BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS.

• Author: GOLDIN, PAUL RAKITA

Personal Names in Early China: A Research Note

This paper discusses several illustrative examples of ancient Chinese personal names that appear to impart information about the moral or physical characteristics of the people who bore them. Such epithets are likely to have been posthumous, or may have been acquired in adulthood, but in any case cannot be understood as regular names given at or soon after birth. Moreover, since these suspicious names appear in various kind of texts, including some that pretend to be historical, this phenomenon must affect our assessment of the sources that we use to interpret the ancient Chinese world.

Scholars of Chinese history have long noted the appropriateness of the names "Wen" [CHINESE CHARACTERS NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]("Refined") and "Wu" [CHINESE CHARACTERS NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] ("Warlike"), which refer to the founding kings of the Chou [CHINESE CHARACTERS NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] dynasty. [1] The former is regularly praised for his moral and administrative accomplishments, the latter for his martial prowess and terrifying visage. Traditionally, "Wen" and "Wu" have been understood as posthumous names (shih [CHINESE CHARACTERS NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]), but recent evidence suggests that the kings may have acquired those names during their lifetimes. [2] In any case, what is noteworthy is that the names "Wen" and "Wu" appear to tell us something about the kings who bore them. Moreover, Kings Wen and Wu hardly constitute an isolated case. There are a remarkable number of passages in which people are denoted by names that impart information about them, especially their distinctive moral or physical characteristics. [3] This phenomenon has been inadequately discussed and appreciated. [4]

The following is an overview of some of the most illustrative examples.

1. In the Mo-tzu [CHINESE CHARACTERS NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], we read the following story.

   In the past, in the time of Pao [CHINESE CHARACTERS NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], Lord Wen of Sung [CHINESE CHARACTERS NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] [r. 610-589 B.C.], there was a functionary named Priest Kuan-ku [CHINESE CHARACTERS NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] who was following the service for a ghost. [5] The medium [6] emerged with a staff; he said to him: "Kuan-ku, why are the jade tablets and disks not up to their full measure? Why is the wine and millet unclean? Why are the sacrificial victims not unblemished and fat?

   Why are the offerings of spring, autumn, winter, and summer [7] not timely? Did you do this, or did Pao do this?"

   Kuan-ku said: "Pao is young and immature; he is still in his diapers. What could Pao know about his? This was done specifically by the functionary in charge, Kuan-ku."

   The medium lifted his staff and beat him, killing him on top of the altar. At the time, those people in Sung who were participating in the ceremony all saw it; those who were far away all heard it. It is written in the annals of Sung. The feudal lords transmitted [the story] and commented: "For whoever is not reverent and cautious about sacrifices, the punishment of the spirits is even as swift as this." Seeing that the story is in several books, one can hardly doubt that ghosts exist. [8]

   The name "Kuan-ku" [CHINESE CHARACTERS NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] means, quite literally, "Faulty Observance." Significantly, in a parallel account in the "Ssu-i" [CHINESE CHARACTERS NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] chapter of the Lun-heng [CHINESE CHARACTERS NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], the priest's name is given as "Yeh-ku" [CHINESE CHARACTERS NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], which does not have any obvious meaning. [9] This evidence indicates that there was a popular ancient story in which a negligent priest was said to have been bludgeoned to death by a medium possessed by an irate spirit. In at least one version of the story, the name of the cleric was transmitted as "Faulty Observance"--a name that someone must have found fitting. Even if the story is not entirely fictitious, it is difficult to believe that the name "Kuan-ku" was given at birth. We must take it as an epithet. [10]

2. In the infamous biography of L[ddot{u}] Pu-wei [CHINESE CHARACTERS NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (d. 235 B.C.) in the Shih-chi [CHINESE CHARACTERS NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII], we read that the mother of the future First Emperor of China carried on an illicit affair with a man whose name is given as Lao Ai [CHINESE CHARACTERS NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. Lao Ai's most notable attribute was his prodigious penis:

   [L[ddot{u}] Pu-wei] privately found a man with a large penis named Lao Ai, and made him his retainer. At times he would indulge in song and music, making Lao Ai walk around with his penis stuck through a wheel of t'ungwood. [11] He had the Empress Dowager hear of this, in order to entice her. When the Empress Dowager heard, as expected, she wanted to have him in private. L[ddot{u}] Pu-wei then presented Lao Ai and conspired to have someone accuse him of a crime for which he should be castrated. Pu-wei then addressed the Empress Dowager secretly, saying: "If you permit this trumped-up castration, then you can have him in your apartment." The Empress Dowager then secretly gave rich gifts to the official in charge of castrations, instructing him to pluck out [Lao Ai's] beard up to the eyebrows, [12] making him a "eunuch" so that he could serve the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager had congress with him in private and loved him very much. She had a child by him, and fearing that someone would come to know of it, she...