Does the "Chang 'e" in ancient fairy tales really exist?

Chang 'e's name is a household name in China, and there are many versions of the story in the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon. So, as the heroine of the story, does Chang 'e exist?

In the Western Han Dynasty, Liu An, Su Fei, Li Shang, Wu Bei and others of Huainan wrote Lie Hong. This book was later called Huainan Lie Hong, also known as Huainan Zi. "Huainanzi Lan Mingxun" said: "You invited the elixir to the Queen Mother of the West, and Heng E sneaked to the moon." The Eastern Han Dynasty's Huai Nan Zi Zhu said, "Heng E has a wife. I invited the elixir of life to the Queen Mother of the West, but I didn't take it. Brother Heng stole it, and the fairy medicine ran to the moon, which is the essence of the moon. " Hou Yi asked the Queen Mother of the West for the elixir of life, but before he could eat it, his wife Heng 'e stole it. Chang 'e got immortal spirit after stealing the fairy medicine, flew to the moon and became an elf on the moon.

"Invariance" refers to unchangeable, long-lasting, unchangeable, and also refers to unchangeable will. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xu Shen wrote "Shuo Wen Er Bu", saying: "Constant and unchanging." The Jade Piece Heart written by Liang Chen Jiangu in the Southern Dynasties also said: "Constant, constant; For a long time. "

Today's word "horizontal" was written in two ways in ancient times. One way of writing is to start with the word "month", with the word "spoon" on the left (some don't) and the word "month" between the words "two" on the right, that is, the word "forever" (see figure 1). Shuowen: "The ancient prose' Heng' follows the moon." "Poetry" says: "As the moon remains unchanged." Professor Shang Chengzuo, an ancient philologist, said: "(Oracle Bone Inscriptions and, the word' Heng') are both from the moon. It was originally written as a' root' when the ancient prose was quoted from the moon. " It can be seen that the word "horizontal" composed of "luck" and "root" is the original word of "horizontal".

Another way to write the word "constant" is from "day", that is, the word "left" remains unchanged, and the word "day" is sandwiched between the words "two" on the right, that is, the word "root" There are many ways to write this, and the most famous one that is closest to today's "Heng" is the "Heng" in Ode to a Pavilion in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Therefore, "Heng" and "Heng" are common words in ancient times, and it can also be said that "Heng" is a common word of "Heng". At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Zilie wrote A Supplement to Orthography Tong Xin: "Heng, the common word" Heng ".

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Because "Heng" and "Heng" are universal, they are often written as "Heng E" in many ancient books. Later, according to Heng 'e's gender, someone changed the word "you" to "you" and derived a word "Heng". So I wrote "",sometimes referred to as "Heng". In the Southern Dynasties, Gu wrote jade pieces and women's department, saying, "Hey, Heng E also." It can be seen that the word "Heng" appeared in the Southern Dynasties at the latest, and "Heng E" was written.

Because "Heng" is a common word of "Heng", it often appears in different works of the ancients. For example, the word "Willow Branches" written by Ning He in the Five Dynasties: "How can I find Heng E in the middle of the month if I didn't climb the laurel tree in the past?" Yan Zhetian in the Northern Song Dynasty says: Meet and Keep the First Branch of the Moon; Qing Pu Songling and Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio; Xing Ziyi says: "Zhu Zaiyun said,' People in the next life should not be surprised, and I am a Yuefu Henge'. The ancients pointed to the moon and often wrote it as" Heng E ".

Heng E was later called "Chang 'e". This is related to ancient taboos. In the feudal era of China, the names of monarchs and elders could not be directly spoken or written. When you encounter these words in writing, conversation and writing, you should try to avoid them. This is called "taboo".

There are three common taboo techniques: changing words, leaving words blank and missing pens. Among them, changing words is the most common. Hengshan Mountain in Beiyue is one of the famous five mountains in China, but in Sima Qian's historical records, there is no Hengshan Mountain, only Changshan Mountain. Because the surname of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty was Liu Min Heng, the word "Heng" could not appear in the book, so Sima Qian changed the word "Heng" to "Chang" by using the taboo method of changing words. Similarly, his mother and brother Shu, named Wei, were written as Wei Zikai in Historical Records. Because Han Jingdi's surname is Liu.

It's also because the Chinese Emperor's surname is Liu Min Heng. In order to avoid the taboo of Emperor Wen, Heng 'e had to change her name. Because "Heng" and "Heng" mean "Chang 'e", it will be changed to Chang 'e. Li Shangyin, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem about Chang 'e, which said: "The mica screen is shaded by candles, the long river is gradually falling, and the stars are sinking. Chang 'e should regret stealing the elixir of life. The title of this poem is Chang 'e.

Later, according to the gender of Chang 'e, people added the word "female" to the left of Chang 'e, so Chang 'e was written as Chang 'e again.

Today, people no longer call her Chang 'e, Chang 'e, Heng E or Chang 'e, but all call her Chang 'e.