吐鲁番出土唐代公文中的“仰”

Yang (仰) in Official Documents of the Tang Dynasty Unearthed in Turpan

“仰”本义为抬头,后引申出下对上的表敬用法,在褒贬原则的作用下,又可用于上对下的表谦,较早见于魏晋南北朝的正史文献,而在吐鲁番出土唐代公文集中出现。究其原因,一是符合礼貌原则中的“褒贬原则”;二是与谦敬词“请”在功能上的分工互补:“请”早期兼表谦敬,后期主要用于下对上的表敬,这就限制了同时代“仰”的相同用法。在吐鲁番出土唐代公文中,“仰”也就转而主要用于上对下场合表谦。

The original meaning of yang (仰) means to raise one’s head, and then extends to the meaning of showing respect to the occasion from the bottom to the top. Under the function of the principle of “praise and derogation”, it can also be used to express modesty from the top to the bottom. It was earlier seen in the official history documents of Wei Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties, while more concentrated in the official documents of Tang Dynasty unearthed in Turpan . The reason for this is that it conforms to the principle of “praise and derogation” in the politeness principle, and it is a complementary of labor division with qing (请). Qing (请) is used to express respect and humility in the early stage, but it is mainly used to show respect from the bottom to the top in the later period, which limits the same usage of yang (仰) in the contemporary era. Therefore, yang (仰) is mainly used to show humility to the occasion from the top to the bottom in the official documents of Tang Dynasty unearthed in Turpan.