Ancient people, in addition to the relationship with the natural world, in addition to the sun and moon astronomy, followed by the relationship with plants, first grain, then vegetables, and then there are medicines, these three aspects of natural resources are the ancients in addition to hunting and fishing in addition to the important living resources, so "Shuowen Jiezi" will be these three types of resources related to the Chinese characters listed in the "艸" department is in the front position, since we are learning "Shuowen Jiezi", after the "Shu" department, the first contact is this type of character, today to say these 6 Chinese characters:
(The six Kanji to be explained today)
1. Aoi. Pronounced kuí. The explanation given by the "Explanation of Words" is: "Dish also." Sound from the decanter. Xu Shen gave not many clues, only said that it was a dish, what kind of dish it was, Xu Shen did not say. Poetry. Feng Feng. In July, it is said: "July Henkui and Shu". The Hengtong cooking here shows that its ripening season is july of the lunar calendar. "Gule House. The Long Song Line says: "Aoi in the Qingqing Garden, waiting for the sun to shine", obviously, this is a common dish. But in fact, sunflower vegetables are still there, but there are different theories. One theory is that winter sunflower, also called winter cold vegetable, mallow family, biennial herb. The leaves are kidney-shaped to round. In early summer, small reddish flowers bloom, often clustered leaf axils, young shoots, young leaves as vegetables, seeds, whole herbs into medicine. As shown in the figure:
(Winter Sunflower)
There is also a saying that winter sunflower is what farmers call "Ma Su'er" scientific name called winter sunflower seeds, also called: sunflower seeds, sunflower seeds, alfalfa seeds. This plant is extremely common, as shown in the figure:
(Winter Sunflower)
In addition, Aoi is also a generic name for slippery vegetables (that is, vegetables containing mucus), and Wu Qilin of the Qing Dynasty said in the "Botanical Names and Facts Tu Kao": "The ancients knew many sunflowers in the slippery dishes.". Now the sunflower is a plant that came later, sunflowers are native to the Americas, probably in the Ming Dynasty only introduced to China, the earliest called "west flower". In addition, Aoi is also a surname. In the Song Dynasty, there was a man named Kui Fangzhi. Aoi's small seal is written as shown in the figure:
(Aoi's small seal writing)
2. 䕬. Pronounced jiāng. The Shuowen Jiezi explains: "The dish of the Yu Yu is also." From the sound of the flea. "It is a dish that expels a disease such as rheumatism." "Guangyun. Yang Yun said: "䕬, the same as '薑'" is actually ginger, too common household dish. As shown in the figure:
(䕬)
"䕬" is the name of "ginger" in ancient times, in the "Explanation of Words", ginger is only used as a surname, and does not have the meaning of "ginger" in vegetables or spices now. Ginger, a perennial herb with yellow-green flowers and a pungent fragrance, is a thick rhizome with aromatic and spicy flavor. The leaves are lanceolate or linear, glabrous, sessile, and membranous. The spike-like inflorescences are conesculated, with ovate bracts, pale green or yellowish edges, with small pointed tips at the apex. The small seal of the seal is written as shown in the figure:
(Small seal)
3. Tateshina. Pronounced liǎo or lù. The Shuowen Jiezi said: "Spicy vegetables, Sui Yu also." This plant is still called "Tateshina", which is an annual herb of the family Tateshina. Tateshina is also a generic term for some plants in the family Tateshina. The leaves are spicy (hence the name "spicy vegetables") and can be used to flavor them. Most of them grow at the water's edge, such as shou wu, water indigo, red indigo, and shoulder plate gui. The whole herb can be used in medicine, while the leaves or stems can be used as dyes. As shown in the figure:
(Tateshina)
Tateshina is also used as a metaphor for hardship, such as the Book of Verses. The Zhou Song has: "It is not difficult to be able to meet the family, but to be gathered in Tateshina". Mao Chuan explained: "Tateshina, words are hard also. In addition, Tateshina is also used as a surname. When "indigo" is pronounced lù, it refers to "the tall appearance of a plant". Such as the Book of Verses. Xiao Ya said: "Tateshina, zero dew." Mao legend: "Tateshina, grow up". Pronunciation depending on the use is different. The small seal of Tateshina is written as shown in the following figure:
(Tateshina's small seal)
4. 䔃. Pronounced zǔ. In the "Explanation of Words", it is said: "Cai ye." From the ancestral voice. "There are no more clues than to explain that it is a dish and a shape and sound word. Xu Kai's "Biography of the Shuowen Lineage" quotes the sayings in the "Ancient and Modern Notes": "䔃, a 蕺", "Guangya. It is also said in the Shi Cao: "䔃, 蕺也". What is a "蕺"? It is actually houttuynia, side ear root. Root is like thatch root and can be eaten. The name "Houttuynia cordata" is found in the "Catalogue of Famous Doctors". Tang Susong said: "Raw wetlands, valley shade can also grow, leaves such as buckwheat and fat, purple and red stems, Jiangzuo people are good raw food, Guanzhong is called spinach, the leaves have fishy gas, so it is commonly known as houttuynia cordata." Looks like this:
(䔃)
Qi Min Zhi Shu. Cairu said: "䔃, purple, there are vines." "䔃, also written 蒩, 葅, 菹. Its small seal is written as shown in the following figure:
(Small seal writing)
5, pronounced qú. The explanation in the "Explanation of Words" is: "Cai ye." Like a sue. From the voice of the pig "Jade Chapter. The 艸部 said: "The suffering of the present." Compendium of Materia Medica. Cuisine Department. Bitter Vegetables said: "The Wu people call it Bitter Herbs." ...... The domestic planter calls it bitterness, but it is also a thing." The so-called lettuce, the so-called lettuce, is now bitter lettuce, which is also a common dish. As shown in the figure:
(Bitter lettuce)
Bitter lettuce, Asteraceae, perennial herb, leaves and stems contain white juice. In ancient times, it was often a food for the rescue of the wilderness, and all the herbs could be medicated. The small seal is written as shown in the following figure:
(Small seal writing)
6. Wei. Pronounced wēi. This word is still a common word, and the "Explanation of Words" is interpreted as: "Dish also." It resembles a weed. From the gall whisper. The most common allusion to this word comes from the Chronicle of History. "... Bo Yi and Shu Qi were ashamed, righteous did not eat Zhou Su, hidden in shouyang Mountain, and cai wei ate it. "This is a classic story, a classic story about human integrity and quality, and the Wei spoken of here is the first meaning of the word, which is wild pea." Legumes, annual or biennial herbs, seeds, young stems, leaves can be eaten. As shown in the figure:
(Wild Peas)
Another meaning of the word wei is rose, which mainly refers to the varieties and horticultural varieties of rose vines, which are small flowers that climb the fence in the form of vines, deciduous shrubs, native to China, with strong variability. The stem spines are large and generally hooked, and there are about 3 or 4 of each node; the leaves are alternate, odd pinnate compound leaves, the leaflets are 5-9, the leaf margins are toothed, and the leaves are flattened but soft hairy. The flowers are often clustered in clusters of 6-7, conical umbel inflorescences, growing at the top of the branches, with a flower diameter of about 3 cm, and blooming only once a year. As shown in the figure:
(Rose)
Wei's small seal is written as shown in the following figure:
(Wei's small seal is written as shown in the picture)
Most of the names of vegetables and flowers in ancient times are not the same as modern names, some of the vegetables and flowers that we are accustomed to, but in ancient times there were other elegant and ancient words to call it, these words appeared in a large number of ancient literary works, in reading ancient classics, understanding these words, for understanding the meaning of the text is very helpful. However, in the "Explanation of Words" (說文解字), these words are often explained only by a simple word, and the details are not indicated. The set of explanations we have been doing, relatively speaking, is only a shallow level of the interpretation of these strange ancient characters as modern vernacular, not a deep-level specialized philological study, so, for example, the oracle bone is noted in stages, the provenance of the original text quoted in the gold text, etc., we have not specified them in detail.
([Explanation of words] No. 41, some pictures from the Internet)