This year is the Year of the Dragon in the lunar calendar, and the Year of the Dragon asks the dragon, where did the word "dragon" come about? How has it evolved? Today's question is to the end, let's pay attention to the past and present life of the word "dragon".
From oracle bone inscription to the modern character "dragon" underwent what evolution?
The oracle bone inscription is the earliest mature writing system in China so far, so what does the word "dragon" in the oracle bone inscription look like? From the dragon in the oracle bone inscription to the dragon we use now, what kind of evolution has the word "dragon" undergone?
Jiang Yubin, researcher at the Research Center for Unearthed Literature and Paleographies, Fudan University: In this edition, we have listed some of the ways in which the oracle bone inscription is written as a dragon. With the middle as the representative glyph, above it is its horns, with a large mouth and a long curled body, which is a pictograph, which is a pictogram of the mythical beast dragon in the minds of the ancients. For example, this one, its body is written with a double hook, which is written thickly, and the horns on the dragon's head are written more beautifully, and these dragon characters can be left and right.
By the Shang and Zhou dynasties, gold inscriptions cast on bronze ware appeared. The writing of the word "dragon" in the Jin text is more abundant.
Jiang Yubin, researcher at the Research Center for Unearthed Literature and Paleographies, Fudan University: Its age is probably the late Shang Dynasty, so we can see the horns on its head, its open mouth, and even its eyes, which are all very vividly described. The curled tail of the body, this glyph is also written in the late Shang Dynasty.
During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, the writing of the dragon character underwent significant changes. In the Spring and Autumn period, the changes were even more pronounced.
Jiang Yubin, researcher at the Research Center for Unearthed Literature and Paleographies, Fudan University: It has a small short horizontal on its head and corners, which has no practical significance, just to make the writing more beautiful, and it is decorative. In addition, the mouth becomes such a flesh moon, and its body is written separately from its head, which is for the convenience of writing, and at the same time, three strokes are added to the back of its body.
The dragon character on the screen is the font of the small seal, which is very close to the traditional "dragon" character we are familiar with. Later, another way of writing appeared on the right half of the dragon character. It is pronounced "mang busy" (尨).
Strange "stick figure" Is it the word "dragon"?
Later, when New China simplified Chinese characters, only one of the three apostrophes of the 尨 (máng) character was retained, which gave rise to the dragon character we use today. In addition, the reporter also found a strange text similar to a stick figure in a professional paleography monograph, is this character "dragon"?
CCTV reporter Bian Xiaoyan: Now I will write a very incredible word for you, looking at its shocked and innocent expression, I said that this is the word dragon, do you believe it? It's not really my drawing, it's what I saw in this book. It is called "The Compilation of Ancient Texts", and it is a very professional and comprehensive paleography monograph.
The word "dragon" looks like a monster with a human head at first glance, but whether it is the word "dragon" or not, we still listen to the expert's explanation.
How do you form the word "dragon" in oracle bone inscriptions?
Dragon and Tiger Leap, Dragon Flying Phoenix Dance, Dragon Horse Spirit, Flying Dragon in the Sky, when it comes to dragons, you can say a lot of related idioms when you open your mouth. So how does the word "dragon" in the oracle bone inscription form words?
"Dragon" is used in many ways in oracle bone divination, and is often used as a person's name, a place name, a country's name, and so on.
Han Shengwei, member of the Key Laboratory of Oracle Information Processing of the Ministry of Education and director of the Oracle and Yinxu Science and Technology Archaeological Research Office: In oracle bone inscriptions, one of the most commonly used uses of dragon is to use it as the name of Fang Guo (princes and tribes). On this piece of oracle bone, an incident about the "Dragon Fang" is recorded on the left and right sides, and these two divination words probably record that the Shang Dynasty was arguing about "whether to conquer the 'Dragon Fang' country".
In oracle bone inscriptions, the word "earth dragon" often appears.
Han Shengwei, member of the Key Laboratory of Oracle Information Processing of the Ministry of Education and director of the Oracle and Yinxu Science and Technology Archaeological Research Office: In ancient times, people would sacrifice and pray for rain during the dry season, which is recorded in the classics as "making earth dragons to seek rain". It can be seen that such a thing as dragon asking for rain has already happened in the Shang Dynasty.
If there really is a dragon, where to find it during the Spring Festival?
Assuming that the dragon really exists, where will it inhabit during the Spring Festival?
The explanation of the word dragon in Shuowen Jie Zi is: dragon, the king of scaly animals. It can be darkened, it can be lightened, it can be smaller, it can be bigger, it can be shorter, it can be longer. He also wrote: "The spring equinox ascends to the sky, and the autumn equinox dives into the abyss." "This year's spring equinox is on March 20, and there is still more than a month to go, so the dragons should still be bathing comfortably in the deep water.
*: CCTV News).