The meaning of "nue" and "gu" in the Five Classical Canons and Huangdi Neijing (Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon)

Abstract

There were many terms of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the Confucian Five Classical Canons, such as nue and gu. Among them, nue had the meaning of "sudden disease" or "cold disease" in the Spring and Autumn Period, which were changed to a name of disease, nue disease in the Warring States Period. In the Huangdi Neijing (Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon), there was a special treatise to discuss it. The original meaning of gu was poisonous insect, and then was explicated to a insect causing harm to people. Therefore, gu had the meaning of gathering gu for harming people, gu disease, gu poison and bug in the abdomen. Gu was recorded as a divinatory symbols in the Zhou Yi (The Book of Change), explained as a disease of heart-spirit confusion by later generations. Also, it was recorded in the Zuo Zhuan (The Commentary of Zuo Qiuming) and Huangdi Neijing.