Wenchuan Decade 10 years · Wenchuan — 02 — Parses the rheology of the pronunciation of the word "Wen" 丨
In the change of years, we are not only ushered in the transformation of mountains and rivers, but also the change of culture. Chinese characters, in terms of glyphs, go through pottery scripts, oracle bones, gold scripts, seals, li, kai, grass, lines, etc., until they are finally determined to be simplified characters that are convenient to write; in terms of phonetics, vowels, vowels and tones constitute a unique language and character, and a series of interesting stories are produced according to people's pronunciation habits. Did you know that the term "Wenchuan" was originally misread in the earthquake information channel?
The character "Wen" was not a commonly used Chinese character before 2008. On May 12, 2008, a super earthquake made "Wenchuan" famous.
At that time, because the word was relatively strange, the media only took the "wèn" sound according to the phonetic pronunciation of the dictionary, but ignored that in the fifth edition of the Modern Chinese Dictionary published in 2005, the meaning after this sound was "Wen River, Dawen River, and water name are all in Shandong", referring to the "Wenshui" in the Laiwu area of Mount Taishan, Shandong, rather than "Wenchuan" in Maoxian County, Sichuan. This is also the original meaning of the word "Wen", which is a word like the word "river", which in ancient times specifically referred to the name of a stream of water. "Zuo Chuan , Year of the Common Era " ( ) " The Duke of Jiyou Wenyang No Tian " . Du pre-noted: "Wenyang Tian, Wenshui North Land." Wenshui out of Taishan Laiwu County. Du Qian's notes make it clear that the river, pronounced "wèn water," is located in Shandong.
Dawen River, Shandong
So what pronunciation should Sichuan's "Wenchuan" pronounce?
There are 4 pronunciations of the character "Wen" that appear in Chinese literature: mén, mín, wén, wèn. Sichuan's "Wenchuan" should be read as "mín", "Wen" through "Min", referring to the Minshan and Minjiang areas of Shudi, and the Shangshu and Shiji both use "Wenshan" and "Wenhe" when referring to this area of Shudi. The Jin Dynasty's Kan Xiao wrote the "Thirteen States Chronicle", which contains the story of the expected emperor Du Yuchan giving up the throne, leaving himself, and transforming into a cuckoo, which tells that "his corpse died, but to Wenshan is reborn" is the Min Mountain of Shudi. Therefore, the names of mountains and rivers that use the word "Wen" need to be pronounced in the upper and lower contexts, referring to the pronunciation of "wèn" in the present-day Shandong region, and "mín" in the Minshan area of present-day Sichuan and Gansu.
The source of the Min River is high in the Min Mountains The Min Mountains, with overlapping peaks and deep river valleys, are strongly uplifting folded mountains and are the water source of the Min River. It stretches from Min County in the southeast of Gansu Province in the north to Mount Emei in the western part of the Sichuan Basin in the south, covering more than 700 kilometers, and the ridge is as high as 4000 to 4500 meters above sea level. The main peak, Xuebao Peak, is located in the east of Songpan County, and is very majestic with modern glaciers and many ancient glacier remnants. Miao Yijiang/Photography
Wencheng in Liaodong, known as the Ancient Bamboo Kingdom, pronounced "wén chénɡ" should be the pronunciation of the place name according to the choice of the locals. When it comes to the problem of the pronunciation convention of place names, it can also be found in the flow of "Wenchuan" pronunciation. Since the media read "wèn chuān" after the 2008 earthquake, this mispronunce was widely used. Therefore, in the sixth and seventh editions of the Modern Chinese Dictionary, which was later published, it was revised, and the interpretation under the "Wen" article was added to the second example word "Wen (wèn) Chuan, place name, in Sichuan". The power of convention in the application of language cannot be underestimated, and the situation of two readings of place names will exist for a long time in practice.
The remnants of the Lone Bamboo State Yiqi Temple
"TseviTu" The biography of The Chronicle of Bo Yilie was published. Bo Yi and Shu Qi were the two sons of the Emperor Of The Lone bamboo state at the end of the Shang Dynasty. According to legend, Guzhu Jun left Jizi Shuqi as the heir, and after the death of the monarch, Shuqi gave way to his brother Bo Yi to succeed to the throne, Bo Yi insisted on not accepting it, and Shu Qi was unwilling to succeed to the throne, and finally the brothers gave up the throne one after another and defected to Ji Chang, the King of Zhou Wen. After Ji Chang's death, Ji Fa, the King of Zhou Wu, succeeded to the throne, and Bo Yi and Shu Qi detained ma to obstruct him, but without success. After King Wu destroyed the Shang, Bo Yi and Shu Qi ate Zhou Su in shame, lived in the mountains to eat Wei Wei, and finally starved to death in Shouyang Mountain. As a result, this story of "not eating Zhou Su" has become synonymous with describing people with noble integrity. Li Tang (Song)/Painting
The word "Wen" also has a meaning in the "Guangyun", but it is rare in the classics, and it is pronounced as "wén" as sticky saliva. More commonly, it is pronounced as "mén". Mén 濛 (ménɡ), meaning stained. The Chu Ci Li Sau Fisherman's Father has: "Can An be able to inspect with his body, and the one who receives the Wen Wen of things?" Ning went to Xiangliu and was buried in the belly of the river fish. Can Ann be white with the dust of the world? "It is about Qu Yuan being victimized by the rumors of his courtiers and not being valued by the king of Chu, but he did not want to join the same stream, chose to abandon the world and die, and clearly purified his self-love heart. The meaning of "Wen" here is "惛", which is unclear and defiled, and the sound is similar to "惛 (mèn)". This story is changed under Sima Qian's pen and is used in the "History of Qu Yuan's Biography" to depict Qu Yuan's inner monologue when he was immersed in the Luojiang River. Compared with the lyrics in the "Fisher Father" section, Qu Yuan's almost muttered words and feelings in his works are more eloquent under Sima Qian's paraphrasing, allowing us to truly appreciate Qu Yuan's feelings and inner activities before he sank, and empathize with Qu Yuan's persistence and maverick behavior as a pursuing literati.
"Qu Yuan Fisherman's Father"
Although the glyph "Wen" is simple, the pronunciation is somewhat complicated. But there is no need to be nervous, because in modern Chinese, according to the latest edition of the Modern Chinese Dictionary, there is only one "wèn" sound, and the meaning of the word is simplified to two: the place name and the surname are pronounced. Is it much simpler to encounter "Wen" in daily life?
If you want to read the classics, be more careful, look at the context more, do more reference book searches, and then turn over the annotated translations of the relevant classics, I believe that everyone has an understanding of the pronunciation of the "Wen" character, and it will be easier to read the classics. The most important thing is not to make the relevant place names mentioned in the classics wrong area, Sichuan and Shandong, the distance is still very far away.
In the face of these similar place names, if you want to compare the real, Wen (mín) River, Wen (wèn) water, Wen (mín) mountain and Wen (wèn) river, do you read it correctly?
Author: Hou Xiaoru
The article was first published on the WeChat platform of River Magazine
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