Then in our "Explanation of Characters in Speaking" course, this lesson talks about a Chinese character, that is, the Chinese character "History" at the beginning of the "History" department. "History" is a commonly used Chinese character in modern Chinese, which is included in the "List of Common Words in Modern Chinese" promulgated by the State Language Commission in 1988, so "history" is a key Chinese character and should be mastered. Details are as follows:
history. Read shǐ. The explanation given in the Shuowen Jiezi is: "History, the chronicler also." From and hold in the middle; in the middle, positive also. "Can mean words. The original meaning is the person who remembers things. Let's look at the glyph evolution of "history":
(History of glyph evolution)
The "history" in the A and Jin characters, the upper "middle" is like a hunting tool for catching prey, the lower part is a hand that will manage the hunt and record the hunt (the lower part of the hunting gear is a sharp weapon, which can be inscribed and written), Chen Mengjia's "New Interpretation of the Word "History" ("Archaeological Society Editorial Journal" No. 5): "History, things are tools for taking beasts, so from 'middle', like the shape of a field net." "The ancients sacrificed animals, so the history of the palm sacrifice is also the official of the beast, and the hunting of the beast is no different from the war... The priest is history, the enemy and the country are the ones who fight and communicate, and the messengers are also the things, and then the ancients took sacrifices, hunting, and wars as major events. ”
(The person who wrote history: Sima Qian)
Xu Shen's "from and holding" and "and" are not disputed, but there are many explanations for the understanding of "Zhong": Jiang Yong thought that "Zhong" was a book; Wang Guowei thought that "Zhong" was the "instrument of grand strategy"; Zhang Taiyan thought that "Zhong" was the provincial text of "Book"; many of the "Zhong" characters in ancient books should be "Book", and the Han Dynasty had officials who "ZhiZhong", and Zhizhong was the Zhizhi Book. We can follow Rao Jiong's "Sayings on the First Edition of the Ministry of Literature" as saying: "What gaishi wrote, as it is written in fact, does not refer to one's own opinions, nor is it biased, so it is from and in it." The "medium" here means positive.
To sum up: when remembering things, adhering to the attitude of seeking truth from facts and maintaining fairness is called "history", and the history of the events recorded by ancient people is the matter of sacrifice, the matter of hunting, the matter of war, in fact, these are the most important things of the ancient people. In fact, in the oracle bones, "history, events, envoys, and officials" are of the same origin, all of which are "things", which were later divided into four characters, "things" is the thing itself, and the person who records things (that is, historians) is called "history", the ruler is "official", and the person who appoints things is "envoy".
Therefore, the original meaning of "history" is the official in charge of the documents, and in ancient times, the person in charge of the document and recorded the events was the person who recorded the "history" and the person who recorded the "matter", and also referred to the civilian official, and also referred to the official official of the ancient government.
Shang Shu Jin Yun: "The Second Duke and the King are asked of the histories and the Hundred Deacons." Taigong, Zhaogong, and Chengwang asked the historians and many officials. The "history" here refers to civilian officials. Zhou Li Tianguan Preamble: "Fu, six; Shi, there are two out of ten." Zheng Xuan's note: "Shi, the person in charge of the book." All governments and histories are removed by their officials. The "history" here refers to the officials of the ancient government.
(The official of the ancient government)
In addition to the original meaning of "history", there are other uses:
(1) History; the development process of nature and human society. For example: historical facts; unprecedented; epic. "History of Taishi Gong Self-Introduction": "Since the acquisition of Lin, there have been more than four hundred years, and the princes have combined, and the history has been extinct." "For more than four hundred years since the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the princes have annexed each other, and the history books that record history have been discarded (Obtaining Lin, referring to the hunting of qilins in the fourteenth year of the Spring and Autumn Period).
(Historical old photos)
(2) Books that record history. Mencius Leaving Lou Xia: "His literary history." "Its writing genre belongs to the history books. "New Book of Tang Yiwen Zhi I": "To the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, it is divided into four categories, namely the classics, the history, the sub-collections, and the collections. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, all books were divided into four categories: classics, histories, sub-books, and collections, and "history" was the book that recorded history.
(The Chronicle of History)
(3) There are many words. "Analects of Yongye": "Quality wins over Wen Zeye, and Wen wins over quality and history." "If there is more simplicity than literary style, it will appear rough and unbearable, and if there is more literary style than simplicity, it will inevitably flow into a lot of exaggeration."
(4) Ancient official positions. For example: History of Thorns; Imperial History. Liu Zongyuan's "Planting Willow Drama Title": "Liuzhou Liu Thorn History, Planting Liu Liu Riverside" (Liu Zongyuan once served as liuzhou thorn history and died in Liuzhou).
(Portrait of Liu Zongyuan)
(5) Painter. "Zhuangzi Tian Zifang": "Song Yuanjun will draw a picture, and all history will come." Cheng Xuanyingshu: "The painter is here." "Song Yuanjun wanted to paint, and all the painters came.
In addition, "Shi" is still a surname. "Tongzhi Clan Sketch IV": "Shi Shi, after the Zhou Tai Shi Shi, took the official as the clan ... ”
The small seal of "history" is written as shown in the following figure:
(Shi Xiao seal writing)
([Explanation of words] no. 558, some pictures from the Internet)