Grandma, what does the old man mean?

Since ancient times, people have called wives and fathers "grandfather", "mother-in-law", "grandfather" and "mother-in-law" or "Mount Tai" and "Tai Shui".

"Mother-in-law" originally refers to male elderly people. "The Analects of Confucius-Lotus Falls Eighteen Micro-sons-in-law": "When you meet a husband, you must raise him with a stick. He asked, "Have you seen your master?" The father-in-law said:' Four bodies are not diligent, and the grain is not divided. Who is the master? The staff who planted it didn't succeed. "。

The words "Mount Tai" and "father-in-law" are mainly based on Xiao Si Zhi in Hanshu: "There are Yue Mountains in the big mountains and rivers, and Xu Yue in the small mountains and rivers". According to Youyang Miscellanies, when Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty came to Mount Tai for meditation, Zhang Dang said that he was appointed as the meditation envoy, and he had come to make some preparations for welcoming the saints. When Mount Tai receives Zen, it is to build an altar on the top of the mountain to worship heaven and report the merits of heaven; Open fields and worship the land at the foot of the mountain and report your achievements. Zhang said that he was under orders, but he had other plans. He thinks that Zen used 22,000 gold, which is unfounded, and there is a lot of oil and water to be fished. But also can get the work reward afterwards, so I took the opportunity to drag my son-in-law Zheng Yi to Adai.

Emperor Tang Ming went to Mount Tai to meditate and held a vigorous meditation ceremony. After that, according to the usual practice, all the accompanying officials except Qiu, Situ and SiKongsangong were promoted to the next level and granted amnesty to the whole country to show the emperor's kindness. Zheng Yi is a small official with nine grades. Because of his father-in-law's role, he was promoted to level four, suddenly to level five, and was given a red official uniform. He is arrogant and powerful, very prominent. Others have long seen it in their eyes and are angry in their hearts, and the court has been saying it. The story reached the ears of Emperor Tang Mingdi. The emperor immediately called Zhang to the temple and asked him what had happened. Zhang said nothing. At this time, a man named Huang Zanzhuo made a pun to excuse him and said, "This is the power of Mount Tai."

This incident is a joke inside and outside the court. Later, people named the towering stone peak next to the altar as "Zhang Renfeng". Because Mount Tai is also called "Dongyue", since the Tang Dynasty, "Mount Tai" and "father-in-law" have become the special names for wives and fathers, and "father-in-law" has evolved from the original meaning of referring to the elderly to "father-in-law" and has been passed down to this day.

"Mother-in-law" has two meanings:

One is to call your father's wife. Yan Zhitui in the Northern Qi Dynasty wrote "Yan's Family Training Style Exercise": "Chinese and foreign husband and wife customs, called husband and mother." Wang Qili quoted Qian Daxin's Heng San: "She is a husband's wife, also known as her mother-in-law." "Zi zhi is like a mirror. "Tang Dezong Zhenyuan Two Years": "I said,' I can do it. My brother should have entered the DPRK a long time ago. Mother-in-law hangs white, don't let more handsome women fill the palace. "Hu Sansheng's note:" The father holds the blood of the husband. When Han Wei and Liu Xuanzuo became brothers, they regarded their father as their husband, so they called their mother-in-law. "

This explanation probably stems from the original meaning of "father-in-law". In other words, "mother-in-law" refers to the wife of "father-in-law", that is, the female elderly.

The second is to call his wife's mother. Commonly known as "mother-in-law". Song and Zhu Yi's Miscellaneous Notes: "Er Ya": My wife and father are my uncles, and my wife and mother are my aunts. There is no such name today. They are all called husband and mother. Liu Zihou had offered sacrifices to his father-in-law and mother-in-law of Dugu, and he knew that Tang had done so. Chapter 11 of Heroes of Children: "This An Gongzi has only been a son-in-law for one day, and she is a little embarrassed to meet such a mother-in-law who is not good at words and lawsuits. "

This article can also be used as an explanation of why wives and fathers are called "husbands".