Why is the emperor's wife called "Hou"?
"After" originally meant monarch. In the "Book of Poetry" uploaded: "Shang Zhi successively, ordered not to die, in Wuding grandson." Zheng Xuan's annotation said: "Later, Junye." ”
Before the Zhou Dynasty, the wives of the Son of Heaven were called "concubines", and at the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, they were called "Hou".
For example, "Li Ji Qu Li Xia" recorded: "The concubine of the Son of Heaven is the queen." ”
After Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms, he changed the Son of Heaven to emperor, and established the emperor's right wife as the empress's concubine system.
However, the more complete system of concubines and hierarchies did not begin to be implemented until the Han Dynasty. "Hanshu Gao Di Xia": "The queen is known as the empress, and the prince is known as the crown prince." ”
In Oracle, the "back" glyph is: a person in the lower left is a word, and the upper right is a hand folded.
However, since Jin Wen flipped the words into a mirror image and moved his hands to the upper left, it has been used to this day.
"Say Wen Xie Zi" uploaded: "Later, the successor body Junye, like the form of a person, gives advice to the four directions, and the one who gives the shots, the queen of the king." ”
Because in ancient clans and tribes, the general person who gave the order was the authority of women, so "hou" means female elder with authority.
In oracle texts, "hou" is also often used to refer to the female leader of a clan.
Therefore, it is also extended to the meaning of the emperor's right wife.
The queen's status in the harem is like the Son of Heaven, the lord of all concubines, such as "Zhou Li Tiangong Neizai" said: "The queen is a handsome person in the six palaces." ”
