1. The abbreviation of fables. There are many fables in ancient my country, and the idiom of disharmony is the abbreviation or summary of fables. Such as "spreading the seedlings to encourage the growth", "waiting for the rabbits", "carving a boat to seek a sword", "adding superfluous things to the snake", etc.
2. Summary of historical events. There are many famous historical events in the history of our country. Later generations used concise words to summarize them and became idioms. Such as "returning to Zhao after finishing the wall", "asking for forgiveness under the thorns", and "paying for your courage by lying on the salary". "Talking on paper" and so on.
3. Excerpting or rewriting words and phrases from ancient books. Our country has a long history and rich literature. People like to use certain sentences in classical works to illustrate the thoughts they want to express. If they are used to it for a long time, they will become It has become an idiom. Some are original sentences quoted from ancient books. Such as: tossing and turning, catching the thief first, catching the king first, overjoyed, etc. There are also idioms that are shortened from sentences in ancient books. For example: "A critical moment", "Shrink from", "It's as dangerous as a critical moment."
4. The spread of common sayings in the past dynasties: Some common sayings were widely circulated among the people in the past dynasties and then appeared in writing. form idioms. Such as "a proverb spread in the Ming Dynasty" (a common saying circulated in the Ming Dynasty), "helping in times of need", "icing on the cake" (colloquial language in the Song Dynasty)
5. Newly created idioms. Since liberation, the broad masses of the people have created a large number of expressive phrases in social practice. Due to their widespread use, they have gradually become fixed and become new idioms. Which: "faster, more economical", "red and expert", "innovating from the old", "distribution according to work", etc.
There are many idioms. The "Chinese Idiom Dictionary" published by the Commercial Press in 1958 contains more than 3,000 idioms. In fact, of course there are many idioms that have not been included. There must be many more numbers than what is included in this small dictionary. How did these idioms come about? Roughly analyzed, there are mainly the following sources:
(1) Historical facts
Some idioms come from historical facts. Some of them summarize a certain historical event into an idiom; some intercept or change famous sentences in history into idioms. Here are a few idioms derived from historical facts:
(A) Returning a perfect jade to Zhao "Historical Records? Biography of Lin Xiangru" records: During the Warring States Period, the king of Zhao, King Huiwen, got a piece of jade, and the king of Qin got a piece of jade. King Zhao wrote to King Zhao, saying that he was willing to give King Zhao fifteen cities in exchange for this piece of jade. Zhao was weaker than Qin. It knew clearly that King Qin's words were unreliable, but it did not dare to openly expose King Qin's lies. In this case, Lin Xiangru, the minister of Zhao State, went to Qin State to deal with the matter. Before he left, he said, "If Qin gives fifteen cities to Zhao, he will give the jade to Qin. If he cannot get the city, he will return the jade to Zhao intact." (Historical Records) The original text is "Return the jade to Zhao intact.") "Lin Xiangru came to Qin and presented the jade to the King of Qin. However, he saw that the King of Qin did not really intend to give Zhao the fifteen cities, so he cleverly made up a reason and took the jade from the King of Qin. When he came back, he secretly sent his entourage back to the State of Zhao. Later, people used the words "return the jade to Zhao intact" to mean returning the original item to its owner intact and intact. These four words have become an idiom.
(B) The "Historical Records. Biography of Fan Sui" records: During the Warring States Period, Fan Sui (a native of Wei), the prime minister of the Qin State, accused his enemy Xu Jia, the middle official of the Wei State, and said: "You Do you know how many sins you have committed? "Xu Jia said: "Plugging out one of my hairs will not be enough to record one of my sins." (The original text of "Historical Records" is "Pull out Jia's hair to continue Jia's sins." , not enough yet.") Later, "it's hard to count" was used to describe the number of sins. "It's hard to succeed" has become an idiom.
The above two idioms derived from historical facts, "The perfect jade returns to Zhao" and "It's difficult to raise it" are both intercepted or modified from Chinese sentences in historical books. This kind of idioms only accounts for a small number among all idioms. The idioms such as "throwing a pen and joining the army", "retreating from afar", "lips and teeth are cold", "strengthening one's strength", "a bustling crowd", etc. all come from historical facts.
(2) Stories from the past
Some idioms are derived from the stories of the past. Such stories also have real people and events, but the people and events are not historically relevant. Not very important.
Some of these idioms are more interesting and some have better rhetorical effects, so they are widely used by people. Now give a few examples and explain their origins.
(A) Be confident. In the Song Dynasty, there was a painter named Wen Tong, who was good at painting bamboo. At that time, Chao Buzhi, a litterateur, wrote a poem: "When you draw bamboo with Ke, you have confidence in your mind." Later, "having confidence in your mind" became a widely used idiom, which is used to praise someone who has a certain opinion and confidence in handling things. people.
(B) The city is full of turmoil. Xie Wuyi of the Song Dynasty asked Pan Da if he had written any poems in the near future. Pan Dalin wrote him a reply and said: Everything about the scenery since autumn is a good poem. Yesterday, while I was lying leisurely, I heard the sound of wind and rain in the woods. I became happy and wrote on the wall: "The city is full of storm and rain is approaching the Double Ninth Festival." Suddenly, someone urging me to pay my rent came, and I was greatly disappointed. I only had this. One sentence to send to you. Later, the four words "the city is full of wind and rain" became a widely used idiom, which means that many people are talking about a new event.
In addition, idioms such as "mighty and unyielding", "the tail is too big to fall off", "holding firewood to put out the fire" and "there are few people" are all idioms derived from the stories of the predecessors.
(3) Fables and legends
There are also some profound fables in ancient books, which are also the source of idioms. Such idioms often have a moral or allegorical meaning. Now give a few examples and explain them.
(A) "Lie Zi? Tian Rui" said: "During the Zhou Dynasty, there was a man in the state of Qi who was afraid that the sky would collapse and the earth would fall. He had nowhere to rely on, so he didn't even think about sleeping and eating." Later. We use "unfounded worries" as an idiom to describe unnecessary worries.
(B) Learning to walk in Handan "Zhuangzi Qiu Shui" says: "There was a young man from the Shouling area of ??Yan State, who went to Handan, the capital of Zhao State, to learn to walk (Zhao people are good at walking). He did not master the skill. Instead, I lost my original walking gait and had to crawl home with both hands." Later, "Handan learns to walk" was used as an idiom, which means that if you fail to imitate others, you will lose your own original skills.
(C) Hiding one's ears and stealing the bell "Lü's Spring and Autumn Period. Self-Knowledge" has a story that says: When the Jin Dynasty official Fan's family perished, a common man got a bell and wanted to carry it away. It’s just that the clock is too big to carry. So he smashed it with a hammer, and the bell rang loudly again. The common man was afraid that others would hear the sound and snatch the bell, so he quickly blocked his ears, thinking that if he could not hear, others would not be able to hear either. . "Huainanzi? Shuo Shan Xun" also has this story. This is how the idiom "hiding one's ears and stealing the bell" comes from, just changing "clock" to "bell". This idiom refers to a person who deceives people by using very clumsy methods, but he himself thinks he can deceive people. There is another idiom in the idiom "covering one's eyes to catch birds", which comes from "The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms? Chen Lin's Biography", which has a similar meaning to "covering one's ears and stealing the bell", but the mass base is poor and fewer people use it.
Idioms derived from fables often contain humor and profound educational significance. Such as "waiting for the rabbit", "carving a boat to seek a sword", "adding insult to injury", etc. This type of idioms does not account for a large proportion among all idioms.
(4) The original sentences of the ancients
There are some idioms that use the sentences of the ancients without any changes, for example:
(A) "The drunken old man" "The drunkard's mind is not on the wine," see Song Dynasty writer Ouyang Xiu's "The Drunkard's Pavilion": "The drunkard's mind is not on the wine, but on the mountains and rivers." This means: The drunkard's mind is not on drinking, but on admiring the mountains and rivers here. Later generations used "the drunkard's intention is not to drink" as an idiom, which means "ulterior motives" and "other purposes".
(B) The truth is revealed in the "Red Cliff Ode" written by the Song Dynasty writer Su Shi: "The mountain is high and the moon is small, and the truth is revealed." "The truth is revealed" was originally a purely descriptive sentence, and later generations used it as an idiom to describe the real situation. Revealed.
(C) The idiom "to reach a higher level" not only completely uses the sentences in previous articles, but also completely uses the previous poems "to reach a higher level", which is the "one higher level" written by Wang Zhihuan, a poet of the Tang Dynasty. The poem "Climbing the Stork Tower". The original poem is: "The sun is over the mountains, and the Yellow River flows into the sea. If you want to see a thousand miles away, go to a higher level." The idiom "to a higher level" is a metaphor for improving on an existing basis. To expand or something like that.
In the idioms, "a smile makes a thousand pieces of gold", "a strange thing happens", "a pen is written into a chapter", "a blockbuster", etc. are all based on the sentences of the predecessors. This type of idioms accounts for a relatively large proportion of the entire language. Even if the famous sayings and aphorisms of previous generations are occasionally quoted by people, even if they clearly have the characteristics of idioms, they cannot be regarded as idioms, but can only be regarded as quotations. But if people often use it later and people gradually become familiar with it, then it should be regarded as an idiom.
(5) Interpret or modify the ancient sentences
Some idioms do not directly use the ancient sentences, but intercept or slightly change the ancient sentences and then use them. The reason for interception or change is mainly to make it conform to the structural form of the idiom. (Refer to the previous article "The Four-Character Nature of Idioms") For example:
(A) Giving up life for meaning. There are two sentences in the first chapter of "Mencius Gaozi": "Life is what I want; meaning, It's what I want. You can't have both, and you have to sacrifice your life for righteousness." From these two sentences, later generations used the four words "sacrifice your life for righteousness" as an idiom to express the nobility of sacrificing your life for the sake of justice. quality.
(B) One Exposure (pù) Ten Cold "(Meaning: Although there are things that are easy to grow in the world, nothing can grow even if they are exposed to the sun for one day or ten days of cold.") Later generations picked out from these sentences "One exposure." The four words "Shihan" are used as idioms to describe a person who has no perseverance, spends little time working hard, and wastes a lot of time.
(C) There is a sentence in the first chapter of "Mencius: Wholeheartedness": "If Yang Zi takes it for me, he would not do anything to benefit the world by plucking a hair." (Meaning: Yang Zi is extremely selfish , even if removing a tiny hair from his body would benefit the world, he would not do it.) Later generations changed the word "pluck out a hair without doing anything" to "without plucking out a hair". , as an idiom, describes extremely selfish and stingy people.
(D) Tower near the water. Su Lin in the Song Dynasty wrote two poems: "The tower near the water comes first to get the moon, and the flowers and trees in the sun change into spring." Later, the four words "the tower near the water" were used as an idiom to describe situations where conditions are convenient. You can get the benefits earlier than the average person.
In idioms, "well-known people", "a day's length", "a raccoon dog on a hill", "three autumns in a day" and "a word of gold" all belong to this category. This type of idioms also accounts for a relatively large proportion of all idioms.
Refined phrases used by the people
When talking about the origin of idioms, people will always first think of the so-called idioms with provenance mentioned above. In fact, the largest proportion of idioms are those whose true original origins can no longer be found. Most of these idioms were created by the people. Some of them have strong colloquial color and life flavor. For example: "Looking for a needle in a haystack", "Pointing at the mulberry tree and scolding the locust tree", "Start anew", "Three or three", "Be bold", "Swallow the jujube" and so on. This type of idioms have always been widely used by people because of their better rhetorical techniques and expression effects. They are not only used in writing, but also in spoken language, and they were even used in spoken language very early on. If someone sees this kind of idiom in an ancient book and thinks that the author of a certain book is the creator of this idiom, this may not be reliable. For example, some idioms seen in the quotations of the Song Dynasty and some idioms seen in the Zaju of the Yuan Dynasty may not necessarily be the origin of the idiom. It may have been early in the Song Dynasty or Yuan Dynasty.
Proverbs and Sayings
Some idioms were written in books two or three thousand years ago. Although it is written in classical Chinese and looks very elegant, it is actually a proverb or common saying used by the masses. For example, "make up for the situation", "make up for the loss", etc., all belong to this category. Why do we know that these idioms are originally proverbs or sayings? Because the ancients who used these idioms have already said it in ancient books. For example: "Warring States Policy·Chu Ce" said: "I heard a contemptuous saying: It is not too late to mend the sheep after it has been lost." (It means: The sheep raised in the sheepfold have run away, and the sheep must be repaired quickly to prevent other things from happening.) If the sheep runs away, it's not too late.
) Cao Pi's "Dian Lun·Wen" said: "There is an old saying, If you have a broken broom at home, you can enjoy it with a thousand gold pieces of gold" (meaning: As the saying goes, if you have a broken broom at home, you think it is so valuable that it can be compared with a thousand gold pieces of gold. Enjoy it). "When" or "when".) "Historical Records: Biography of Bai Qi Wang Jian" says: "A ruler is short, an inch is long." The so-called insults, proverbs, and proverbs are folk sayings. The meaning of a proverb or saying. In fact, there are some idioms derived from proverbs or colloquial sayings, and there are also some idioms in ancient books that are not necessarily marked as "Liyu" or "Vulgar Language".
There are also some proverbs and sayings. Judging from the text, they are not as neat and elegant as ordinary idioms. They are obviously spoken by the people. But because they are easy to understand. It has a very good expressive effect, so it is widely used by people and has become an idiom. For example, "the bull's head is wrong," "sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight," "everyone is gathering firewood, the flames are high," and "the world is as black as crows" all belong to this category.
Foreign idioms
Some of the idioms we use also come from foreign countries. For example, during the Wei, Jin, Six Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties, our country translated many Buddhist scriptures that were popular in the Western Regions and India. Many of the sentences and allusions in the Buddhist scriptures have become Chinese idioms since long ago. For example: "spotless", "explained by one's own experience", "emotionally delighted", "unbelievable", "never leave", "turning back to find the shore" are all. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, cultural exchanges between my country and Western countries have become increasingly frequent. Some Western allusions, maxims, and refined sentences in Chinese translations of Western works have become idioms used by Chinese people. For example: "Time is golden", "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth", "New wine in old bottles", "Chestnuts from the fire", "Metabolism", "Natural selection", "The strong eats the weak", "Trading with principles", "Get paid for work", etc. And so on.
Reformed idioms
As mentioned before, idioms are fixed phrases or fixed sentences and generally cannot be changed casually. But sometimes, for expression or writing needs, one or two words can be replaced and cleverly transformed and used. This kind of modified idioms often has a stronger expressive effect, because changing one or two words in the idiom can especially attract the reader's attention. This method existed in ancient times. For example, the idiom "The extremes of things lead to opposites" comes from "He Guanzi·Circulation Chapter". It means that when something develops to its extreme, it must turn to its opposite. Later, some people changed it to "things must be reversed when they reach their extremes", which felt more affirmative and powerful. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the famous writer Yu Xin of the Northern Zhou Dynasty changed this idiom to "the extremes of things cannot be reversed" in his "Ai Jiangnan Ode" to express his helpless indignation. Another example is the idiom "do twice the result with half the effort", which comes from "Mencius Gongsun Chou", which means that the effect is great with little effort. Later, some people changed the positions of the words "half" and "double" in this idiom and changed it to "do twice the result with twice the result" to illustrate that the work is laborious and the results are small. But in ancient times, there were relatively few examples of using idioms in this way. Now that we have entered the great era of socialism, the errors and limitations of some of the ideologies of our predecessors have been clearly revealed. Therefore, idioms that are modified to express new ideas are used more often. For example, "Haste makes waste" to "Haste makes waste"; "kill two birds with one stone" is changed to "kill three birds with one stone"; "kill two birds with one stone" is changed to "kill two birds with one stone". "There are many arrows and eagles"; change "retreat when faced with difficulties" to "advance when faced with difficulties", etc.
Times have changed. Living in the new society is different from living in the old society. People's thoughts and feelings , The spiritual outlook has changed a lot. The old rules and precepts can no longer restrain us. Some of the content of the old idioms are obviously not suitable for today's society, such as having the communist style and daring to defy difficulties and dare to win. The emergence of the new idiom "advance despite difficulties" is natural. This can also be regarded as turning negative into positive, and at the same time, it has the effect of "making the past serve the present". p>
New Idioms
Most of the idioms we use today have been handed down or produced one after another over the past two or three thousand years, expressing new ideas according to the actual needs of social life. Idioms of consciousness will naturally appear one after another.
Since the liberation of the country, in the practice of class struggle, production struggle, and scientific experiments, many new idioms with positive meanings have been produced, such as:
Thick the present but not the old, innovate the old, bring out the new, be fast, good, save every second, and strive to be the best. Let a hundred flowers bloom, be diligent and thrifty, repair the old and reuse the old, go to the mountains and countryside, study hard, and strive to turn waste into treasure day and night. Learn, rush to help, surpass the whole country in a game of chess
And so on. At the same time, a small number of critical new idioms have also emerged, such as "cosmic" and "less slow and poor". This type of new idioms has a distinct spirit of the times and contains positive meanings. Therefore, after it was produced, it spread like wildfire immediately and was favored by the broad masses of people from all walks of life.