Sources of the Prime Minister

Cheng: Shuo Wen Jie Zi explains: "Cheng, a man, comes from a deep mountain. The mountain is high and pleasing. " Duan Yucai commented: "Easy, wings. ..... Anyone who is in a high position will be willing to accept it. " In ancient times, the homophone motto "Cheng" and "Cheng" belonged to the sixth part of the ancient pronunciation, so it was not wrong for Duan Yucai to use "Cheng" to explain "Cheng". "Zuo Zhuan's eighteen years of mourning for the public": "Make a handsome teacher. Please accept. " Success means success. Yang Shuda's "History of Lin Shu in Jiweiju Primary School Cheng Zheng": "The word formation is like the shape of an elevator, which is the beginning of existence, but Xu Jun does not know it, but it is a training; The training of upward movement is based on saving the next generation. " In fact, Yang Shuda's statement is still problematic. Now, according to Oracle bone inscriptions, the signal of "Cheng" is that "one person is trapped and can be rescued from the left and right", that is to say, the "One" below "Cheng" is not a mountain or water, but a mortar-shaped trap. Cheng's original meaning is "help", which is a verb. Later, when it was used in official positions, it became a noun, and it was generally put behind, meaning "the person who assisted ……", such as the army who assisted the chief; Xian Cheng is the person who assists the county magistrate. Cheng, the prime minister, is not behind the scenes, so he is not an assistant, but an assistant of the son of heaven.

Item: Shuo Wen Jie Zi explains: "Item, while reserving differences." In today's words, it means "look carefully", which is the original meaning of the word "phase", such as "the mouse has its skin" in the Book of Songs, and there are traces of this usage in our daily language: the fortune teller's "face reading", which means "look carefully at the face". Later, the word was also used as the "phase" of "phase", meaning blind, blind.

If you can't see, you need someone to help him see, and the person who helps him see is called Xiang, so the word Xiang means "help" in the accident of "saving eyesight", but it still doesn't leave the category of "saving eyesight". By the Zhou Dynasty, this "phase" had a new extension in its use. During the Zhou Dynasty, many activities were held, such as courtship, league meetings, banquets and sacrifices. These emperors and princes may not be proficient in etiquette, but they can't joke. Therefore, there must be someone familiar with etiquette to help guide them. This person is known as "Xiang Li", such as "Sixteen Years of Gong Xuan in the Spring and Autumn Period": "The minister of the Winter Jin Dynasty laid a flat on the royal family, and the king decided to enjoy it, and the original Xiang Gong paid tribute." "Xiang" is also referred to as "Xiang" for short, such as Zuo Zhuan in the Spring and Autumn Period in the 18th year of Huan Gong: "In autumn, the Duke of Qi began to study, and the son welcomed it, and looked forward to it with high melody." It also has this meaning in our daily language. Married comrades all know that having a "best man" when they get married is the "phase" of this "ceremony". In the Spring and Autumn Period, people who "greet each other" are generally important ministers or assistants in the ceremony. So "Xiang" completely broke away from the original meaning of "viewing from other provinces" and became the meaning of "senior assistant of upper class". There was the embryonic form of the later "prime minister".