論成語「嶄露頭角」中的「頭角」

The Philological Origins of the Expression Toujiao (頭角) in the Chinese Idiom Zhanlu Toujiao (嶄露頭角)

「嶄露頭角」是一句常見的成語，語本唐．韓愈〈柳子厚墓誌銘〉「嶄然見頭角」這個句子，但歷來的注家，今日的辭書或成語典籍，大都沒有說明「頭角」是指什麼，為何韓愈會用此來稱柳宗元「能取進士第」。本論文詳細考論古籍中有關「頭角」的材料，從相術上的「頭角」、牛的「頭角」、龍的「頭角」這三個說法切入，分析歷代典籍中相關典故的來龍去脈，並以韓愈另一出現「頭角」一詞的作品〈符讀書城南〉詩的詩意，以及觀察後代詩文中對「頭角」的使用現象，來證明成語「嶄露頭角」中「頭角」的來源，就是「魚躍龍門」典故中，魚化為龍後頭上聳然顯露的龍角。

The idiom“Emerge Prominently”(嶄露頭角) is widely used in Chinese, and its earliest known source appears in Han Yu (韓愈)’s Tang dynasty work“Epitaph for Liu Zihou＂(柳子厚墓誌銘), which includes the phrase“toweringly revealed his horns atop the head”(嶄然見頭角). However, traditional dictionaries and idiom references rarely explain what“horns atop the head”(頭角) actually signify, nor why Han Yu used this expression to describe Liu Zongyuan’s success in attaining the jinshi (進士) degree. This paper conducts a philological investigation into the term“頭角”across classical texts, exploring three major interpretive threads: the physiognomic reading of cranial protuberances, the ritual significance of ox horns in sacrificial contexts, and the mythological symbolism of dragon horns. Through a close analysis of related anecdotes and textual developments—including Han Yu’s poem To My Son Fu, Studying in the“Southern City＂(符讀書城南), where the term reappears—and its subsequent usage in later literary works, this study argues that“horns atop the head”(頭角) in the idiom refers to the dragon’s horns that emerge when a fish transforms into a dragon, an image rooted in the legend of the fish leaping over the dragon gate (魚躍龍門).