However, at the beginning of the creation of characters in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, there were subtle differences between these two characters, and this difference seems to explain to a certain extent why the ancients called daddy.
As for the title of father, China first used the word "father" to express it, and it first appeared in oracle bone inscriptions.
The word "father" in the oracle bone inscriptions is like holding a stick in the right hand, which means an educator holding a stick in his hand to teach his children to obey the rules. Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jiezi" of the Eastern Han Dynasty records: "Father is the ruler. The head of the family leads the teaching. He also raises the stick." The rural saying that filial sons emerge from a stick and talented sons from a stick may come from the creation of characters. The first understanding of my father.
However, in modern times, Guo Moruo believed that the word "father" in oracle bone inscriptions is like the image of holding an ax in hand, which has the same origin as the word "axe". Holding an ax in hand represents the family labor force engaged in such work. From the perspective of glyphs, Guo Moruo's explanation is more reasonable and more in line with the social situation of the Shang Dynasty.
An explanation similar to Guo Moruo's is that it was a matriarchal society at first, with women holding the most power. As productivity increased, men became more and more important in production activities, so matriarchy transitioned to patriarchy, and patriarchy An important representation of Quan is the axe. Therefore, the word "father" should refer to the powerful person in the family holding an axe.
Of course, there is no final conclusion yet as to whether it is an educator holding a stick, a laborer holding an ax, or a powerful person holding an axe, but from the Shang Dynasty to the present, the basic meaning of the word "father" has been The consciousness is consistent, and the glyphs have not changed significantly.
In ancient times, the pronunciation of "father" was ba, which is the same as the pronunciation of "father" today. According to documentary records, as early as the Three Kingdoms period, the title "Dad" had begun to spread. It is recorded in "Guangya·Shi Qin" written by Zhang Yi of the State of Wei, "Weng Gongsou's father (pronounced Zhē) is also the father." In other words, these six words are used to refer to the father.
Regarding the origin of the word "father", one of the theories is that in ancient times the word "father" was pronounced as "father", so in order to be more consistent with reading habits, the ancients added the word "ba" under the word "father". Then take its pronunciation. In addition, the idea of ??creating the word "Dad" is closely related to the word "Ba".
The word "ba" in the oracle bone inscriptions represents the shape of a big snake rising up to swallow it. "Shuowen Jiezi" records: "Ba, insect. Or it is said to eat like a snake. Pictogram." The original meaning is a kind of big snake in ancient legends - Ba snake, such as "Shan Hai Jing Hai Nei Jing": "Zhu Juan" In the country, there are black snakes and green elephants. "After the Shang Dynasty, the shape of the character Ba did not change much and basically remained the same shape.
What is very different from Western characters is that ancient Chinese characters can also derive other related meanings, and one character can be used for multiple purposes. The word "ba" has many extended meanings, among which there are four related to the meaning of father: one is based on the appearance of "a snake opens its mouth wide and wants to eat", which is extended to the meaning of desire and hope; the other is based on "the snake can wrap things tightly" The meaning is similar to "silk connection", which means to fawn over and connect. The third is based on the meaning of snake body mucus or entangled things, which means to stick, stick to, and stick next to each other. The fourth is to reproduce from men and women. An alternative interpretation from the perspective of future generations.
It is generally believed that the word "ba" in the word "ba" means longing and hope, indicating that the father is the most important in the family and the whole family has expectations for him.
There is no record of the origin of the title "Dad" in the literature. Many scholars speculate that this title is a foreign word. It may be the ancient Qiang people's name for their father, and later gradually entered the Chinese system. However, the charm of Chinese lies in this. It can accept and integrate many foreign words, so "Dad" has also become one of the titles of father.
Although the word "Dad" appeared not too late and has a history of at least more than 1,700 years, the title "Dad" was really widely used in the Qing Dynasty. With the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, it was widely used by the Manchus The use of overlapping words made the title "Dad" completely popular. Nowadays, Chinese people generally use "Dad" to refer to their father.
Different from the word dad, although dad also refers to father, to be precise, not every father can be called dad. The reason is very simple, related to the "many" in the word dad.
There are many characters in oracle bone inscriptions, and the glyphs adopt the meaning of "Chongxi". From oracle bone inscriptions to regular script, there are two "xi"s that overlap each other, which means "the double "xi" means more. Wang Guowei, a master of traditional Chinese culture in the Qing Dynasty, believed that "more meat means more", that is, people in the Shang Dynasty had to divide the meat (sacrificial meat) after offering sacrifices, and those who got multiple pieces of meat were considered "duo". Generally speaking, the ancients regarded "three" or more as "many".
Father and many become one, which obviously does not mean multiple fathers, but a father with multiple children, that is, "a father with more than three children." If a father only has one or two children in his life, he is not considered a "father". Therefore, to be precise, a father who is called "dad" usually has more than three children.
At the same time, there is another interpretation of the word dad, which is related to the word "luxury". The word "luxury" is composed of a single person and a plurality of characters. "人" refers to "master", and "duo" refers to "a group of followers". "人" and "多" combined mean "the master brings multiple followers with him when he goes out." . Therefore, replacing "person" with "father" means that a father brings multiple children with him when he goes out.
However, in places such as Hubei, Anhui, Jiangxi and other places, grandfathers are generally called father, which probably means "multiple fathers" with many fathers.
It can be seen that no matter how the word dad is interpreted, one thing is certain, when dad represents father, the father who has multiple children is the father.
The earliest written record of Han people calling their father daddy is from the Han Dynasty. Yang Xiong of the Western Han Dynasty recorded in "Dialect": "Nanchu... called the concubine mother daddy (add the word "daughter" next to it) , calling the woman kaori father (add the word "女" next to it). "In the Three Kingdoms period, the book "Guang Ya" said: "Weng Gongsou's father, father is also", which shows that the title of father has been within a certain range. Popularity. By the Northern and Southern Dynasties, father had become popular in the north. Research by Yu Shenxing of the Ming Dynasty pointed out that "Northerners call their father as father". During the Song Dynasty, the word "father" began to appear. "Guangyun" compiled by the officials of the Song Dynasty said: "Dad, northerners call father."
Some scholars speculate that the title of father should be a foreign word. It comes from the Altaic language family (Mongolian, Turkic, etc.) and is not the original title of Chinese. It should be noted that the pronunciation of "father" in "Guang Ya" of the Three Kingdoms is "die", while the later pronunciation of "father" is die. There is a certain difference between the two. During the Five Husties, nomads ravaged the north, and perhaps the pronunciation and title of die became popular in the north. In other words, the die that the Hu people call is not necessarily the Chinese character for dad, but it is integrated into the Han culture during the historical development. Therefore, most northern people recognize "father" as their father, so they use the word "die" to express the pronunciation of die. Because dad has the connotation of having many sons and daughters, which is in line with the common wish of the Chinese people, eventually calling father dad gradually became popular and spread throughout the country, and then the ancients generally called father dad.
To sum up, the word dad means Ba, which means longing and hope, while the word father means multiple children, which means more children. In ancient society, Chinese people pursued having more children and more happiness, and the word "father" just fits this mentality. Therefore, strictly speaking, although dad and dad both mean father, the connotations are quite different.
In fact, whether it is oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, or bamboo slips and wooden slips, the preciousness of writing materials and the complexity of inscribing words made the ancients attach great importance to every Chinese character, making every stroke have profound meaning. , the lower parts of the characters dad and father are completely different, which obviously has a profound meaning.