In ancient Chinese, "three" and "nine" sometimes did not actually mean "2+1" and "5+4", which was known to anyone who had studied ancient Chinese. Like the following three and nine are all false fingers, indicating "many":
Zi was listening to "Shao" (韶樂) in Qi, and March did not know the taste of meat. (Analects and Commentaries)
The one who desires the king now, the seven-year illness of Judah asks for three years of wormwood (aged wormwood) also. (Mencius, Leaving Lou Shang)
Three-fold humerus (forearm), known as a good doctor. ("Zuo Chuan Ding Gong Three Years")
[Dapeng] The water strikes three thousand miles, and the one who shakes up is ninety thousand miles. ("Zhuangzi Getaway")
Expand the land for three thousand miles, and the round trip is like flying. (Wang Yue's "Poetry from the Army")
The white hair is three thousand feet, and the edge (because) is like a long one. (Li Bai's "Autumn Pu Song")
The intestines are nine times a day. (Sima Qian's "Book of Baoren An")
Do not be careful, and eventually tired of virtue. For the sake of the mountain nine, the merit is a failure. (Pseudo-Ancient Texts And Shang Shu Traveling Mastiffs)
He was blessed with thousands of golds, and moved his official position at the age of one year and nine years old. (Han Yu's "Book of Shangzhang Servant Shooting")
However, there are two points about the meaning of numbers that ordinary people do not notice, and they are very related to reading ancient books. First, it is not just "three" and "nine" that express the concept of "many.". "Five" can mean more. For example, the ancients believed that people have five blessings, the law has five punishments, and the taste has five smells (xiù, embroidery. Smell), food has five grains, medicine has five medicines, sound has five tones, jue has five grades, and poison has five kinds. What is more obvious is that the emperor sacrifices the famous mountains, and the five mountains such as Dingtai, Hua, and Heng are the five mountains; there are five kinds of cars that the Son of Heaven rides, called the five roads (also known as the five roads); and the relationship with the funeral of the emperor is limited to five clothes, "the gentleman's Ze, the fifth generation and beheading (terminating)". These are all subtracted from one, not less, not more than one, no more, no less, the reason why it was set as five, is that the ancients took five as the full number.
The five-colored earth of the altar of Sheji
"Four" and "six" can also mean more. For example, the ancients sacrificed six sects and six gods, there were six laws for talking about rules, there were six things and six things for things, in addition to six qi, six animals, six townships, six elements, and so on. Which six kinds of these are included, since ancient times, there are different theories, so it can be seen that when the number was originally determined to be six, it may not have a definite meaning, but it is just a large number.
As for the hundred, thousand, and ten thousand representatives, they are more well known, for example, the Duke of Qin Miao was buried with the brother of the Ziche clan, and people sang: "If it can be redeemed, a person has a hundred bodies." ("Poetry Classic, Qin Feng, Yellow Bird") is bored, confused, helpless, as well as the same, thousands of calls, thousands of thanks, thousands of troops and horses, thousands of fingers, vientiane renewal, all the same heart, etc., all of which are generally said.
Secondly, the number word should be the most certain, why is this happening? This should be examined from the perspective of the history of the development of human understanding.
Human understanding of the number has also gone through a long process. At first, of course, only "one" was known. There was a stage when people could only count to three, and in the understanding of people at that time, "three" was a large number. The Book of Laws says, "Numbers begin with one, end with ten, and become three." The meaning of the first two sentences is correct, and "becoming three" is very ambiguous, but Sima Qian's notice of the relationship between one, ten, and three is close to the law of human consciousness, which is very remarkable.
Taking "three" as "many", in addition to the linguistic examples given above, it can also be seen from the text. For example, with
For the hand, to the hand
For the toe, to
For wood, etc., are in the form of three-pronged tables with five fingers (toes) or numerous branches,
(Three characters) table crowd standing side by side, 犇 (bēn, ben) table running, Lei table zhongshi, Yan (yǎn, eye) table flame, 劦 (xié, xie) table all together with force... These qiming have been deeply imprinted into the consciousness of the nation with the "three" as the "many."
Taking "four" as "many" should be a little later, which is related to the concept of carrying in mathematics. The current ten-seat system was formed even later, and before that, I am afraid there was a four-position stage. The ancestors may have been inspired by the phenomenon that there are four seasons in a year, people have limbs, space has four squares, and so on, and generalized the method of four forming a larger unit to other aspects. For example, a cart drives four horses, counting cars with "donkeys"; four pieces of leather as one "ride"; calling China within the four seas; the Ida system with four wells as the yi; the army of twenty-five people as two, four and two pawns; one day and night at twelve o'clock, every hour and four minutes; twenty-eight houses are divided into four groups, called the four gods, and in the spring and autumn, the Qi state measuring instrument is based on four beans (ōu, Europe), and the four districts are kettles. The quaternion may also be a derivation of the binary. As we all know, "Zhou Yi" and modern computers are both binary, two and one one. Two "ones" are four, so the Zhou Yi ZhiShang says: "Heaven one, earth two; heaven three, earth four." ”
Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum No. 1 copper carriage horse
"Nine" becomes a "multi" number at a time when people's understanding of numbers is quite deep. The ancient Chinese people used "nine" as a yang number, which is the end of the number, because "nine" just adds one more, and it returns to "one" (but it is already the one after the entry). It can be seen that "nine" is "many", which is very related to the determination of the decimal position.
It is precisely because people's understanding of numbers and the mastery of the largest numbers are gradually developing and changing, and the concept of numbers in various eras overlaps and intersects, so as a record of people's lives and concepts, the literature and classics have preserved these seemingly incompatible phenomena at the same time. In the long course of history, dynamic things have been precipitated in the literature and presented in the form of a plane in front of posterity, and it is no wonder that many people, including the ancient great scripture scholars, have hollowed out some three-six-nine-ah to examine, and they have to find out what it really means.
"Three" can also mean "less". A teacher asked me: The "three" in the sentence "three husbands of the bearer" in "The Fool Moves the Mountain" is generally annotated as "three", which seems inappropriate, is it better to understand it as "many people"? The original text of "The Fool Moves the Mountain" is as follows:
...... His wife xian doubted: "With the power of the king, he could not damage the hill of the father, such as Taihang and Wang Wuhe?" And put soil and stones? Miscellaneous: "Throw yourself into the tail of the Bohai Sea, the north of the hidden land." "So he led his descendants to carry the burden of the three husbands, knocked on the stone to reclaim the soil, and transported it to the end of the Bohai Sea." The widow of the neighbor Jingcheng clan has a widowed man, who jumps to help him. Cold and summer are easy to festival, and the beginning is reversed.
Looking at the whole text, there are mythical colors everywhere, hazy, and the fool has not even left a surname, which is not as good as the little boy who has just changed his teeth. To say a few words quoted here, his wife first asked two questions: labor and the place of relocation. The oral answer received was only the latter point, and the labor question was answered with facts: "the three husbands of the descendants and grandchildren" and the "widowed men" of the Jingcheng clan. This did not solve his wife's suspicions, and it was also the foreshadowing of the appearance of Zhi Shuo below. In the ambiguous writing style, only the number of labor is biting, which is really not very coordinated. The Chinese teacher's question was justified.
But it is also inappropriate to understand this "three" as "many". In my opinion, this "three" means that there are few, and the whole sentence means that Yu Gong leads a few strong laborers.
Is there any basis for such an understanding? We have already said the "many" meaning of "three". Much has been said about this, and annotations to explain the word "three" in the text are common. This is certainly the way it should be. However, little attention is paid to the "three" side of "less". For example, large dictionaries such as the revised Cihai and Ciyuan and the Chinese Dictionary in Taiwan, as well as the general Dictionary of Old Chinese characters, are only listed under the "three" characters: number characters, 2 +1; table majority. This is probably due to the fact that the Qing Dynasty scholar Wang Zhong's "Interpretation of The Three Nines" only emphasizes the main aspect of the "many" meaning of "three". However, if we carefully study the use of the word "three" in the literature and only look at the two terms of "2+1" and "many", sometimes it does not make sense. For example:
(1) Although Chu has three households, qin will be chu when it dies. (2) Mr. Mao (Mao Sui) is stronger than a million masters with a tongue of three inches. (And "The Biography of the Plains Junlie", "Liuhou Shijia" and other texts also mention "three inches of tongue") (3) Xiong often put three inches of weak Han and four feet of oil to ask him about his strange words. (Yang Xiong's "Reply to Liu Xinshu") (4) The crowd became a forest, flying without wings. Three people become city tigers, and one mile can scratch the vertebrae. ("Huainanzi Says Mountain Training.") "Warring States Strategy, Qin Ce" also has similar words) (5) Yang Zhu saw the King of Liang, and ruled the world as if he were lucky. Liang Wang yue: "Sir has a wife and a concubine and cannot rule, and the garden of three acres cannot be ruled, so ruling the world is like the palms of luck, why not?" (6) The sea of a hundred miles cannot drink a husband. The spring of three feet is enough to quench the thirst of the three armies. (7) If the scholar does not read for three days, he will not hand over the righteousness in his chest, and he will feel that his face is abominable and his language is tasteless. (8) The three-foot boy, even in ignorance, refers to the dog and makes him worship, and he is angry. (Hu Interpretation of Emperor Gaozong's Sealing Affair)
As for the "three" households in the first case, the ancient commentators wanted to "implement" it, so they fought over it. In fact, this sentence is just saying that "the Chu people resented Qin, although there were three households, they were like the death of Qin" (see "Interpretation of the Collected Histories"). The "three inches" in the second example is an "approximation", and to say "three" is also a small tongue, which is in strong contrast to the great effect ("stronger than a million masters"). Now we still say "three inches of uncorrupted tongue", try to experience its sense of language? The third example also says "three inches", referring to the head of the brush. The length of the brush should have been based on the barrel of the pen, but now only the tip of the pen is counted, which is also short and light. Example 4 The meaning of "three people are city tigers" can be annotated by a story recorded in the Warring States Policy Wei Ce II:
Pang Liang and the crown prince confronted Handan, saying to the King of Wei: "Now one person says that there are tigers in the city, and Wang Believes in it?" Wang Yue: "No." "The two of them said that there are tigers in the city, and Wang Xinzhihu?" Wang Yue: "The few people are suspicious." "The three of them said that there are tigers in the city, and Wang Xinzhihu?" Wang Yue: "The widow believes." Pang Onion said: "There is no tiger in Fu City, Ming Yi." However, the three became tigers. ”
It can be seen that this "three" has the meaning of the most but not three, and is the lowest number that makes there no change.
The "three acres" in Example 5 contrast with "the world". Because the ancient "one husband and one hundred acres", the ancient acres were small, and the hundred acres were about twenty acres now. At the time of low productivity, "100 acres" could barely maintain the food and clothing of a family of five. The King of Liang wanted to explain that Yang Zhu was talking big, and of course, he should compare it with Yang Zhu's statement that it was extremely easy to rule the world with an easy example, and the "three acres" of about one acre of land now were extremely small. The situation in Example 6 is somewhat the same. The seventh example of "not reading for three days" is tantamount to saying that a scholar and a doctor must not interrupt reading. If we say "one day without reading", then the following "abominable appearance" is exaggerated, and it is impossible in actual life to be interrupted for one day, and if it is said that "two days", it is too real; or it is better to say "three days", taking advantage of people's psychology of taking "three" as a representative of "less". The last case goes without saying, three feet, saying that it is young.
It seems that the meaning of "three" has "less" when it is falsely referred to is unmistakable. In this way, not only can the "three" characters in "Yugong Moving Mountains" be solved, but even the following habitual examples should also be reconsidered:
(9) In a three-person walk, there will be our teacher: choose those who are good and follow them, and change those who are not good. (Analects of ShuEr) (10) Worked together for three or two years, and it did not last long. ("Ancient Poems for Jiao Zhongqing's Wife")
Historically, people have not placed bets on these two "threes", which seem to be regarded as accurate. In fact, Confucius is saying that the teacher is impermanent, the teacher is by your side, even if three people are together, the other two people must have something to learn. "Three people" is the lowest number to choose from. If we say that "two people are walking", except for themselves, they are left with the other person, which is tantamount to saying that "everyone is a teacher", which is not in line with Confucius's social and ethical views. In terms of expression, "three" is the most accurate here. The "three or two years" of the tenth case is still said (sometimes "two or three years"), which means "not long" in the next sentence, and it is not a non-three or two indeterminate number.
In fact, the "three" table "less", in today's language is also there, but people do not pay much attention to it. For example, to say "three inches of golden lotus", it is said that women's feet were only small in the old days, and "three inches" was also vague, including three inches of five and four inches. "Three days to fish, two days to dry nets", "three days" to say less, "two days" to show more, "half hearted", "three pounds and a half ducks, two pounds and a half mouth - more mouths and more tongues", "three or two cotton and four bows - play (talk) carefully" and so on. "Three treasures of Baoding Province: iron balls, noodle sauce, and spring immortality", "three treasures of the northeast: ginseng, mink, and wula grass", "three treasures of Qin County: eggs, melon seeds, and Wang Gelao", several treasures are limited to "three", which is probably not accidental. These "three" are indeed referred to, and it seems that there are also many meanings in them, but in fact, they are not, or they are few words: things are rare and expensive, and there are only three treasures, which is worthy of pride (in fact, even this "three" has a number of ingredients), if you say "QinXian Thousand Treasures", it is not "the most the most".
A "three" word, both "2 + 1", but also the table "more", but also the table "less", born thousands of years later, we encounter the actual material in the ancient text is indeed difficult to distinguish. If you think about it, you can still think about it. A thing always has a more suitable quantity (including length, quantity, weight, etc.), and the "three" exceeds it, that is, it is more; insufficient, that is, it is less. Removing Taihang and Wang Wu Ershan, overthrowing the Qin Dynasty, the length of women's feet in general, etc. are not satisfied by three husbands, three households, and three inches.
It is contradictory to have both "many" and "few" tables, but it is reasonable only for the ancient language itself: things are always opposites. When the ancestors had just learned to count and could not count to ten, "three" was a large number; when the number was more mastered, and the things in life were often counted in thousands and tens of thousands, "three" was almost the most suitable word to express the meaning of "less". There is dialectics here.
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