See below for details:
Different names of rabbits
Editor's note: Rabbits belong to mammals in animal taxonomy; It is also a common domestic animal. In the folk, it is the embodiment of wit, kindness and auspiciousness. Rabbit culture has a long history and is profound. It is of great significance to explore and sort out rabbit culture and carry it forward. Starting from this issue, this newspaper has launched a column entitled "Random Talk on Rabbit Culture" for readers.
The word "rabbit" appeared as early as the pre-Qin classics. There is such a description in the Book of Songs, the first collection of poems in China: "There is a rabbit, which is separated from Luo." It can be seen that at least 2500 years ago, our ancestors had a preliminary understanding of rabbits and created the word "rabbit". In a book describing Houyi's daily life, there is also the word "rabbit": "Houyi hunted in Bashan and got a rabbit as big as a donkey. He was put in a trap, lost in the middle and hidden as before. " This description is full of myth, saying that the rabbit is as big as a donkey, but it was caught and thrown into a wooden cage.
No matter how the ancients described the shape and size of rabbits, no matter how strong this myth is, now let's consider a question: why is rabbits called "rabbits"? In the Song Dynasty, Lu Dian replied in Ya Ya Shi Beast: "The rabbit is called a rabbit because it has a short mouth, spits and gives birth to children. Rabbit, spit. " Ancient science was underdeveloped, and it was obviously a fallacy to think that young rabbits spit out from the rabbit's lips. But Lu Dian was the first person to explain why rabbits were called "rabbits", which was a small contribution to philology and zoology.
According to ancient mythology, there is a jade rabbit in the moon, so it is called "moon essence" and "moon virtue". In the Tang Dynasty, Quan Deyu wrote "The White Rabbit Table of He Heyang under the Book Gate": "Only this auspicious beast is called the Moon Essence. In the peak period, there must be snow. " Wang Qi Jinbei Chart written by Yu Xin in the Northern Zhou Dynasty: "Virtue pays justice, and the golden scene shows good fortune."
In ancient times, rabbits were also called "seeing clearly". It was first seen in the Book of Rites Quli: "The ritual of ancestor worship ... the rabbit made it clear." Kong Ying Da explained: "The fat rabbit meat is an eye-opener."
In some areas, some national languages have some special names for rabbits. For example, Zhao Mengfu in the Yuan Dynasty wrote a poem "Rabbit": "The wind behind your ears is fire, you are screaming, you are screaming." The word "please" here is Mongolian, which means rabbit. In some areas of northeast China, rabbits are called "jumping cats". There is a sentence in Zhou Libo's The Tempest: "A gray jumping cat is looking around in panic." In Sanskrit, a language of ancient India, rabbits were called "Sheshega".
According to the zodiac order, fur belongs to rabbits, and some people call rabbits "fur animals". As for the folk nicknames of rabbits such as "lack of nose" and "three-petal mouth", it is also easy to understand, because there is a crack in the center of the upper lip of rabbits, such as a hole in the nose.
Chen Jianzhi
(The ancients once called gay men, especially those who tend to be feminine, "rabbits")
Er Ya Yi explains this in more detail:
See the moon gave birth to a son, its eyes are very special, so the sacrifice is called Shi Ming. Tian Wen said: What is the brilliance of the night? If you die, you will have children. There are only knights, and there are gouges that care about the abdomen. Gaiyue is only full for one day, and the rest are often short, and the mouth is also short. The speaker thinks that all women in the world are women and Gu is a man, so everyone is looking forward to it. In ancient times, it is said that it was a long time ago. It is said that when the sun has no light, the witch is not there, and when the witch is not there, it flies and hides. In the first year of Emperor Yong Guang of the Han and Yuan Dynasties, there was no light in Japan and China and no darkness in Chang 'an. In this world, the number of fortune tellers is in August, that is, in the middle of the night in the mountains and forests, with hundreds of columns. In the first moon shadow, there is more moonlight and less darkness, which is a pity for pregnancy. But I also have my own male and female, and I don't care much about the moon. There is also a cloud in ancient Yuefu: men are embarrassed and women are confused, and the two walk in tandem. Can you know if you are a man or a woman? Gaiyuner, it's hard to tell a man from a woman. "Lun Heng" says: When I was young, I was pregnant, but my son vomited from my mouth. ...
This shows the relationship between the rabbit and the moon. There is also a saying in Chunqiu and Yuanming: If you lose your health, you will spit out the fish in spring. Song Jun said, purging yin is essence, fish is yang, see the system also. (Note 4) From the above materials, we can know that rabbits existed as a kind of "yin essence" in ancient concepts. However, gay men who represent the passive side happen to have female characteristics, so rabbits are gradually used by the ancients to describe homosexuality, especially child molesters or passive roles in homosexuality.