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Nowadays, couples usually refer to each other as "husband" and "wife", and even couples in love often use these titles, as if they have entered a state of married life.
However, what many people don't know is that the title "husband" did not refer to the husband in ancient times, but was used to address the eunuch!
According to Li Suling's summary, "husband" is a word used by modern women to address their husbands, and this word was once considered a dialect word.
After investigation, it was found that the word "husband" has a history of thousands of years.
It is a basic word in ancient Chinese and has three basic meanings: an elderly man, a husband, and a eunuch.
According to historical records, there is a sentence in "The Biography of the Three Kingdoms, Wei Zhi, and Deng Ai" that is, "Seventy husbands, what do you want!"
But the "husband" here refers to the elderly, which means the elderly who is seventy years old.
Although this name may seem strange to modern people, the reason is simple: ancient people were different from what we Xi used to call today.
If you accidentally travel back in time to ancient times, you need to be careful with your words, because you can't understand the language of the ancients, and likewise the ancients can't understand what you say.
In ancient folk, it was true that "husband" was used to address eunuchs, but on other occasions, the title may be different.
From the point of view of official position, eunuchs can be called temple people, yellow gates, mink jue, etc., and if you want to show respect, you can also be called internal officials, internal ministers, middle officials, middle nobles, etc.
But in reality, even the same word has different meanings in different times and contexts.
Sometimes it refers to the elderly, sometimes to contempt for the elderly, and sometimes to the father.
Of course, there are times when it refers to the husband, and as in modern usage, there are both the words "husband" and "wife".
In comparison, in ancient times, it was understandable that a "husband" was called an "old man", but it would be very surprising to be a "eunuch".
During the Ming Dynasty, eunuchs were often referred to as "fathers-in-law", while those older eunuchs who enjoyed high positions and power were referred to as "old husbands".
But then, probably because people were too lazy to say so many words, gradually, "husband" was abbreviated to the word "husband".
After Li Zicheng, the leader of the peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty, attacked Beijing, there was a saying of "beating her husband".
During the Qing Dynasty, Cao Xueqin's "Dream of Red Mansions" mentioned that "husband" referred to eunuchs.
Similarly, there is a similar usage in Li Boyuan's "Records of the Appearance of Officialdom", a term that was particularly popular from the end of the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty.
In the ancient court, eunuchs were actually "non-men" who were castrated, castrated, and sent to the palace to serve the emperor and concubines.
They were known as eunuchs in their early years, and were mainly called eunuchs during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
It can be said that eunuchs can be regarded as a pitiful and pathetic group in history.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, eunuchs often served the emperor and concubines in the court, and they had to show respect and obedience to the emperor, and since eunuchs were unable to establish family and marital relationships, they had a lower social status and could not be addressed as "father" or "husband".
Gradually, these eunuchs developed a distorted psyche and began to brutally abuse prostitutes in order to satisfy their own frustrations and unexpressible desires.
As an insult and contempt for these eunuchs, the women privately called them "husbands".
This title was actually an insult to the eunuchs, because the women were well aware of the dangers and pains of coming into contact with them.
Although the meaning of "eunuch" does exist, due to the lack of usage, there is relatively little literature on it.
In the eighty-third chapter of Cao Xueqin's book "A Dream of Red Mansions", there is such a sentence: "The person at the door came in and said that there were two inner and outer ministers who wanted to see the two masters." ”
Jia Yu said: "Please come in," the man at the door led the husband in, and we can know from the context that the "eunuch" referred to here.
In addition, in another novel, "The Appearance of Officialdom", the word "husband" is also used to refer to eunuchs.
"He immediately entered Beijing and went to his husband's door," and at the same time, you can also refer to the word "husband".
In general, the use of the word "husband" at different times in history has gradually taken on a derogatory connotation, and has gradually become associated with eunuchs, becoming a general term for eunuchs.
But it's worth noting that the word has taken on different meanings and usages in modern times.
So, apart from your husband, do you know any other words that you can use to address your husband?
I believe that many friends who love costume TV series should understand that in ancient times, people used various titles to call their other half, such as "beloved", "official", "xianggong", "husband" and so on.
So let's talk about the lover first, the husband in ancient times was usually called "the lover", doesn't this title sound good?
To give you an example, for example, the Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Ji wrote in the poem "The Song of the Festival Women": "The concubine's high-rise building rises from the garden, and the lover holds a halberd in the bright light." ”
The word "beloved" here refers to the "husband" and means that both of them have become better people.
However, the word "beloved" does not show a gender difference, and wives can also call their husbands "beloved", and husbands can also call their wives "beloved".
In addition to "beloved", some monosyllabic words such as "lang" and "qing" were more intimate and were considered suitable for use in "boudoir fun".
Therefore, the ancients expressed the intimate feelings between husband and wife by adding other words before and after monophonic words to become two-syllable words, such as "Langjun" and "Niangzi".
In the Song Dynasty, with the rise of the idea of science and the title of the government as "official family", the title between husband and wife also underwent new changes.
For example, some wives began to call their husbands officials, and among the people, people still use the terms "groom" and "bride" to describe newlyweds.
Although the title conveys respect and adoration in some ways, it also reflects the differences in gender roles and the form of conjugal relationships at the time.
From this point of view, in fact, the status of men and women was relatively equal in ancient times, and this kind of non-gender-specific title also brought some inconvenience to the address between husband and wife.
Later, wives began to call their husbands "outsiders" or, more elegantly, "waikos".
Husbands, on the other hand, call their wives "maidens" or "insiders", and sometimes humbly refer to their wives as "lowly" or "insider" in front of others.
These changes in titles also indirectly reflect the changing status of gender roles in society at that time, and also show an expression of the relationship between husband and wife in Chinese history and culture.
Finally, let's talk about the two titles of "Xianggong" and "Fujun".
If you've ever watched Peking Opera, Yue Opera or Huangmei Opera, you'll be impressed by the coquettish "Xiang Gong" that often appears in them.
This title was very popular in ancient times, and originally "Xianggong" was the honorific title of the prime minister, and later gradually evolved into an honorific title for officials and scholars.
Eventually, this custom spread to the people, and wives began to address their husbands as "Xianggong".
In ancient times, the title "husband" had a very high honorific color and was widely used.
Under the constraints of Confucian morality, people's hierarchies are very distinct, arranged according to the principle of "heaven and earth, kings, relatives, teachers", where "jun" refers to kings, ranking below heaven and earth and above all people.
Coupled with the fact that in ancient times, men were regarded as the pillars of the family and had the responsibility of managing the housework, so men were respected and called "husbands", which meant that they could take on great responsibilities for the family and hold up a piece of the world.
According to historical documents, similar titles can also be seen, such as Jia Mu in "Dream of Red Mansions" calling Jia Zheng "Master Zheng".
There are also some women who refer to their husbands with words such as "husband" and "cloth clothes", which usually show the respect and care that women have for their husbands.
In general, in ancient times, the word "husband" was indeed used to refer to eunuchs, but with the development of history, we understand that husband is an intimate name for husband at one time.
I have to sigh, Chinese culture is broad and profound, after listening to the introduction, what do you think is the most appropriate way to call your other half?