In many costume movies and TV plays, we often see such a scene, that is, the inn attendant said to the guests with a big smile: "Guest, are you staying in a hotel?" "
Among them, almost everyone can understand what Xiao Er said about "staying in a hotel", that is, accommodation and accommodation, and what does "choke" mean?
Combining the context and the services provided by ancient inns, we can roughly guess that this so-called "pinch" means eating.
But there is a problem. Since it is eating, why not just say eating, but use such a strange word as "prick the head"? In fact, pinching not only means eating, but also includes several other meanings.
The word "sharp" is very common in Ming and Qing novels. For example, the word "thorn point" appeared and was used in the novel "Mirror Flower Edge" by Li Ruzhen, a scholar in Qing Dynasty.
It can be seen from this passage in the Mirror Flower Garden that sharpening knives and lodging are the main services provided by ancient inns. Needless to say, what does accommodation mean? What does sharpening mean?
This question has been explained by the ancients. Another scholar in the Qing Dynasty, Fogg, explained the word in detail for the first time in Listening to the Rain.
According to Fogg, the so-called pinch is that people find a restaurant for lunch on the trip, which is also called "pinch".
As for why eating well is called "sharpening", Fogg also has relevant interpretations. He believes that the word "sharpening" should be based on the word "striking fire".
As early as the Song and Yuan Dynasties, people called eating "kindling" in folk and literary works at that time. The reason for this is that there are no advanced ignition tools in ancient times, and people mostly use flint and flint to ignite.
Flint is a flaky metal, and flint generally refers to flint. Some places without flint will be replaced by hard stones such as pebbles.
How do flint and flint make a fire? The reason is very simple, that is, beating the flint back and forth with a sickle to make it produce Mars. When Mars falls on the tinder prepared in advance, it will produce flame.
In this way, the fire is born, and you can cook with fire and eat with rice. Therefore, the whole process of making a fire is simply "striking the fire", that is, cooking and eating.
It is very common for ancient and even modern people to refer to a complex thing with a simple word. For example, the word "going to the ground" that we often say in rural areas actually means working in crop fields. Similarly, the word "laying bricks" on the construction site also refers to building houses.
So "making a fire" means that cooking is the same as eating. The reason why "striking a fire" evolved into "striking the tip" stems from the ancient people's entangled attitude towards fire, which is both respectful and taboo.
As we all know, the progress of human civilization is closely related to the discovery and application of fire. Only when human beings know how to use fire can their survival be greatly guaranteed. Drilling wood for fire is the best example of human civilization and progress.
However, while using fire more skillfully, human beings have also discovered the great harm that fire can bring, and a small spark may cause great disaster.
Therefore, while enjoying the benefits brought by fire, human beings are also very careful to prevent fire. For example, as early as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, it was a crime to discard unburned charcoal at will.
Including in costume TV series, we will often see the night watchman shouting "Be careful to light candles" when patrolling back and forth in the middle of the night.
These are some measures taken by ancient people to prevent fire, and at the same time, in order to avoid fire, ancient people will deliberately not mention the word "fire". For example, "fire" is not called "fire", but "running water" or "carelessness", which is still in use today.
Therefore, under the premise of avoiding the word "fire", the ancients changed the word "fire" into the word "sharp", that is, "sharp". Therefore, the "sharp" mentioned by the inn attendant is to ask the visitors if they want to eat.
Of course, this is only Fogg's guess and his personal opinion. In addition to this view, the word "sharp" has another meaning.
In the famous Shu Ci Wu, the word "thorn" has another explanation.
The "tip" here means that travelers have a rest during the trip. Based on this statement, the "sharp or staying in a hotel" asked by the second child of the inn can be interpreted as a temporary rest or a long-term accommodation.
It's like we modern people go to a hotel with accommodation, and the service staff asks us whether we live in an hourly room or a long private room. Hourly rooms are sharp for those who need a temporary rest, while those who need to spend the night or stay for a few more days will have to open long private rooms.
In addition, in Guangya Shi San, the meaning of "take a break and eat" has been added.
The so-called "take a break before eating" means that the ancients ate in the inn during the process of "pinching", but this kind of diet is not a dinner, but a supplementary food at any time, which is what we often say.
The reason for saying this is that it was difficult for the ancients to travel far. Unlike our modern means of transportation, they mainly rely on walking or animal power. In addition, various living facilities in ancient times were not as convenient as those in modern times. Therefore, in the process of rushing, it is often the case that you miss your meal because of rushing.
I missed my meal and finally met an inn. Hungry travelers naturally want something to eat, but because it is not a dinner, there will be no dinner in the inn, only snacks or simple meals.
But something is better than nothing. Travelers will have a short rest in this inn and have a light meal at the same time, so as to better catch up with the next section of the road. So the "pinch" here is that the inn clerk asks the passengers if they want to eat something and have a rest.
Based on this statement, some scholars believe that "interval" should be "interval", indicating interval. It is called "Jian" to have a rest and eat during the journey, but it may be that in the process of oral communication, people read "Jian" as a "sharp" with vowels, so it will be habitually called "Jian" by future generations.
In addition to the above statement, there is a relatively small statement, which is related to the great immigrants in Hongdong County, Shanxi Province in the early Ming Dynasty.
At the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, the Central Plains was extremely desolate due to perennial wars, plagues and natural disasters. According to historical records, many places in the Central Plains have experienced the tragic situation of "shortage of manpower, long-term desolation, piling up into hills and sparse residents". In view of this, in order to quickly resume production, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Ming Taizu, formulated measures to revitalize agriculture centered on resettlement.
The core of this measure is very simple, that is, moving from a place with a large population and a small population to a place with a large territory and a large population. At that time, Shanxi was a place with a large population and few land. Thus, in the third year of Hongwu, a vigorous "great immigrant" migration began.
In the process of migration, people are used to wearing a cloth bag on their shoulders, which contains food and other items, one on their chest and the other on their backs.
When they eat in the inn, the bartender will help them take the bag off their shoulders. When these guests continue on their way after dinner, the bartender will politely help them carry the bag on their shoulders. Over time, the bartender calls it "shouldering" the reception of guests who just can't eat. The sharp point is the homonym of "shouldering", which means those guests who just can't eat.
In addition, the word "pricking tip" also has the explanation of sending the tip of the tongue, that is, satisfying the desire of the tip of the tongue, which means having a full meal or eating something good. This has a similar meaning to the word "toothache", which means enjoying food. So, what is the most accurate meaning of the word "sharp"?
In my opinion, the meaning of "straight to the point" is closer to the most accurate statement.
The word "sting" can be characterized as a verb because it contains "beating". Since it is a verb, it represents several or a series of actions. After a traveler enters an inn, he only needs two things, one is to live and the other is to eat.
Living in a hotel is needless to say, but to eat, you need a series of actions in the inn. What actions? Such as ignition, such as boiling water. As an inn, under what circumstances will it be necessary to rekindle a fire to cook and boil water for guests? It must be without any passenger flow.
If there is a lot of traffic, such as when eating, then the fire in the kitchen must be burning, so that cooking can be done anytime and anywhere. At the same time, if it is a meal, you will directly ask the guests what to eat, instead of asking "tip".
Therefore, the word "sharp" is likely to be in non-hotel time, possibly from morning to noon, or from afternoon to evening.
Only at this time will the fire be rekindled (or ignited) to cook for the guests. Because of this, we can conclude that the guests at this time are most likely those who are busy on their way and just left after eating.
Such guests enter the inn at this time and want to have a short rest and supplement food. After that, they will continue on their journey. Therefore, the process of resting and eating is a short pause in their journey, which is the "interval" mentioned above.
Since it is an intermission, the "tipping" mentioned by the inn staff is actually a "rest", which means asking the guests if they just want to have a meal and leave later.
But the two words "beat" and "punch" are different, but they have the same pronunciation. After word of mouth for a long time, people will gradually pronounce "beat" as "punch".
To sum up, when the inn boy said "stay in a hotel or stay in a hotel", he was actually asking about the needs of the guests. If it is "staying in a hotel", he will take it to the lobby for dinner. If it is "staying in a hotel", he leads it into the guest room, that's all.