And tinder is easier to understand, in the ancient tribes, tinder is the only hope, but also all the most noble people are eligible to preserve. Combined, "朕" is the monarch who represents hope.
With Qin Shi Huang's conceit and self-confidence, only Qin Shi Huang could meet his needs. Therefore, since then, ordinary people are not allowed to use "朕" only the emperor can use, "朕" has become the self-designation of later emperors, which has been handed down. Until puyi abdicated in 1912 and the fall of the Qing Dynasty, China's feudal imperial system of more than two thousand years collapsed, and "degeneration" became history.
Of course, not all emperors liked to use "朕" as a self-designation like Qin Shi Huang. In the Han Dynasty, many emperors used "朕" in writing and "wu" verbally. During the Wei and Jin dynasties, there were more emperors who used "Wu". From the Tang Dynasty onwards, the centralization of power continued to rise, and in order to flaunt the uniqueness of the emperor, emperors from then on used "朕" as their self-designation.
In today's society, although people are no longer allowed to use "朕" as a self-designation, if someone calls themselves "朕", many people will think that this person has a brain problem and dream of an emperor in broad daylight. As everyone knows, more than two thousand years ago, this was a title that everyone could use. Speaking of this, I don't know if you can play "Zhouhao", you can try it in the comment area!