Food, clothing, shelter, and necessities. Although "line" is at the bottom of the list, it is also a very important thing in people's daily lives. From ancient times to the present, people's travel tools, travel methods and customs have undergone great changes.
The glyph evolution of the word "line"
The oracle bones and gold glyphs of "Xing" resemble crossroads on all sides. Later, glyphs gradually lost their pictography in the process of development. The Eastern Han Dynasty Xu Shen's "Commentaries on the Interpretation of Characters" interprets its glyphs as "congruent from 彳 congruent", which is obviously limited by historical conditions and limited to the "line" of the small seal glyph.
"Line" originally meant "road" and was pronounced háng. "Poetry Sutra , Feng Feng , July": "The woman holds the basket and follows the other side." "Micro-lines" are trails. A girl carrying a deep bamboo basket walked along the path. And "Shijing, Xiaoya Xiaoben": "There are dead people in the line, and they are still alive or in prison." "There were people who had fallen to their deaths on the road, and there were well-meaning people who buried his body for him. "Lü Shi Chunqiu Xiaxian": "The peach and plum are hanging on the walker, and Mo Zhiyuan is also." "The branches of the peach and plum trees hang down on the road, and no one climbs them.
"Line" develops from the meaning of "road" to the meaning of "rank". "Shijing Daya Changwu": "Left and right Chen Xing, ordination of my division." "It's like when an army goes into battle, soldiers line up left and right to receive instructions from their superiors. In ancient times, five people were "Wu" and twenty-five people were "Xing", so "Xingwu" could refer to the army. For example, "History of Chen Shijia": "Between the feet and the army." Zhang Heng of the Eastern Han Dynasty," "Xijing Fu": "The knot, the whole line." And "line" itself can also refer to the army. For example, "History of Chen Shijia": "Chen Sheng and Wu Guang are secondary. ”
On the basis of the meaning of "rank", "line" has developed a series of meanings and usages, such as indicating the knowledge or experience of certain business institutions, industries, occupations, certain industries, rankings, generations, the number of things that have been formed, and so on. "History of Ji Zheng Lie": "(Zheng Zhuang) was a young official, but his travels and acquaintances were all his father's deeds, and the famous people in the world were also famous." "Hanshu Su Wu Biography": "Han Tianzi, my father-in-law xingye." Pu Songling of the Qing Dynasty," "Liaozhai Zhiyi Xiao Qi": "Xu asked his clan name, and the woman said to herself: 'Xiao surname, xingqi.'" The "line" in these use cases means generational, ranking, and the like, which is obviously further developed on the basis of the meaning of "rank", because the so-called generations and rankings are arranged in a certain order.
So, how to interpret the "line" in the name of banks, commercial banks and other business institutions? The Southern Song Dynasty scholar Ned Ong described the city of Lin'an at that time in his travelogue "The Capital City Jisheng Zhuxing": "The city's wanton travelers, because of the official government Koso, got this name, not because of their small things, but those who are full of use, are placed as lines." According to this statement, the origin of "line" as the name of the business organization is related to the customary operation of the government to arrange the goods obtained from merchants into rows. However, it has also been argued that the so-called "bank" can be understood as "the road of passage such as money", and then the use of "line" to indicate certain business institutions can be understood as the result of a further abstraction of its meaning of "road". Either way it is interpreted, it is related to the meaning of "row" for "road" or "row and column".
Because the road is for people to walk, "walking" naturally develops the meaning of "walking", pronounced xíng. "Explanation of Words": "The pace of man is also the same." What is actually said is this use of "line". The Shijing Tang Feng (dì) Du (dì) "Walking Alone" refers to a person walking alone. Another example is the Analects of Shuer: "Threesomes, there will be my teacher." Tang Dynasty Wang Wei's poem "The End of the South": "Walk to the water poor place, sit and watch the clouds rise." ”
[Song] Ma Yuan's "Xiaoxue Mountain Map"
On the basis of the meaning of "walking", "walking" has directly or indirectly developed many meanings and usages, such as leaving, passing away, promoting, circulating, experiencing, running, doing, engaging, can, going, traveling, capable, and so on. The Analects of Yang Goods reads, "Four hours of action, a hundred things are born", and "line" means "running". The Analects of Gongyechang "listen to his words and look at his deeds", and "deeds" means "behavior".
"Xingshu" is a font of Chinese characters. There are also different theories about the connection between the name and the meaning of "line". Zhang Huaihuan of the Tang Dynasty", "ShuJue Xingshu": "The writer of the case, the later Han Yingchuan Liu Desheng also wrote." That is, the small forgery of the main book (i.e., the letter book), it must be simple and popular, so it is called the book of travel. Judging from this discussion, the "xing" of "xingshu" is taken from its meaning of "common and popular". However, when Su Shi talked about the three fonts of true (楷), xing, and cao, he once had the thesis that "kai ru standing, walking like walking, and grass running like running", so some people think that the "xing" of "xingshu" is taken from its meaning of "walking".
In addition to the two pronunciations of háng and xíng, "line" is also pronounced hàng and héng. The latter two pronunciations are used relatively rarely, with the former now only used in individual words such as "tree rows" (referring to trees arranged in rows, small trees) and the latter in the term "Daoxing" (the Modern Chinese Dictionary (Sixth Edition) has been changed to soft).
For words like "line", which are rich in pronunciation and meaning, we need to pay special attention to discernment in the process of reading in our daily life. In the case of "line", in different contexts, its pronunciation and meaning may be completely different. One of the Nineteen Ancient Poems: "Walk and repeat, and separate from Junsheng." "Line" describes non-stop walking, pronounced xíng xíng. Mei Yaochen of the Northern Song Dynasty "Sending Mao Secret School to Strike the Lord of Xuancheng Was Recommended into the Supplementary Order": "With this gift line, I will not blame me without wine." "Xingxing" refers to the traveler, the traveler, and is pronounced xíng xíng. The Analects of Advancement: "The sub-path, the way of doing is like also." "Xingxing" describes a strong appearance and should be read as hàng hàng. There are also people often said "three hundred and sixty lines, lines out of the yuan", "line" means "various industries", read as háng háng.
Ancient character books such as the Shuowen Jiezi once listed "xing" as the head of the department. Many of the lines are related to "roads" in the sense, such as "street, qu" and so on. "Street" originally referred to the road that is accessible in all directions, that is, the avenue of the city; "Qu" means the road that is accessible in all directions. The traditional character for "chong" in "to rush" belongs to the line department and indicates a traffic artery. The traditional characters for "hutong" (衚衕) belong to the line and indicate a small street. Now, with the exception of some simplified words, other words containing "lines", together with "lines", are grouped under the head of "彳".
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