male unicorn | female unicorn | ||
---|---|---|---|
trad. (麒麟) | 麒 | 麟 | |
simp. #(麒麟) | 麒 | 麟 | |
alternative forms | 騏驎 obsolete 麒麐/麒麟 obsolete |
Qilin was a propitious beast in ancient Chinese mythology, with the shape of a deer, tail of an ox, a single horn and scales all over its body. Old Chinese pronunciation for this word was *g(ɯ)-rin (Zhengzhang), and in pre-Qin times the beast was also referred to as
the last two having been attested in the oracle bone script already. There is much debate as to what animal the qilin beast was; some maintain that the qilin was a beast only found in mythology, even though it may have been based on some animal in pre-historic times, and some argue that the qilin was in reality the river deer, the ox or cow, or the Indian rhinoceros (Wang, 2009).
During the Song–Ming Dynasties, the giraffe was introduced to China, either by envoys from other Asian or African countries, or through Zheng He who commanded multiple expeditionary voyages to Asia and Africa (Zhang, 2007). Besides using the transcription 祖剌法 (zǔlàfǎ) (from Arabic زُرَافَة (zurāfa, “giraffe”)) to name the animal, the Chinese also referred to it as qilin, believing it was the prototype of the mythological beast qilin. Such association may be due to the phonological similarity of the words for “giraffe” in North African languages, to the pronunciation of 麒麟 at the time (i.e. a phono-semantic matching) (Zhang, 2007). Compare:
The “giraffe” sense of 麒麟 is obsolete in most varieties of modern Chinese, but is preserved in the Sinoxenic loanwords in Japanese (麒麟 (kirin)) and Korean (기린). In modern Vietnamese (kì lân), this word refers to the beast qilin, as well as the western mythological beast unicorn.
Janhunen (2011) tentatively compares 麒麟 (OC *ɡɯ rin) to a Northeast Asian etymon *kalimV, which denotes either "whale" or "mammoth"; however, he cautiously remarks that "he formal and semantic similarity between *kilin < *gilin ~ *gïlin 'unicorn' and *kalimV 'whale' (but also Samoyedic *kalay- 'mammoth') is sufficient to support, though perhaps not confirm, the hypothesis of an etymological connection". He also notes a possible connection between Old Chinese and Mongolian (*)kers ~ (*)keris ~ (*)kiris "rhinoceros" (> Khalkha Mongolian хирс (xirs)).
淇淋 麒麐/麒麟 麒麟 |
麒麟
Variety | Location | Words |
---|---|---|
Formal (Written Standard Chinese) | 長頸鹿 | |
Taxonomic name | 長頸鹿 | |
Northeastern Mandarin | Beijing | 長脖兒鹿 |
Taiwan | 長頸鹿 | |
Singapore | 長頸鹿 | |
Lanyin Mandarin | Ürümqi | 長脖兒鹿 |
Southwestern Mandarin | Liuzhou | 長頸鹿 |
Cantonese | Hong Kong | 長頸鹿 |
Hakka | Huizhou (Huicheng Bendihua) | 長頸鹿 |
Miaoli (N. Sixian) | 長頸鹿 | |
Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian) | 長頸鹿 | |
Pingtung (Wuluo, Ligang; S. Sixian) | 長頸鹿仔 | |
Kaohsiung (Meinong; S. Sixian) | 長頸鹿 | |
Kaohsiung (Shanlin; S. Sixian) | 長頸鹿 | |
Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu) | 長頸鹿 | |
Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu) | 長頸鹿 | |
Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping) | 長頸鹿 | |
Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an) | 長頸鹿 | |
Southern Min | Xiamen | 長頸鹿, 長頷鹿 |
Zhao'an | 長頸鹿 | |
Taipei (Wanhua) | 長頭鹿 | |
New Taipei (Tamsui) | 長頭鹿 | |
Kaohsiung | 長頷鹿, 麒麟仔 | |
Kaohsiung (Cijin) | 長頷頸 | |
Kaohsiung (Dalinpu, Siaogang) | 長頸鹿, 長鹿仔 | |
Yilan | 長頷鹿 | |
Yilan (Luodong) | 躼跤鹿仔 | |
Yilan (Toucheng) | 躼跤鹿仔 | |
Changhua (Lukang) | 麒麟鹿 | |
Taichung | 麒麟 | |
Taichung (Wuqi) | 麒麟鹿 | |
Tainan | 長頷鹿 | |
Taitung | 長頷鹿 | |
Hsinchu | 長頷鹿 | |
Penghu (Magong) | 長頷鹿 | |
Penang (Hokkien) | 麒麟鹿, 長頸鹿 | |
Singapore (Hokkien) | 麒麟鹿, 長跤鹿, 長頸鹿 | |
Singapore (Teochew) | 長頸鹿 |
Others:
麒麟
Kanji in this term | |
---|---|
麒 | 麟 |
き Jinmeiyō |
りん Jinmeiyō |
kan'on | on'yomi |
Alternative spellings |
---|
騏驎 (general use) キリン (giraffe, beer) |
From Old Japanese, in turn from Middle Chinese 麒麟 (MC gi lin). First cited in Japanese to the Nihon Shoki of 720.[1]
The giraffe sense was probably based on a superficial resemblance between certain depictions of the mythical beast and the patterning and body shape of the real animal: a tailed, hoofed, and horned quadruped with a vaguely leopard-like spot pattern. First cited in Japanese to a text from 1798.[1]
As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as キリン.
Hanja in this term | |
---|---|
麒 | 麟 |
麒麟 • (girin or McCune-Reischauer: kirin or Yale: kilin) (hangeul 기린)
chữ Hán Nôm in this term | |
---|---|
麒 | 麟 |
麒麟