In previous years, I read Mr. Wu Xiaoru's (1922-2014) academic short book, and I benefited a lot, and the most impressive person was the discussion about the humble word "foolishness". In the two articles "Calling "Brother" and "Brother" and "Elders' Humble Names for Juniors", Mr. Xiao Ru believes that the word "foolish" is "the so-called 'humble word' of the above to the inferior, respect to the inferior, and the elder to the young, which cannot be used between the peers", "the party calling 'foolish' must be older, or older, or have a high social status to be qualified to be so humble to the other party", "the elders can call themselves 'foolish brothers' to the younger generations, and this 'foolishness' is the humble name of the elders to the younger generations". Since then, whenever I encounter calligraphy and painting works or literati rulers, the author has paid special attention to the upper and lower paragraphs, and has also found that some situations are not as small as Mr. Xiao said. Consulting relevant materials, the views of the scholarly circles on Mr. Xiao Ru have long been published in rebuttal articles, but most of the arguments used are language materials in Ming and Qing popular novels such as "Journey to the West", "The Wrong Road Lamp", and "Biography of Children's Heroes", while yu recent literati letters and other works have been put into obscurity, as if there is a suspicion of scratching the itch in the boots. How to use "fool" and "fool" in the literati ruler still feels the need for "gossip".
Calling oneself "foolish" has been around for a long time. Qing Ren Liang Zhangju's "Title Record" volume 32 "Humble Title" class contains "foolishness" and "lower foolishness", quoting Zhuge Liang's "Table of Teachers": "Foolishness thinks that things in the palace" (Liang Zhangju Case: Huang Kan's "On Semantic Neglect": "Foolishness, not up to the title of also. and Hua Fei's "Self-Reproach Text": "Obscene grass is right, run and other foolish". The "Predicate" does not include "foolish brother", but it can be seen that "foolish brother" should be a relatively recent word, and there is no sign in the early texts. Fogg (1796-1870) "Listening to the Rain" Volume VI "Famous Thorns" records the situation of the Title of The Hamma of the Qing Dynasty:
“...... This Kangxi Mid-Year Affair. Now another two hundred years, the atmosphere has changed, and there is no previous name. Relatives called 'marriage', the world is called 'shi'; in the same year, only 'Nian YuDi' is called 'Nian Yu Brother', and the word 'home' is removed; the teacher and protégé are called 'Tong Jia Sheng', also known as 'Classmate Brother'; if the teacher of the son and nephew is called 'Tong Jia Brother'; the same door friend is called 'Door Yu Brother'; the governor and Si Dao are called 'Yu Brother', and the government office is called 'Yin Yu Brother', and the prefecture and county are called 'Yin Brother', and the subordinates are called 'Nian Family Brother'. ”
As far as the existing literature is concerned, the frequent use of "foolish brother" is mainly in the Ming and Qing dynasties, especially after the middle of the Qing Dynasty, and the late Qing Republic of China is still continuing.
From 1935 to 1938, Enlightened Bookstore published the "One Hundred and Eight Lessons of Chinese Language for Self-study in the Teaching of Liberal Arts in the Early Chinese Languages", which was written by Xia Junzun and Ye Shengtao, and republished by the People's Education Publishing House and Sanlian Bookstore in 1985 and 2008 respectively. The eighth lesson of the book, "Letters and Manners," says:
"The titles in the epistles have always been complex. Those who call opponents are 'Brother Benevolent', 'Your Excellency', 'Foot', 'Deacon', 'Taiduan', 'Left and Right', etc., and those who call themselves 'Foolish Brother', 'Contempt', 'Non-Yu' and so on. Now it has been changed to be simple, except for those who have special titles for each other, the general honorific title is 'sir', the confidant is called 'brother', and the self-proclaimed is 'contempt' or 'brother'. The word 'I' has never been used very often, so it may be useful now. ”
According to examples from Xia and Erlao Ye, in the late Qing Dynasty before "now", commonly used letters claimed to have "foolish brothers", "contemptible people", "bu yu", etc.; "now" is the period when the vernacular language gradually replaced the literary language, and "foolish brother" and "bu yu" were no longer commonly used, and "contemptuous people" or "brothers" were mostly used. This paragraph can reflect the situation at that time, but only in general, and the specific use varies from person to person. For example, although Zhou Zuoren wrote vernacular texts, he often liked to call himself "not yu" in the text. As for the "fool", it is still used after 1949. Lin Sanzhi (1898-1989) and Qi Gong (1912-2005) are both calligraphers of the late 20th century, and Lin Sanzhi is 14 years older and belongs to the elders. As a junior, Qi Gong wrote to Lin Sanzhi in the 1970s, and Jing Mu's intention to seek advice was overflowing with words (the letter said, "If you forgive his troubles, then repair the notes to seek teachings"). Lin Sanzhi replied to Qi Gong, dropping the book "Foolish Brother Scattered Above" (below), using the modest word "Foolish Brother" to demote himself to a generation to reflect the etiquette of correspondence. Today's written communication between elders and juniors will also refer to themselves as "brother", and "brother" is preceded by "foolishness".
Mr. Xiao Ru said that "it is not possible to use between ordinary people" and "stupid", this judgment is too absolute. As far as the calligraphy and paintings and ruler materials of the author's fable are concerned, in most cases, "foolish brother" is indeed a self-proclaimed humble word of "above and below, respect for inferiority, and growth against young"; but the use of "foolish brother" among ordinary generations also exists. In 2018, China Guardian Auction launched the "Pen and Ink Articles - Letter Writing Special", which contains a letter from the famous Qing Dynasty scholar Wang Wenzhi (1730-1802) to the scholar Bi Yuan (1730-1797), the upper paragraph is "Your Excellency the Lingyan Mountain People", and the lower paragraph is "Nian Yu Brother Wang Wenzhi Dunshou". Wang Wenzhi was the same age as Bi Yuan, and was also a twenty-five-year soldier of Qianlong (Bi Yuan was a champion), so Wang Wenzhi called himself "Nian Yudi".
In the late Qing Dynasty, the "foolish brother" can still be used among the common generations. The Collected Letters of Chen Yuan contains five correspondences from Liu Zhaojia, a nephew of Liu Yuanzheng, to Chen Yuan (1880-1971), of which three were "Brother Liu Zhaojia" and one was "Foolish Brother Liu Zhaojia". Liu Zhaojia's birth year, "Jingjiang Liu Clan Genealogy" as "1884", "Liangjiang Normal School Student Directory" as "1886", the age should be about four or five years younger than Chen Yuan. The "Book of Teachers and Friends of Wang Kangnian" contains a letter from Wu Yuanzhi (1865-1923) to Wang Kangnian (1860-1911), the upper paragraph is "Your Excellency the Elder brother of the same year", and the book is "Nian Yu Brother Wu Yuanzhi Dunshou", Wu Yuanzhi is five years younger than Wang Kangnian and belongs to the same generation. In the above two examples, the self-proclaimed "foolish brother" is younger than the other party and is a veritable "brother", but the age difference is not too much, and it can still be regarded as a peer. If the age difference between the two is too great, to fourteen or fifteen years old or even more, they no longer belong to the same generation, the elderly can still be humbly called "foolish brother", and the younger can never call themselves "foolish brother" (so it is no longer modest). It is said that when Liang Qichao (1873-1929) first met zhang zhidong (1837-1909), the governor of Liangguang, he threw a stab at the sign: "Foolish brother Liang Qichao's first worship", the 36-year-old Zhang Zhidong was extremely annoyed, and later had a couplet: "Wear a pint of clothing, hold nine immortal bones, be rude and rude to be called a foolish brother; travel thousands of miles, read thousands of books, and the chivalrous warrior has the ambition to be proud of the prince." ”
Knowing the use of "foolish brother" can help us identify errors in the publication materials of ordinary calligraphy and painting. For example, in 2017, a publishing house published a thirteen-volume "Collection of Fine Works of the Palace Museum in Shenyang", of which "Calligraphy Volume" contains a Pair of Qing Dynasty couplets: "The Joy of Knowing the Fish, Riding the Heavenly Horse to Swim Together", the author is Cheng Enze (1785-1837), the advocate of the Song Poetry Movement, the next book "Nian Yu Brother Cheng Enze", and the upper book "Guishan Ren Brother Zheng". Guishan is Sun Sanxi (birth and death year unknown), character Guishan, one character Guishan, one as Guisan, no. Huai uncle, Zhejiang Pinghu people, Gong seal, Li, Jingjian ancient. The "Shenyang Palace Museum Collection of Fine Collections" next to this couplet notes that Sun Sanxi's birth and death year is 1762-1806, which is obviously wrong, sun Sanxi can never be 23 years older than Cheng Enze, because the latter can never call himself a "foolish brother" to someone who is 23 years older than himself.
In fact, the key to the problem is not that the juniors cannot call themselves "foolish brothers", but that the juniors cannot call themselves "brothers". It is not that the younger generation cannot use "foolishness", but it is just that "foolishness" cannot be used with "brother". Mr. Xiao Ru said: "The party who calls 'foolish' must be older, or older, or have a high social status, in order to be qualified to be so humble to the other party", "the elders can call themselves 'foolish brothers' to the younger generations, and this 'foolishness' is the humble name of the elders to the younger generations." Mr. Xiao Ru's judgment may be more appropriate if it is added to the word "brother". We may as well say that "brother" is the humble name of the elders to the younger generations, and "foolishness" is not the case. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, although the younger generations cannot call themselves "foolish brothers" (in fact, they cannot be called "brothers"), the younger generations can call themselves "foolish nephews", "foolish sons-in-law", "foolish children", etc., because the "nephews", "sons-in-law", "sons-in-law", etc. here have already indicated the generational divisions, and the prefix with the word "foolish" is still in line with the etiquette of correspondence. There is no need to repeat the example of this aspect in the Qing Dynasty, and such a tradition has still existed since the Republic of China, so it is advisable to take the recent first edition of the "Grass Law Thesis" as an example.
The "Grass Law Thesis" includes more than 500 tongzhi of Wang Yuchang, from the earliest to Wang Guowei (1925) to the latest to Wang Xingsun (1989), with a time span of more than 60 years, which is an important material for understanding and studying the changes of the literati ruler in the twentieth century. The Lotus Grass Law Thesis contains a total of thirty-nine letters from Wang Yuchang (1900-1989) to Zhang Yuanji (1867-1959), the earliest in 1928 and the latest in 1954. In the Thirty-Nine Correspondence, the first paragraph is basically "Ju ElderLy Uncle Zun Qian", and the next book "Nian Yu Nephew" is the most, a total of 26 times. Wang Jiarong's father, Wang Jiarong (1850-1930), was raised in the fifteenth year of the Qing Dynasty (1889), and Zhang Yuanji, Cai Yuanpei, and Liang Qichao were also raised in the same year. Zhang Yuanji and Wang Jiarong were both in the same year, so Wang Yu could often call himself "Nian Yu Nephew" in front of Zhang Yuanji. Wang First called Zhang Yuanji a "Nian Yu Nephew" in 1928, when he was 29 years old and served as a high school teacher at the Affiliated Middle School of Guanghua University, while also teaching part-time at Daxia University. The purpose of Wang Yu's frequent letters to Zhang Yuanji was to "burden the family with his family" and entrust this "Nian Uncle" to "seek a part-time lesson" with another "Nian Uncle", Cai Yuanpei of the First Jiaotong University. The 29-year-old Wang Yuchang is by no means as small as Mr. Wang's so-called "generations are old, or old, or have a high social status", but he may still use "foolishness" and may wish to call himself "young foolish nephew".
In other words, "foolish brother" belongs to the humble name of the elders to the younger generations, and is occasionally seen in the same generation (those who are slightly younger than the other party can also use it to call themselves), and cannot be used for the younger generations to the elders. Juniors can also use "foolish" for elders, but the word paired with "foolish" cannot be "brother", but should be a predicate indicating the later generation. The above views of Mr. Wu Xiaoru were slightly corrected, and due to the limited materials available, the arguments may be wrong, and the Fang family was also asked to correct them.