儘管貪狼九詞在風水著作和匠師吉利尺度的選取中隨處可見，卻從來沒有任何建築研究者專門探討它們。在本文，筆者藉著討論相關於貪狼諸詞的重要早期文獻，初探其來歷。得到的初步結果是，此九詞中，貪狼、文曲、廉貞、破軍、左輔、右弼早已以其原字義散見於春秋到漢的文獻，而在漢後隋前，貪、文、廉、破被收集起來並補上巨門、祿存、武曲，湊足七數來命名並神格化北斗七星，時而加上左輔與右弼成為九星，在道教和佛教發展成斗星星神信仰；約略在唐代推廣到風水術，並在後代及於工匠吉利尺度的選取。故，筆者強調，貪狼諸詞的字面原義，對傳統中國人而言，絕不比它們與北斗七星結合要來得重要。是貪狼斗星的星神信仰讓貪狼諸詞廣見於風水術而及於工匠操作；而歸根究柢，是傳統中國人對北斗七星在北極圈的特殊地位的認知轉而對之崇敬，才會演變成貪狼斗星的信仰，而使得這一切成為可能。

Despite their ubiquitous presence in fengshui (風水) texts and in the procedure of artisans' choice of auspicious measurements, the nine Tanlang terms have never been properly investigated by any architectural researcher. In this text-based study, a preliminary attempt has been made to trace the provenance and the implication of these terms, with the result that six of them, namely Tanlang, Wenqu (文曲), Lianzhen (廉貞), Pojun (破軍), Zuofu (左輔), and Youbi (右弼), first occurred in different literary sources of the period between Chunqiu (春秋) and the Han (漢); and later but before the Sui (隋), these six were collected, together with the suppliment of three more, namely Jumen (巨門), Wuqu (武曲), and Luchun (祿存), to make seven (sometimes with the addition of Zuofu and Youbi to make nine), possibly by some Daoist magicians to name and deify the seven stars of the Great Bear. This was then well developed in the Tang (唐) in both Daoist and Buddhist scriptures to form a sidereal worship, and the popularity of which had promoted the integration of the Tanlang terms into fengshui manipulations and artisans' choice of auspicious measurements. In this paper, a further emphasis was also suggested that, in fact, the literary connotation of these terms meant hardly anything to the traditional Chinese. Instead, it was the association of them with the Great Bear that had made them popular and ensured their ubiquitous presence in most fengshui texts and artisans' manuals. All of this is ultimately due to the deeply embedded importance of the Great Bear in the Chinese traditional cosmological awareness of the Northern Polar region.