Why are rabbits called "rabbits"?

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.