"Fu" was originally a courtesy title for ancestors in the Zhou Dynasty. China's first collection of poems and The Book of Songs in July, one of the two sources of China literature (the other source is The Songs of the South), said: "Give it to your husband." "Husband" here refers to ancestors.
Later, "husband" became the general term for the elderly. For example, in the biography of the reflection of Wei Zhi Deng Ai: "Seventy husbands, what do you want!" "Biography of Xiao Si in Song Dynasty" said: "It's a pity to get sick after giving up shooting for a long time and become a husband if you can't control it." "The Biography of Wang Pengcheng in the Northern Qi Dynasty" said: "When you are a servant, people will bid farewell to their sad names; Hundreds of husbands are embarrassed. " That's what it means.
Even "husband" has sometimes become a derogatory term for the elderly. For example, "Southern History, Biography of Thieves and Ministers, Hou Jing": "Inviting 30,000 soldiers to run wild in the world; If you want to help the river, you must take Xiao Yan's husband and be the Lord of Taiping Temple. " "Biography of Gao Long's Northern History" says: "The emperor will meditate, but I can't speak. The dragon is among them, and the emperor deeply grants it. So he was furious and scolded:' Xu's husband!' Let the strong men make 100 more punches and let them go. "This is usage.
In ancient times, "husband" was another name for father. For example, Biography of Northern History Gao Qiu: "Ji Tong (Angfu) died, and Angda was buried together. Say to it:' Husband! I have never dared to shovel dirt in my life, and now I am crushed. I don't know if I am a man! Fan Chengda, a poet in the Song Dynasty, wrote the fifth poem in Reading Records of Emperor Taizong: "My first husband had a great relationship, but my husband loved his son as well. "
Of course, the ancient people in China generally called their husbands "husbands", which has a long history. For example, in Song and Yuan Dynasties, a popular novel in Beijing wrongly beheaded Cui Ning: "You married a little wife in Beijing, and I also married a little husband at home."
The third fold of Yang Xianzhi's play "Cold Pavilion" in Yuan Dynasty: "My husband is not at home, I will be husband and wife forever, but I can't." At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Shi Naian's novel "The Water Margin" returned for the fifth time: "The King of Qi shouted,' What are you going to do to beat your husband?' Shen Zhi shouted:' teach you to know your wife!' The first volume of Feng Menglong's Short Stories in the Ming Dynasty, Yu Ming Yan, said: "About half drunk, the old lady persuaded two maids with wine and said," This is a wedding banquet for the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. I advise you to drink more the day after tomorrow and marry a loving husband and never leave. The Journey to the West, a novel by Wu Cheng'en in the Ming Dynasty, replied in the third and fifth chapters: "Such a baby is also afraid of her husband. When females see males, they dare not pretend. " Here, "husband" already means husband.
However, the ancient names for husbands existed as early as the end of the Southern Song Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, and flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. At that time, China's economy moved southward, street culture and civilian entertainment prevailed, and drama, folk art and storytelling novels were popular among the neighbors of big cities and towns in the south, which led to the emergence of soil for calling husband "husband". Therefore, some people say that there was this saying in the Tang Dynasty during the Northern Dynasties, and they invented a legend (or a good story), which is obviously unscientific.
The legend goes like this: there was a scholar named Mai in the Tang Dynasty. After he was admitted to fame, he felt that his wife was old and faded, so he had the idea of abandoning his old wife and looking for a new love, so he wrote a couplet on his desk: "The lotus was defeated and the fallen leaves became old lotus roots." It happened that this couplet was seen by his wife. The wife noticed from the couplets that her husband had the idea of abandoning the old and welcoming the new, so she began to write a couplet: "The ecliptic is ripe, and the rice is now new." Taking "He Dao" as "He Lian" and "Xin Liang" as "Old Lian" is not only neat, novel and popular, but also homophonic and interesting. Mai Aixin read his wife's second couplet and was moved by her agile thinking and love, so she gave up the idea of abandoning the old and welcoming the new. When the wife saw her husband change his mind, she did not forget the old feelings, but wrote, "My husband is very fair." Mai Aixin continued to write a couplet: "My wife is a woman."
This legend may exist, and its content and theme are good, but it certainly did not happen in the Tang Dynasty, but in the Song and Yuan Dynasties or even later.
However, in ancient China, "Fu" was still a title for eunuchs, which mainly prevailed from the late Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. For example, in the late Ming Dynasty, after the peasant uprising army led by Li Zicheng entered Beijing, there was a saying of "beating husbands" (Zaolinza). Cao Xueqin's novel "Dream of Red Mansions" in the middle of Qing Dynasty tells the eighty-third story: "People at the door came in and said,' There are two internal affairs outside, and they want to see two masters.' Jia said, "Please come in." The man at the door led her husband in. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Li Boyuan's novel "Officialdom in Appearance" goes back to the ninth time: "He immediately went to Beijing and left her husband's way." "Husband" here refers to the eunuch.
Eunuchs are actually eunuchs who are castrated and sent to the palace to serve the emperor and queen. In the early years, they were called eunuchs, but in the Ming and Qing dynasties, eunuchs were the main ones. And this is a poor and sad, humble and ugly group and role in history.
There is also a saying that from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, prostitutes in brothels and kilns were also called "husbands" when they scared each other privately, which is obviously an extension of the eunuch's statement.
Because the Ming and Qing dynasties were closest to us today, the "husbands" (including "father-in-law" and "old man") in ancient China mainly referred to eunuchs; However, few people call ancestors, old people, fathers and husbands "husbands" in modern times.
So, why do married women today often call their husbands "husbands"? This is mainly due to the rise of Cantonese and Cantonese culture in Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in the past 30 years since the reform and opening up. Cantonese usually call husbands "husbands" and wives "wives". With the popularity of Cantonese culture and the opening of society, these sayings have spread all over the country and even been established and deeply rooted in people's hearts. In fact, this has little to do with ancient times (that is, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was limited to the opera stage, romance novels and the streets and lanes in the south of the Yangtze River, with little influence).
Because of this, we women still call our husbands lovers, husbands, husbands, etc. , not "husbands"; Similarly, it is better for men to call their wives lovers, wives, wives, etc. , not "wives". After all, this is a vulgar, vulgar, bad, humble and negative statement.