In ancient times, "husband" referred to adult men, and sometimes to the outstanding among men. It is said in the "Twelve Years of the Biography of Gong Wen of Liang": "A man is twenty and crowned, and the crown is listed as a husband." "In ancient times, when men reached the age of twenty, they would hold a crown ceremony, and then they entered the ranks of their husbands.
"Wife" was first seen in the Yi Zhi Ci: "A man does not see his wife when he is an official." "But wife was not a generic term for a man's spouse in ancient times. The Book of Rites and Qu Lixia says: "After the concubine of the Son of Heaven, the princes are known as the lady, the doctor is known as the widow, and the concubine is known as the wife." It seems that the "wife" at that time was only the spouse of the common people and had no status.
Later people called "husband and wife" "two mouths", which is a folk slang.
So, why did the ancients call it so, and how did the word "two mouths" come from? According to folklorists, there are three theories about the origin of the word.
The "Yanjing Miscellaneous Records" contains such an anecdote: At that time, there were two small officials who were on duty in the palace, and these two small officials had similar temperaments and had close contacts. Later, a small official married a private daughter, and a small official remained single.
This little official, who is alone, will give half of his salary to his good buddies every month, and clip a note in it: "A little bit of broken silver money, laugh and don't prevaricate; I am only a single-mouther, and the king is two mouths." ”
In ancient times, "son" was a synonym for people, "mouth" was a quantifier used for people, and "two mouths" meant two people. The common people felt the love between the two officials, spread this small matter, and began to use "two mouths" to refer to the married couple.
There is also a saying that "two mouths" originates from a poignant Ming Dynasty love story.
It is said that during the Ming Hongwu period, there was a student in the south named Gao Wenjing. Gao Wenjing studied hard for ten years, left his hometown and went north to the capital to take the exam, but he did not expect to rescue a young girl who fell into the river on the way. Gao Xiaoge is kind in heart and a talent, Miss Lu has a good posture and a shy flower, this pair of Bi people fell in love at first sight and privately decided to live forever.
However, just as Gao Xiao'er was entering Beijing to take the exam, a wicked Grand Duke Ofo Shaoluo committed murder in the street because of his coveting of Chunhua's beauty, and took Lu Chunhua home and wanted to adopt her as a concubine. Lu Chunhua was full of only his sweetheart Gao Wenjing, and he refused to obey. In the process of Lu Chunhua and Grand Duke Luo's battle of wits and courage, Xiao Yu, the servant of Grand Duke Luo's family, was kind enough to entrust someone to carry a letter to Gao Wenjing, who was far away in the capital.
After Gao Wenjing learned of this, he rushed to Lu Chunhua's hometown and escaped with his sweetheart with the help of Ya Yu Xiaoyu. After Grand Duke Luo noticed that Lu Chunhua had escaped, he immediately led a group of evil servants to chase and intercept them. Gao Wenjing and Lu Chunhua were cornered and could only run to the mountains. During the chase of the two, Grand Duke Luo had an argument with Gao Wenjing, and he fell off a cliff in pushing and shoving, and he cried out for his life.
It is reasonable to say that this case is manslaughter, and the Grand Duke of Luo forcibly robbed the women of the people first, and no matter how the government should not give a heavy sentence. However, grand duke Luo's family background was quite strong, so much so that the Luo family paid a lot of money to buy off the official government, resulting in Gao Wenjing and Lu Chunhua being sentenced to beheading and imprisoning, that is, the ancient suspended death. Fortunately, this incident alarmed the Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, who personally sorted out the case and found out the truth.
Zhu Yuanzhang was known for his harsh punishments, so although he spared them the death penalty, he exiled them to barren land. Gao Wenjing was assigned to Taoyuankou, Hubei Province, and Lu Chunhua was sent to Jinkou Mountain in Anhui Province. In the process of exile, the couple still did not change their original intentions and worried about each other. In order to commemorate the pair of unswerving lovers, people take the two "mouths" in Taoyuankou and import mountains and call them "two mouths".
The last statement about the origin of the "two mouths" comes from an anecdotes from the Qing Dynasty.
It is said that during the Qianlong period, there was a reader named Zhang Jixian in Shandong, and although Zhang Jixian was full of sage books, he could not sit still. In an encounter, Zhang Jixian met a married young woman, Zeng Suzhen, and made a dewy couple with her for one night. After inquiring, it was learned that this Zeng Suzhen was the wife of the local evil Shaoshi Wancang.
Shi Wancang is full of evil deeds and is the object of the local people's discoloration. However, Zhang Jixian fell in love with his wife at first sight, and after that night's encounter, he could not forget the beauty's soft fingers, so he often took advantage of Shi Wancang to go out and run to the Shi family to meet with his lover. Originally, the underground love affair between the two would continue, who knew that Shi Wancang had an accident.
Shi Wancang was an alcoholic, drunk in the tavern every day. After a drunken drink, Shi Wancang died suddenly at home. At that time, the neighbors all rumored that Zeng Suzhen had an adulterous affair with a poor scholar, so the Shi family believed that Zeng Suzhen did not keep the way of women and murdered her husband.
Later, the Shi family took Zeng Suzhen to court and accused her of conspiring with Zhang Jixian to kill Shi Wancang. The county prince was a confused official, and he listened to the rumors and sentenced Zeng Suzhen and Zhang Jixian to death. At this time, when the Qianlong Emperor was on a parade, he accidentally saw Shi Wancang's case, and after reading it, he found that Zhang Jixian's confession was well written.
Qianlong felt that although Zhang Jixian had an adulterous affair with a wife with a husband, it was a pity that such a stunning and brilliant person had killed him. Therefore, Qianlong personally found out the truth and returned Zhang Jixian and Zeng Suzhen to their innocence. However, after all, Zhang Jixian and Zeng Suzhen's adulterous affair was intolerable in the world, so Qianlong sent the pair of bitter Mandarin ducks to the Crouching Tiger Mouth and the Black Wind Mouth at both ends of Weishan Lake.
The clear-eyed people knew at a glance that Qianlong had sent the two to a place not far apart in order to provide the couple with the opportunity to communicate with each other. The pair of lovers traveled back and forth between Heifengkou and Crouching Tiger's Mouth, and the locals called them "two sons". With the passage of time, the name of two mouths was gradually extended and became a synonym for husband and wife.
So, do you know who the oldest surviving "two sons" in the world are?
Oldest living couple (total age): As of Wednesday, July 25, 2018, Masao Matsumoto (born July 9, 1910) and Miyako Sonoda (November 24, 1917) were 108 years, 16 days and 100 years and 243 days, respectively, with a total age of 259 days in 208, officially earning the Guinness World Record title of the oldest living couple (total age).
Resources:
["The Twelve Years of the Duke of Wenliang", "Li Ji Qu LiXia", "Yi Zhi Ci"]