공자의 출신과 그 名 및 字의 상관성에 대한 연구

Abstract

Confucius himself did not directly mention he is of Yin(殷) and Dongyi(東夷) ethnic origin, although his Yin and Dongyi related comments are found in the Analects:“The Master was wishing to go and live among the nineYis(子欲居九夷),” “Yidi(夷狄) with rulers are not like the states of Xia without them(夷狄之有君 不如諸夏之亡也),” “the Yin dynasty possessed these three men of virtue(殷有三仁焉),” and “the Yin dynasty followed the regulations of the Xia(殷因於夏禮).”However, as death approached, when told about his dream to Zigong(子貢), he implied that he is of Yin ethnic origin and his funeral should be held in accordance with Yin funeral manners. Confucius has been regarded as the teacher of one hundred generations, the lord of ten thousand years, and the synthesizer of Confucianism. Nevertheless, “what were the reasons why he was unable to reveal his ancestry?” This is the main issue of this paper. Some have argued that due to living under the Zhou(周) dynasty, established after overthrowing Yin dynasty, it was difficult for him to disclose his ethnic origin as a Yin descendant. This paper, however, focuses on the fact that Confucius was not accepted as the eldest son and looked down upon during his childhood because of his birth. According to Confucius House hold Sayings(孔子家語), Confucius’ father married Yan(颜氏) to have a son despite his age over 60 since Confucius’ elder brother was not only born of a concubine but suffering from foot disease. If Confucius had been born with a bang, he should have carried on the family line as the eldest legitimate son; however, he did not know the location of his father’s grave, could not use the character bai(伯) used as courtesy name for the eldest legitimate son, and had to yield Zou 郰(or Liao 聊) inherited from his father to his elder brother. Moreover, in his early days, he was called “Qiu of the Eastern house(東家丘)” or “ the son of the man of Zou(鄹人之子)” incompatible with the position of the Dafu’s eldest legitimate son. On the other hand, Mengpi(孟皮), his elder brother carried on the family lineage by using Baini(伯尼), style name for the eldest legitimate son and handed down the family line to his son Zong 忠(Zimie 子蔑) in spite of having fatal weaknesses such as being born of a concubine and having foot illness. What does this mean? It means that Confucius was not accepted as the son of Shulianghe(叔梁紇). He buried his mother’s body together with his father’s and arranged a marriage for his brother’s daughter to Nanrong(南容) only after becoming an adult. It would have been hard for him to disclose the truth that he is a descendant of Kong family(孔氏), and furthermore posterity of Yin under the circumstances of having been even doubted whether to be the son of Kong family. Therefore, he put (yi 夷 or ren 仁) instead of ni 尼 to tacitly declare that he is of Dongyi ethnic origin. He also more clearly mentioned that he is a descendant of Yin than before as death approached. Nevertheless, if disciples of Confucius constantly misspell his name as “ni(尼)” as seungni(僧尼), they go largely against his will. Not only that, but misinterpretations regarding Yin and Yi, including the content of “the Master was wishing to go and live among the nine Yis(子欲居九夷),” “wherever a gentleman lives, will there be anything low?(君子居之 何陋之有?)” and “Yidi with rulers are not like the states of Xia without them(夷狄之有君 不如諸夏之亡也),” done by biased scholars, need to be reconsidered in the direction of accepting and respecting Yin and Yi.