Given a general cultural tendency to consider names as meaningful, the choice of the name to give to your children has been considered very important in traditional China. [4] Yan Zhitui of the Northern Qi Dynasty asserted that if the purpose of a first name was to distinguish one person from another, a courtesy name should express the moral integrity of the bearer. [Citation needed] Another way to form a polite noun is to use the homophonic sign zi (子) – a title respectful to a man – as the first sign of the name disyllable politeness. For example, Gongsun Qiao`s courtesy name was Zichan (子產) and Fu: Zimei (子美). It was also common to construct a courtesy name using as the first character the one that expresses the birth order of the wearer among the male siblings in his family. Thus, Confucius, whose name was Kong Qiu (孔丘), received the courtesy name Zhongni (仲尼), with the first sign indicating zhong that he was the second son born in his family. Commonly used characters are bo (伯) for the first, zhong (仲) for the second, shu (叔) for the third, and ji (季) typical for the youngest if the family consists of more than three sons. The four sons of General Sun Jian are Sun Ce (伯符, Bófú), Sun Quan (仲謀, Zhòngmóu), Sun Yi (叔弼, Shūbì) and Sun Kuang (季佐, Jìzuǒ). [Citation needed] A courtesy name is a name traditionally given to Chinese men at the age of 20 sui, marking their transition to adulthood. It was sometimes given to women, usually at marriage. [1] The practice is no longer common in modern Chinese society.
According to the Book of Rites, it was disrespectful for others of the same generation to address him by his first name after a man had reached adulthood. [3] Thus, the first name was reserved for themselves and their elders, while the courtesy name was used by adults of the same generation to refer to each other on formal occasions or in writing. Another translation of zi is «style name», but this translation has been criticized as misleading as it could imply an official or legal title. [1] «Courtesy.» Merriam-Webster.com dictionary, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/courtesy. Retrieved 14 January 2022. A courtesy name (Chinese: 字; pinyin: zì; lit. «sign»), also known as a style name, is a name given to you as an adult in addition to the first name. [1] This practice is a tradition in the cultural field of East Asia, including China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. [2] In general, politeness names were a syllable before the Qin Dynasty, and from Qin in the 20th century, they were mostly dissyllabic, consisting of two Chinese characters.
[1] Courtesy names were often based on the meaning of the person`s first name. For example, Chiang Kai-shek`s first name (介石, romanized as Kai-shek) and courtesy name (中正, romanized as Chung-cheng) both come from I Ging`s yù hexagram. [Citation needed] A courtesy name should not be confused with an art name, another term commonly used for an alternative name in East Asia that is closer to the concept of pseudonym or pseudonym. [1] Before the twentieth century, Koreans, Vietnamese and Japanese were also referred to by their courtesy names. The practice was also adopted by some Mongols and Manchus after the Qing conquered China. [Citation needed] These sample sentences are automatically selected from various online information sources to reflect the current use of the word «politeness.» The opinions expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us your feedback. Middle English corteisie, from Anglo-French curteisie, from curteis to see politely. .
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