Let's learn cat barking together, meow and meow together
Raising cats is not a leisure way unique to modern people. Lu Youyun, a famous poet of the Song Dynasty:
"The creek firewood is soft and warm, and I don't go out with the tanuki."
- "The Fourth of November (Part 1)"
"Tanuki" is a cat, and the translation for it is: what is windy and rainy, roast a fire, tease a cat, and sleep in front of the window.
Lu You even wrote a group of poems specifically for cats, entitled "Giving Cats". Let's take a look at the third track:
The rat has no merit and is not impeached, and a piece of fish rice comes from time to time.
Seeing that the king is lying down every day, what is going to go and go back?
- "Cat Gift (Part 3)"
I don't get a mouse, I don't pursue it; I deliver the daily meals on time; my only request is that you lie there and accompany me well...
You can't ignore me when you run around all day?!
Lu You's kitten is named "Yu Suo", what does "Yu Suo" mean?
The rat's nest is listed, and the fish meal is rewarded.
Still be called a name, called less than a tree.
- "Cat Gift (Part 1)"
Kittens sweep away the gutless rats, big fish and big meat are big drops! As usual, you should be given a name, well, just call you "Little Tiger"!
Tokyo Dream Hualu mentioned that at that time, there were shops selling cat food in Kaifeng and Hangzhou. If this statement is true, at least in the Song Dynasty, the cat-related industry was already very developed.
Oh, and by the way, Lu You's "little tiger" was bought with a bag of salt...
The first monograph on cats in China was "Cat Ride" edited by the famous Qing Dynasty scholar Wang Chutong. The book tells the names, habits, types, related stories, and even poems of cats recorded by the ancients, which can be said to be very rich.
Another book worth referencing is "Cat Garden" written by Huang Han. Compared with its predecessors, this book has added "supernatural", "famous things", and "pinzao" (that is, identification).
Through these two books, we can get a general understanding of the story of the ancients and cats
▲ Ming Shen Zhou's "Sketch Album Cat" part
The word "cat":
On the left is the cat representing the animal, and on the right is the seedling of the grass seedling. Song "Pi Ya" Yun: Rats harm seedlings, and cats can catch rats, go to the harm of seedlings, so the cat word from miao.
It seems that the ancients have long regarded cats as a righteous baby to go to the rat infestation!
Called
In general, the ancients called domestic cats "cats" and wild cats "cats". But there are so many names for cats that if you add a nickname, a separate dictionary is more than enough. In various periods, there is no shortage of particularly interesting ones:
Three Kingdoms of the Eastern Han Dynasty
(1) Seedlings
"Shuowen": Cat, Tanuki, from the cat, Miao Sheng, Mo Jiao.
(2) Cats
"Guangya": Cat, cat also. Interestingly, the ancient Khitan also called "weasels" "cats", and the weasels were paper-like:
(3) Tattoos, divine cats
This is a kind of fragrant cat recorded in the "Cat Garden", resembling a cat, out of Dali Province, tattooed like a golden leopard.
(Sorry for the cross-cutting...) ）
tang dynasty
(1) (Read with me) Mao ~
"Tang Yun" explains the pronunciation of "cat": cat (cut with the same text) rhymes with rhymes, 畧正 rhymes, Mo Jiao, and yin Mao.
(2) Beasts of prey
The Five Classics: Cats, Beasts.
(3) Red dialers
It looks like a middle two, meaning "a particularly barking cat". From "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks": The cat produced by Lingwu, a famous red plucker.
Five generations and ten kingdoms
(1) "DongShou", "Bai Feng", "Ziying", "Cowardice", "Brocade", "Cloud", "Wanguan"
From "Note Beads". It is said that it is the seven cats of Zhang Zhuo's family, each of which is a famous product. It is said that this "Zhang Daxian" lived from the Tang Dynasty to the Northern Song Dynasty, lived for one hundred and eighteen years, specializing in Zhou Yi, fortune telling, and holding breath (?). ）。
(2) Imperial Flowers, Kunlun Daji
These two are the royal favors of the princess, from the "Table Of Differences": The Princess of the Later Tang Dynasty Qionghua is self-horned, raising two cats, and one male and one female. There are snow whites, known as "royal flowers", while the uzeki only has a white tail, and the princess is called "Kunlun Daji".
Song dynasty
(1) White old
The big white cat of the Lu Shu family is strong. From the "Tang YuLu": There is a cat named "Bai Lao" in the family, even to the bottom of the west step of the hall, seven or eight rats are obtained, and they are all killed.
(Sorry to be on the stage again...) ）
(2) Tiger
It means a very fierce beast, Sima Guang's cat is called this... "Iron Garden Mountain Cong Talk": Sima Wen's family has cats, known as tigers. "Sayonara": "Tiger, Black Tiger." "Cover the name of its fierceness.
(3) "Ghost Ni", "Gao Yi"
This is the name of the Koreans, from the "Chicken Forest Incident" and the "History of Korea".
(4) Meow (serious face)
"Rotten Talk on the Table": Cats can call themselves by their first names.
Ming dynasty
(1) Pig God (?) ）
It is said to be the ancient "Paul the Octopus". "Dan Lead Record": Mao Rhinoceros, that is, Yan Ye, good knowledge of Ji Fierce. People call it cats and pigs, and jiaoguang people call them pig gods.
(2) Tanuki, Tanuki, Fox, And Cockroach
"The Pearl of Things": Cats are known as tanuki, tanuki slaves, and foxes. "Erya": Foxy like a cat, eating tigers and leopards.
(3) "A piece of jade", "Dark clouds cover snow", "Golden hook hanging jade bottle"
These are all ghost names given by eunuchs and palace women... From the Magazine in the Garden.
▲ Part of Emperor Huizong's "Qi Qi Tu" of Song Huizong
Qing Dynasty
(1) Wonderful
Zhu An Zen Master "Cat and Mouse" Yun: "When you catch a mouse, shout a wonderful sound." ”
(2) Sun and moon eyes (that is, heterochromatic pupils)
Shanyin Zhujie: "His eyes are yellow and white, commonly known as the eyes of the sun and the moon, very thin and small, and his voice is also thin, and the rats smell and avoid." When the dog is seen, it is on its back, and its ears are pierced, and the dog is afraid of it.
(3) Yin and Yang Eyes (ibid.)
"Cat Garden": Gold and silver eyes are also known as yin and yang eyes. Lion cat, the palace of the past forbidden secretary of the family many animals.
▲ Part of "Rich in the Pot"
(4) Nine Tails (Nine Lamas?!) ）
"Cat Garden": San'in Nishiwan people's home, there is a white cat, tail divided into nine branches... People call it a nine-tailed cat.
nowadays
Forehead, Master - -
Finally, a short story is attached:
A man named Qi Xiang raised a cat and named it "Tiger Cat", which means "fierce as a tiger"
Guest A: "The tiger is indeed fierce, but the dragon is more fierce, so why not call it 'Totoro'!" ”
Guest B: "Dragons are fierce, but dragons can't fly without driving clouds, and clouds are definitely more advanced than dragons!" Why not call it 'cloud'? ”
Guest C: "The clouds and fog cover the sky and the sun, but as soon as the wind blows, it blows away, and the cloud is still invincible to the wind. ”
Guest D: "The wind is a fart, when it blows up, we will block it by setting up an earthen wall, 'wall cat'!" ”
Guest E: The wall is hard, but the rats will make holes in it, and have you heard that the of a thousand miles collapsed in the ant nest? This is still the case for small ants, but what about big rats? I think the name 'Rat Cat' is the most appropriate. ”
The old man in Dongli scoffed: Net whole bunch of bells and whistles, what 'wind cat', 'wall cat', cat is cat! ”
- "Ying Harmonic Record"
It seems that cat sucking is also our fine tradition.
"Poor world cat slave heart, but on how difficult it was for the ancients to name cats"
Author | Li Fu's Xingba (Zhihu)
Edit | Ayane Ayane (Chihu), Nemo
Typography | Angelo's Common Sense (Official Account)
Audit | A community of academic science enthusiasts
HOA No. 80