商人称谓社会解读

Decoding the Appellation "Businessmen" from It's Development

“商”字本义为“古代滴漏上计时的刻度”。“商星、商朝”的得名都与这一本义密切相关,而表“生意人”称谓的“商”,其出现又缘于商朝。按理,这一称谓的出现应是在周灭商之后不久,但事实上,它却在战国初期才出现。因历史、商业发展等原因,“社会”由指称“国家”逐渐过渡为指称“生意人”。

The initial meaning of Chinese character ＂shang＂ refers to the time scale on the ancient leaking pot, which has intimate connection with the name of Shang Star and Shang Dynasty. Just from Shang Dynasty, it began to cover the implication ＂businessman＂, Theoretically the production of the appellation should be soon after the Shang Dynasty was overwhelmed by Zhou Dynasty, actually it appeared at the beginning of the Warring States. Because of the history and business development, the meaning of Chinese character ＂shang＂ changed gradually from ＂country＂ to ＂businessman＂.