Cultural connotation of idioms

In the long history of the Chinese nation, Chinese history and culture have been condensed for 5,000 years and accumulated the essence of Chinese language-idioms. Idiom, a kind of idiom, refers to a fixed phrase used in practice. The typical characteristics of idioms are fixed definition, concise, four-character idioms and elegant style. Culture, generally speaking, refers to the sum of material wealth and spiritual wealth created by human beings in the process of social and historical development. Specifically, culture refers to people's common social habits, such as food, clothing, housing and transportation, customs, lifestyles, behavioral norms and so on. Through idioms, we can learn many aspects of China's national culture: astronomy, calendar, geography, history, literature, art, military, religion, morality, ethics, thoughts, diet, costumes, utensils, architecture, customs, music and so on.

First, idioms related to astronomical calendars.

Lunar calendar is a traditional calendar in China. It is said that it was founded in Xia Dynasty, so it is also called Xia Li. It is a lunar calendar, with an average year 12 months, a leap year 13 months, and a leap year 19. According to the solar year, it is divided into 24 solar terms to facilitate farming. The ancients also used the ten heavenly stems (A, B, C, D, E, Ji, Ke, Xin, Ren and Gui) and the twelve earthly branches (Zi, Ugly, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu and Hai) to match the chronology, and 60 years was a year. These are also reflected in idioms, such as: four seasons and eight festivals, spring flowers and autumn fruits, winter fans and summer stoves, sixty-six years old, pregnant. Among the twelve branches, "Mao" comes after "Yin", and the idiom "Yin eats Mao's grain" means that both money and grain are paid in advance. "Ding is Ding, Mao is Mao" means that cadres can't make mistakes, and they are serious, have clear boundaries, and will never make mistakes.

The ancients also often combined the observed astronomical phenomena with people. The idiom "the combination of the sun and the moon" refers to the phenomenon that the sun and the moon rise at the same time on the first day of the first lunar month, which is rare in China, so the ancients attached it as auspicious. The ancients said that the first quarter of the moon is gradually full of "Geng", and the idiom "the moon rises unchanged" is used to describe prosperity. The metaphor of "the sun is east and the moon is west" is far apart. The metaphor of "day, month and morning" is not harmonious or even antagonistic among them.

Zodiac (mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog and pig) is a characteristic animal used by the ancients to express earthly branches so far. According to historical records, the zodiac was widely used to record the years in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and it is still used by the people, commonly known as the zodiac. Year is marked by the zodiac, in which there is no "donkey", and the "donkey year" is purely a deficiency of the child; The zodiac can't be called the moon, and the "horse moon" is nothing. Therefore, the idiom "Year of the Donkey" means that there is no time limit.

Astronomers in ancient China often observed the sun, moon and stars in order to make calendars and guide agriculture. The tool used by the ancients to observe the shadow of the sun is called the earth gauge. Because people regard natural phenomena as mysterious things, even Tugui, who measures the sun, is respected. The idiom "regard it as a standard" means that people regard local rules and Yi (arrow target) as the standard to measure right and wrong. Ordinary people visually observe sunshine with common sense of life. The idiom "Late in the morning" says that the sun is as high as three bamboo poles, which means it is getting late. It is said that during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the sun shadow was measured by red lines in the palace. After the winter solstice every year, the days become longer and longer, so there is the idiom "the days get longer"

Through some idioms, we can also notice people's observation of Beidou, Yinhe (also known as "Han") and Xia Hong. For example, "Nanji Beidou" originally reflected that people decided their orientation according to the stars: when two places appeared in the sky at the same time, Nanji was in the south and fighting in the north. Later, this idiom was often used to describe a poor name, because "dustpan" is a star and cannot be used for dusting, and "bucket" is also a star and cannot be used for scooping wine oars. The idiom "Shen Heng" means that the Big Dipper is tilted. It's almost dawn. It means that if the Altair is in the same position and the heart is in the same position, they can't appear in the sky at the same time. This idiom is often used to describe hostility or disharmony of people or things. In addition, it is observed that the barrel handle of Polaris points to the east for spring, to the south for summer, to the west for autumn and to the north for winter. "Star shift" means that the position of the stars has changed, indicating that the seasons are changing, which is used to describe the passage of time.

Second, idioms related to palace architecture.

In the pre-Qin period, most people's houses can be called "palace" or "room", and "palace" and "room" are synonyms. Later, the meaning of "palace" narrowed, referring only to the emperor's bedroom or large building. In ancient palaces, the front is the hall and the back is the room. There is an idiom "entering the classroom", which means that knowledge or skills have reached a very high level from shallow to deep.

In addition, in ancient dwellings, "door" and "household" both refer to doors, but they are slightly different: a house with two fans is a door, and a house with one fan is a household. At first, this idiom means that two families live opposite each other. Later, it means that the social status and economic situation of both men and women's families are suitable for marriage. "Hinge" refers to the rotating shaft of the door panel, and modern doors are generally replaced by hinges. Because the door often needs to be opened and closed, the rotating shaft is in constant motion, so it will not be destroyed by moths, which means that things in constant motion are not easy to be corroded and can last for a long time. "Peng Peng Zeng Hui" is the abbreviation of Peng Men Hu, that is, a door made of Vitex negundo or bamboo. This idiom means to add luster to a poor family. When a distinguished guest comes to the door or gets a gift of calligraphy and painting, it is often used to express gratitude. The word "courtyard" refers to the courtyard inside the gate. The whole idiom says that there are many people in the gate yard, just like a market. The idiom "Peng Men Urn" refers to the door made of Peng Cao and the window made of broken urn, which tolerates the simplicity of the room. The idiom "don't sit in the hall" means not to sit under the eaves in front of the hall, lest the tiles fall to the ground and hurt people. The east-west open wall is called "sequence", and the corner of the building is called "corner". The idiom "hiding in the corner and crying" describes loneliness and disappointment. There are two pillars in front of the hall, which bear beams. The idiom "stealing the beam to replace the column" is to play tricks in the dark and confuse the fake with the real. On the beam is a building, also called ao. Architecture is a rafter (Cuι), also called a rafter, and the rafter is covered with tiles (thatched in ancient times). The idiom "the building collapsed" is used to describe the collapse of a country. Other idioms related to Han architectural culture include pavilions, dancing pavilions, castles in the air, broken walls, deep houses, carved beams and painted buildings, intrigue, winding paths and so on.

2 cultural connotation of idioms

Third, idioms related to diet.

China's food culture is very developed, which is reflected in idioms. The idiom "food is never tired of essence" means frugality, "food is never tired of essence" means fastidious diet, "sheep stepping on the vegetable garden" means eating meat occasionally, "wine and meat" means extravagant diet, and "killing chickens to get millet" means hospitality. Others, such as "cooking dragons and frying chickens", "delicacies and delicacies", "eating the old" and "cooking the small fresh", all contain the information of Chinese food culture to varying degrees.

Besides, these idioms, such as "MC Davi has no intention", "rough tea and light rice", "full rice with wine" and "full rice bag with wine", often put "tea", "wine" and "rice" together, which reflects the unique tea culture and wine culture of the Han nationality.

Cooking culture is an important part of food culture, so there is an idiom that reflects the concept of food, such as "never tire of fine food, never tire of fine food". Idioms such as "Firecracker Phoenix Boils Dragon" and "Thousand Miles of Soup" directly record the names of two kinds of dishes, the former refers to a delicious court dish, and the latter refers to a famous dish with local flavor. The original meaning of "five flavors" is that the seasonings are complete and suitable. Ding is an ancient cooker in China, and it is also a vessel for holding cooked animals. Mostly made of bronze or clay, it was popular in Shang and Zhou Dynasties. Generally, it is a round tripod with two ears and three feet. According to legend, Yu Xia once cast Jiuding, a symbol of Kyushu, which was regarded as a national treasure by Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. Our government presented "Baoding of the Century" to the United Nations to show the long history and splendid culture of the Chinese nation. There are a number of idioms with the morpheme "Ding" left in Chinese: Ding Yu Mu Yan, You Er, Taste Ding Yi, Raise Ding Ba Shan, Boil Chicken, Raise Ding Jue, Stand on Three Sides, Shi Ding, Fen Zhi Ding, Ping Ding, Keep One Word and Keep Nine, and so on.

Four. Idioms related to ancient costumes

In idioms, we can also learn about ancient costumes. For example, these idioms are all related to the clothing culture of the Han nationality, such as walking on the left, wearing robes, being dressed in brown, being good at dancing with long sleeves, changing women for women and being a hero.

The idiom "wearing a tassel crown" means that it is too late to tie your hair, hat and belt, indicating your eagerness to save people. "Crown" is a general term for ancient hats, but specifically, it only refers to the hats worn by nobles. Unlike the current hat, it can't cover all the top of the head. It's just a small crown beam with pleats on it and two ends connected with the crown ring. Also, because the hair of the ancients was relatively long, it was necessary to tie the bun with a hairpin first, and then tie it from front to back with a crown. There is a small ribbon on each side of the crown circle, called "tassel", which is used to tie a knot.

"Southern Crown" is a metaphor for outstanding talents in the South; "High-sounding" describes the appearance of dignity or justice on the surface. These two idioms use "crown" and "crown" together. In fact, there is a difference between the ancient "crown" and "crown". "Crown" is one of the most distinguished crowns. The corona, black, has a rectangular plate on it, called Yan. There is a string of small round jade hanging in front of Yan. Ancient system: twelve emperors, nine waiting hours and six doctors. In ancient times, emperors, courtiers and doctors all wore crowns when making sacrifices. Later, only the emperor could wear it, so Wang Wei had the poem "and the coat of many countries, bow down to the crown of pearls."

The "fur" in idioms such as "fox fur and lamb sleeves" and "gathering armpit hair to make fur" is the fur coat of the ancients to keep out the cold. People who can't afford to wear leather clothes wear robes, which is a long coat made of messy clothes. With the improvement of materials, robes after the Han Dynasty became court costumes. "Debut in robes" means putting on official clothes and performing on stage. As for the "yellow robe plus body", the yellow robe refers to the dragon robe worn by the emperor. "hé" is a short coat made of coarse wool or hemp, which is worn by poor workers. The idiom "Bei Gui Huai Yu" means to have beautiful talent, but not to show it in front of people.

The "belt" in the idioms "Emei Dai Bo" and "light and soft belt" refers to the belt of the ancients. In ancient times, there were two kinds of belts. One is a leather belt, which is tied under the petticoat and has a hook for hanging jade ornaments. The "hook" of the idiom "stealing the country and stealing the hook" refers to the clothes hook. Another kind of belt is a big belt made of silk, which is used to bind coats. The part that hangs down after knotting is called "gentry". In addition, there is a kind of golden jade belt outside the official dress of later generations, which is purely embellishment and has little binding effect.

There are also "wearing a left robe", "wearing a phoenix crown and summer clothes", "embroidered robe and jade belt", "resembling a simple black veil", "praising a cloth belt", "square collar and round crown", "square scarf robe", "wearing a thousand pieces of cloth" and "satin". Among them, "wearing a left state in France" reflects some ethnic minorities in ancient China. "Goose Watching Dai Bo" refers to the unique costumes of ancient literati, namely high hats and wide belts. There is also a kind of "Cocktail-crowned Xiatie", which is a hat decorated with colorful phoenixes and covered with a beautiful shawl like a cloud. It is the costume of the adult women of ancient nobles and official families sealed by the imperial court. "Mangpao Jade Belt" is a kind of robe embroidered with python and decorated with jade belt. It was originally the official costume of the Ming Dynasty, and later evolved into the costume of emperors and generals in China traditional operas. "Like Jane Wu Sand" refers to the costume of ancient officials, and "Jane" is the clipboard held by ancient ministers when they met with the monarch, also known as facing the water; "Black veil" is an official hat made of black veil. "Clothes belt" is a wide robe and broadband, which is a unique costume of ancient Confucian scholars. In addition, there are "square collar and round crown", "square scarf and wide dress" and "square scarf robe", which also refer to the clothes of Confucian scholars. Before the Yuan Dynasty, linen, brown cloth and silk were common clothing materials. "Summer and autumn leather in winter" refers to clothes made of fur in winter and clothes made of hemp in summer. In China, silk has long been the raw material for making clothes. With the continuous development of silk weaving technology, there are many kinds of silk fabrics, such as silk, silk, satin, etc., so there is the idiom "where to go", which generally refers to exquisite silk fabrics or clothes made of exquisite silk fabrics. If we further taste the meaning of these idioms, we will find that wearing clothes of different materials has a certain relationship with people's status. Clothes made of fur are warmer and more luxurious than clothes made of other materials, and clothes made of hemp are more breathable and cooler than summer clothes made of other materials. Such clothes are expensive and can only be worn by people with status, so most of them are rich. Silk clothes can only be worn by wealthy families, so there are also idioms that call rich children "dude" (dude is a gorgeous dress made of raw silk).

3 cultural connotation of idioms

Ordinary people's clothes are mostly "kudzu cloth robes", "short brown belts" and "kudzu wild clothes". The meaning of "ge" in these idioms is different from that of "ge in winter and summer". It is an herb, which can be made into cloth, but the texture is very rough. In addition, workers are poor and often engage in productive labor, so it is impossible to wear "E-crown", "embroidered robe" and "take off your coat", which are often short brown and some are "wearing knots". Clothes made of the same material, even if they are worn in different ways, can reflect the different identities and occupations of the wearer. For example, the idiom "against fur and poor straw" also means to wear clothes made of animal skin ("fur"), but because it violates the habit of wearing fur outside, it shows that it has its own special features. The reason is that people who wear fur have to "carry straw (firewood)". If they wear wool outside, they will wear it out when carrying firewood. This shows that this is the costume of the poor. Through the above idioms, we can understand the difference between the rich and the poor reflected by different clothes. Chinese ancient costumes are not only rich in materials, rich in decorations and complicated in identity signs, but also pay attention to strict dress etiquette. The idiom "clothes are upside down" reflects this aspect. In modern Chinese, the word "clothes" means clothes, which are neck and neck. However, in ancient times, it was very particular. Generally speaking, the ancients called it clothes, and the clothes under it were skirts. It's impolite to wear the following clothes inside out. It can be seen that although idioms are only a kind of vocabulary in Chinese, they contain rich traditional cultural information. Idioms reflect the characteristics of China culture in a concentrated and typical way.

There are many idioms that reflect the costume culture and show the unique costumes of people with different identities and positions. Empresses of emperors and maids of nobles wore summer clothes with crests and pearls surrounded by emeralds, while ancient Confucian scholars wore ribbons of praise and round crowns with square collars, while court officials wore belts with crowns and looked like a simple black veil, while hermits eager to enter the mountains were wild ge clothes and bamboo sandals. Because clothing is the external expression of people's social status and economic strength, there are various strict rules about clothing in ancient times to show the difference between official rank and social status, so it is not surprising that there are so many idioms related to clothing in Chinese.