也谈战国四封君怎么成了“四公子”

在周代,列国诸侯可以称为公,所以诸侯之子通称为公子。公子称谓本身并不具有区分嫡庶的宗法意义。秦始皇确立皇帝制度后,历代皇帝不再称公,其子也不再称为公子。汉代又赋予了公子一词新的含义,公子被逐渐用来称呼一些权贵人家的富有子弟。战国时期的信陵、平原、孟尝和春申四封君,按照先秦公子的标准衡量,二人为公子,一人为公孙,一人仅为辩士,所以司马迁在《史记》中,将他们并称四君,而不称四公子。直至西晋的张华作《游侠篇》后,所谓战国四公子的说法才正式形成。

Also Discussing How the Four Enfeoffed Nobles of the Warring States Became Four Gong-zi

In the Zhou Dynasty,the feudal lords of various nations could be generally called Gong,so the sons of the feudal lords were called Gong-zi.The title of Gong-zi did not have the function of distinguishing the sons of the first wife from the sons of the concubines.After the establishment of emperor system by Qin-shi-huang,the sons of all emperors in successive dynasties have not been called Gong zi.In the Han Dynasty,people gave the new meaning of the word of Gong zi,and Gong zi was used to call a number of w...