Tang Dynasty Crossing Guide: Chang'an and People's Life Manual

Chapter 4 Crossing the language barrier first (3)
The third is "surname" + "official nickname".For example, people in the Tang Dynasty called the county magistrate "Ming Fu", so Zhang County Magistrate and Li County Magistrate would be called "Zhang Ming Fu" and "Li Ming Fu".

①Below the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the nine-rank Zhongzheng system was practiced, and the major surnames of the gentry monopolized the power of local elections. A surname was associated with the county where it was located, called Diwang.

In short, if you want to call any officials as "adults" to get in there, this kind of lazy method will not work.Those who are called "adults" will pat your head lightly, smile without saying a word, and your real lord will probably beat you with a stick when he hears it.

Going back to the first scene where you traveled successfully, Emperor Aye came in to see you, sat down to talk, and someone came in outside to report various affairs.If the person who came in was the kind called "eunuch" after the Ming Dynasty, then in the Tang Dynasty he was called "eunuch", "eunuch" or "gifter".If the person who came in was a woman, they would be "palace servants", "palace servants" and "maids", which is not much different from later generations.

These servants came in, paid homage to "everyone" and "queen", and then saluted you.As for what they call you, it depends on who you have become after transmigrating.

If the quality of time travel is high and you become an officially registered crown prince, your servants and officials will call you "His Royal Highness".If you were just a prince who was enshrined as a king at that time, the people below would usually call you "big king"Haha, in fact, the pronunciation at that time was really called "Dai (daì) King"], not the crown prince, basically would not be called "His Royal Highness × Wang" or something.

As for the princess, she was also called "princess" or "your lord" face to face, with little change.

But there is another situation, that is, if the servants who are valued by your parents come in, and put on a posture of "we are as warm and warm as in an ordinary family", then they may not call you the prince and princess, but like an ordinary family. As in the same way, the male host is called "Lang Jun" "(ranking) + Lang", and the female host is called "Lady" and "Little Lady".

"Wulang", "Liulang" and "Da Niang" and "Qiniang" are the most common and affectionate titles for men and women in Tang Dynasty society, from the royal family to the untouchables , unimpeded passage.

If you go to an ordinary noble or commoner family to observe their life, you will see that the slaves call the male master "Alang" or "master", the female master "lady" and "madame", and the sons of the male and female masters "" "Lang Jun", "Da Lang", "Er Lang", "San Lang"...calling the daughters of the host and hostess "Little Lady", "Da Niang", "Second Niang" and "San Niang"...As for the daughter-in-law and son-in-law of the host and hostess, it is also in " Various modifiers such as surname and ranking are added before and after "Niang" and "Lang". There are many changes, so I won't go into details.

The slaves call men "Lang" and women "Niang", because the meaning of dignity and inferiority is obvious, and spread to the society, it has become a widely used honorific title, and everyone calls each other "× Lang" "× "Mother" to show that you are polite and cultivated.

For example, one day a traveler sneaks out on the street and gets lost. If he wants to ask someone for directions, if the person in front of him is an old man (male), he should call him "father-in-law" and "old man"; if it is an old woman, They are called "Grandma" and "Old Madam"; young and middle-aged men are called "Lang Jun"; young and middle-aged women are called "Lady";

It should be noted that for people who are not familiar with each other, you should not call them "Big Brother", "Big Sister", "Uncle" and "Auntie" casually like in modern society. It is not popular, and the called person may be startled, thinking that you are going to share his property or something.

So what do you call friends other than close relatives?

In addition to "Lang", general honorific titles such as "Jun", "Qing", "Gong" and "One Step" can be used as face-to-face addresses.If you are close to this friend to a certain extent, you can also directly call him "surname + ranking", both parties will feel that this is an unusual expression of relationship, such as "Send Yuan Er" in a large number of Tang poetry titles. Envoy Anxi", "Banquet Xinghuachi Pavilion Sending Bai 22 to the East", "Send Han Fourteen Rivers to the East Province", "Drunk with Li Shiyi and Recall Yuan Nine", "Summer South Pavilion Huaixinda"... This is what modern people give When a friend calls, the words "old six", "pig head" and "old dog, where are you?" have similar meanings.

When calling a person with a lower status than yourself, such as a nephew, you can directly call him by his first name or nickname, and use "you", "ru" and "er" when talking face to face.Calling your own slaves is also called by their names. When you are angry, you can call them "dog slaves" and "bad maids", but don't call them "slaves".Your family's servants will not call themselves "slaves", this word was not a term of address in the Tang Dynasty.The slaves and maids called themselves "cheap slaves" and "servants".

Finally, let me talk about what you should call yourself when you talk to different people after you travel through the past.

When talking to elders or peers, if you want to express respect for the other party, you should use modest names.For example, when talking to the emperor, of course you have to call yourself "Chen". You can also call yourself "Er" to the emperor and queen after transmigrating into a prince or princess, but don't use "Er Chen", which was not used in the Tang Dynasty.

In addition, it is more common to call back by one's own name. "Master Hui: Ah Chuan has drunk the medicine." "Mr. Zhang, don't be upset, Ah Chuan is here to make amends."... There is a gossip in "Sui and Tang Jiahua": "Taizong... the first heir, and Zheng Gong Yuheng named himself, It is the people of the world who return to their hearts.” When Li Shimin first became emperor, he always talked to Wei Zheng (later Zheng Guogong) as “Shimin” (whose knowledge is shallow, respecting him to teach me), “Shimin” (who was about to be tired) dead, Wei and Tang monks, can you stop nagging) such a very courteous show, so the public intellectuals were very excited, thinking that "you are the people of the world."

There are also common words used in the past dynasties such as "servant", "foolish", "simply" and "xiazuo" as modest titles used by men, which are not mentioned in detail.What I want to talk about is the "some" (some A, some B) that is more characteristic of the Tang Dynasty. This can be regarded as the kind of modesty that is neither humble nor overbearing, and it is commonly used throughout society.For example, the Dunhuang Bianwen "Han Qinhu Story Book": "Yang Jian said to the queen: 'A certain fate is weak, how can it be?' The queen asked: 'Aye court and even people complained about (Su) goodness?'" A certain and There is a difference between the left and the right.'"—Here Yang Jian is the father of Queen Yang Lihua, but the Queen's status is more noble than Yang Jian, and the address between the two is awkward, so Yang Jian used the universal self-proclaimed word "certain".

In addition to the general "handmaiden" and "concubine", women used modest names to call themselves "children" with the characteristics of the Tang Dynasty, and they did not have to face their parents, and they also called themselves like this to ordinary guests who respected their elders.In various Dunhuang Bianwen, women claim to be "er" in the majority, such as "Wu Zixu Bianwen": "The woman replied: 'I have heard the words of the ancients, and it is true...Er's family originally lived in Nanyang County. The eight faces are as bright as bright...'"

There is also another self-proclaimed term that may sound very awkward to you, which is "nu" (Anu), which can be used by both men and women in the Tang Dynasty. "Han Qinhu Story Book": "At that time, there was Jin Lin, King Chen, who knew that Yang Jian was an army (king), and he was willing to live up to it (obedience). The Minister of the Han Dynasty was in front of the palace. At that time, he asked: 'Anu Now we plan to raise troops and subdue the mad Qin, what do you want?'"—the "Anu" here is the Southern Chen Emperor Chen Shubao's self-proclaimed name. "The emperor announced and asked: 'Anu has no gain (virtue), and the threshold (indiscriminate) is the army (lord). Worshiping the generals and cutting them off, how can anyone go?'"——The two "Anu" here are both called by Yang Jian.After the Song Dynasty, the "Slave" series claimed to be only for women, and men generally no longer used it.

The meaning of "servant" in the Tang Dynasty is very broad, and it is a common word for nicknames and boudoir names of people from all walks of life. It can be used to curse people and express derogatory meanings. Parents often use it to address their children to express affection.

The above mentioned are the modest words to the elders, and the following is the self-proclaimed words to the subordinates and nephews.

First of all, after you become the emperor, prince, and kings, you don't need to call yourself "望", "少人", "孤人" and so on on all occasions.When writing history, historians like to process the emperor's speech according to the etiquette system, so that it can be as close as possible to "I", "Lonely" and "Widow". There are records in which he calls himself "I", "I", and even "slave".

To cite a very representative material, in the first-hand historical material of the Tang Dynasty, "Wei Zheng Gong's Remonstrance Record", which records the story of Wei Zhengjin's remonstrance, there is such a passage: Someone told Li Shimin that many high-ranking officials and ministers looked down on his precious son Li Tai.Li Shimin, who has a quick temper and soft ears, jumped up angrily, and called the ministers above the third rank to scold him: "I have something to say, I want to talk to you. In the past, the emperor was the emperor, but now the emperor is not the emperor? The emperor is evil." He is the Son of Heaven, but today the Son of Heaven is not the Son of Heaven? I have seen the kings of the Sui family, all below the first grade will be stunned. I will not allow my son to behave freely. Why are you scorning my son? If I teach him, can’t he? Humiliate you and others?"

The central idea of ​​this passage is to complain that the ministers don’t respect him enough as the emperor and his sons (of course, the result was that Wei Zheng took the bricks back and squatted in the corner to reflect).Although the content is actually very related to the royal etiquette system, but because the opening chapter clarified the "oral language", that is, "regardless of the truth and innermost feelings of the etiquette of the monarch and his ministers", he used "I" throughout the article instead of "zhen". .

Therefore, ordinary people speak to their subordinates and nephews on ordinary occasions, regardless of gender, just call themselves "I" and "I".They can call themselves "Aye" and "Aniang" to their children, and grandparents can call themselves "Aweng" and "Grandma" to their grandchildren (the grandchildren also call themselves grandparents).

To sum up, after you travel to the Tang Dynasty, it is easy to use the wrong terms, and it is best to avoid the following terms of address: emperor, father emperor, mother queen, son minister, adult, master (lord, young master).Miss, minion, it is recommended to use: slave (self-proclaimed), lord, lady.

①Dun, meaning torture and humiliation.

References & in-depth understanding recommendations for this article:
Edited by Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House. Grand View of Notes and Novels of the Tang and Five Dynasties (two volumes). Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 2000
Xiang Chu. Dunhuang Bianwen Selected Notes (two volumes). Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 2006
A dumb person can’t suffer, let me teach you a few swear words in the Tang Dynasty
slang
After introducing the daily titles, let's talk about some curse words that may be used when traveling back to the Tang Dynasty.Why?In case you are bullied by the second generation of officials on Chang'an Avenue, you can't beat the five big and three rough Tang people, and you can't scold when you scold. Shi Ran rode away, what a sense of accomplishment...

Okay, let's go back first and listen to the scolding from the Tang Dynasty people.But let me remind you first, as a person who is used to living in the modern Chinese context, if you go to listen to Tang Dynasty people scolding the street, you may get bored after listening to it for a while, it feels like Wei Gong Xiaobao listening to Russian scolding.

At dawn the next morning, all the generals led their subordinates to work separately.Peng Chun's soldiers picked soil to build the perimeter, Lang Tan commanded the firing of artillery, and Bahai dug a tunnel.Hong Chao led [-] soldiers, learned some curse words from the Luocha soldiers, and shouted curses in the city.It's a pity that the Raksha people are mean and illiterate, and their cursing words are limited. Although the soldiers shouted loudly, the meaning was very mediocre, and they repeated a few words like "you are a stinky pig" and "you eat excrement", which is not as good as my Chinese. Shangguo's slander is colorful and varied, with endless changes?Wei Xiaobao listened for a while, feeling very bored. ①
If you hear a lot of modern Chinese swear words, you may think that people in the Tang Dynasty swearing at the street is too simple and boring. Basically, it is "animal" and "go to death".

①From Jin Yong's "Deer and Ding Ji".

So what is popular in the Tang Dynasty?
A big trend is to call people "farmers". Of course, the original words are "Tian She" series, such as "Tian She Han", "Tian She Er", "Tian She Nu", "Tian She Lang"...

Come on, you and I will go to the Taiji Palace in the early years of Zhenguan. Let's first watch Taizong Li Shimin curse the streets.Look at this guy, he came back angrily after get off work to complain to his wife, criticizing office politics, what was he talking about?
"I will kill this farmer!" ① (If there is a chance, I will kill that farmer!)

The following is a famous plot in history. Empress Changsun asked: Who messed with you again?Li Shimin replied: This guy Wei Zheng doesn't respect the leader, and he often raises opinions in person. —Ah, the guest!What are you doing with the queen?Want to spy on people changing clothes?It's so obscene!Come back to me quickly!
If you don't come back, we'll have to leave again!This time I'm going to go to the reign of Emperor Xuanzong to watch the girls' karaoke!

① From Liu's "Sui and Tang Jiahua".

(End of this chapter)