Qiulong or qiu was a Chinese dragon

Chinese dragon

Chinese dragons are legendary creatures in Chinese mythology and folklore, with mythic counterparts among Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Bhutanese, Western and Turkic dragons. In Chinese art, dragons are typically portrayed as long, scaled, serpentine creatures with four legs...

 that is contradictorily defined as "horned dragon" and "hornless dragon".

Name

This Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

 dragon name can be pronounced qiu or jiu and written 虯 or 虬.

Characters

The variant Chinese character

Variant Chinese character

Variant Chinese characters are Chinese characters that are homophones and synonyms. Almost all variants are allographs in most circumstances, such as casual handwriting...

s for the qiu or jiu dragon are 虯 and 虬, which combine the "insect radical

Radical (Chinese character)

A Chinese radical is a component of a Chinese character. The term may variously refer to the original semantic element of a character, or to any semantic element, or, loosely, to any element whatever its origin or purpose...

" 虫 with phonetics of jiu 丩 "connect" and yin 乚 "hidden". This 虫 radical is typically used in Chinese characters for insects, worms, reptiles, and dragons (e.g., shen

Shen (clam-monster)

In Chinese mythology, the shen or chen is a shapeshifting dragon or sea monster believed to create mirages.-Meanings:Chinese classic texts use the word shen to mean "a large shellfish" that was associated with funerals and "an aquatic monster" that could change its shape, which was later...

蜃, jiao

Jiaolong

Jiaolong or jiao is a polysemous aquatic dragon in Chinese mythology. Edward H. Schafer describes the jiao.Spiritually akin to the crocodile, and perhaps originally the same reptile, was a mysterious creature capable of many forms called the chiao . Most often it was regarded as a kind of lung – a...

蛟, and hong

Hong (rainbow-dragon)

Hong or jiang is a two-headed dragon in Chinese mythology, comparable with rainbow serpent legends in diverse cultures and mythologies.-Chinese "rainbow" names:...

虹). Compare the word jiu 糾 or 糺 "twist; entangle; unite" that is written with the "silk radical" 絲 and the same alternate phonetics as qiu 虯 or 虬.

Qiu 虬 or 虯 is also an uncommon Chinese surname

Chinese surname

Chinese family names have been historically used by Han Chinese and Sinicized Chinese ethnic groups in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and among overseas Chinese communities. In ancient times two types of surnames, family names and clan names , existed.The colloquial expressions laobaixing...

. For example, Qiuranke Zhuan 虯髯客傳 "The Legend of the Curly-whiskered Guest" is a story by the Tang Dynasty

Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...

 writer Du Guangting 杜光庭 (850-933 CE), and Qiu Zhong 虬仲 was the Chinese style name

Chinese style name

A Chinese style name, sometimes also known as a courtesy name , is a given name to be used later in life. After 20 years of age, the zì is assigned in place of one's given name as a symbol of adulthood and respect...

 of the Qing Dynasty

Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

 painter Li Fangying

Li Fangying

Li Fangying 李方膺 was a Qing Chinese painter from Jiangsu. He served as a county magistrate for 20 years. As a painter he is best known for painting plant imagery specifically pines, bamboos, plum blossoms and orchids. He was one of the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou.-External links:***...

.

In Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

, the kanji

Kanji

Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...

 "Chinese characters" 虬 or 虯 are sometimes used for the mizuchi

Mizuchi

was a Japanese dragon and water deity.The name mizuchi is written with several Japanese kanji, usually the Chinese characters for jiao 蛟 "4-legged dragon" and qiu 虬 or 虯 "hornless dragon"...

蛟 "river dragon".

Etymologies

Sinological linguists have proposed several etymologies for the qiu or jiu 虯 dragon.

Bernhard Karlgren

Bernhard Karlgren

Klas Bernhard Johannes Karlgren was a Swedish sinologist and linguist who pioneered the study of Chinese historical phonology using modern comparative methods...

 (1957:274) reconstructed Old Chinese

Old Chinese

The earliest known written records of the Chinese language were found at a site near modern Anyang identified as Yin, the last capital of the Shang dynasty, and date from about 1200 BC....

 pronunciations of qiu < *g'yŏg or jiu < *kyŏg for 虯 "horned dragon" and 觓 "horn-shaped; long and curved". This latter word combines the "horn radical" 角 and 虯's jiu 丩 phonetic.

Carr (1990:151-2) follows Karlgren's reconstructions and suggests qiu < *g'yŏg or jiu < *kyŏg 虯 is "part of a 'twist; coil; wrap' word family" that includes:

• qiu < *g'yôg 觩 "long and curved; curled up horn"
• jiu < *klyŏg 樛 "curving branch; twist"
• miu < *mlyŏg or jiu < *klyŏg 繆 "bind; wind around; wrap; twist"
• liu < *glyôg or lu < *glyôk 勠 "join forces; unite"
• jiao < *klôg 膠 "glue; unite"
• liao < *glyôg 摎 "tie around; strangle"

This "twisting; coiling" etymology can explain both the meanings "horned dragon; twisted horns" and "curling; wriggling" below.

Schuessler (2007:435) reconstructs Old Chinese qiu < *giu or jiu < *kiu for 觓 or 觩 "horn-shaped; long and curved" and 虯 "horned dragon", and cites Coblin's (1986:130) comparison of "horned dragon" with Written Tibetan

Tibetan language

The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...

 klu "Nāga

Naga

Naga or NAGA may refer to:* Nāga, a group of serpent deities in Hindu and Buddhist mythology.-People:* Nayan / Nayar/Nair people of Kerala Society* Naga people, a diverse ethnic identity in Northeast India...

, serpent spirit". Schuessler compares jiu < *kiuʔ 糾 "to twist, plait" and concludes the "most likely etymology is 'twisting, wriggling'".

Meanings

Chinese dictionaries give three qiu 虯 or 虬 meanings: "dragon without horns ", "dragon with horns", and "curling; coiling".

Hornless dragon

Several Chinese classic texts and commentaries from the Han Dynasty

Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...

 identified qiu 虯 as a "hornless dragon; dragon without horns", which is interpreted as "young dragon; immature dragon".

The (2nd century BCE) Chuci uses qiu 虬 seven times, which is more frequently than any other classical text. The standard Sibu Beiyao 四部備要 edition gives the character as 虬 instead of 虯. Qiu is a dragon name in four contexts. The first uses yuqiu 玉虬 "jade hornless-dragon"; (離騷, tr. Hawkes 1985:73) "I yoked a team of jade dragons to a phoenix-figured car, And waited for the wind to come, to soar up on my journey." The second uses qiulong 虬龍 "hornless dragon"; (天問, tr. Hawkes 1985:128) "Where are the hornless dragons which carry bears on their backs for sport?" In both contexts, commentary of Wang Yi 王逸 (d. 158 CE) says qiu means "hornless dragon" and long means "horned dragon". The third uses qingqiu 青虬 "green dragon" referring to the legendary Shun as Chong Hua 重華; (涉江, tr. Hawkes 1985:160) "With a team of azure dragons, white serpents in the traces, I rode with Chong Hua in the Garden of Jasper." Wang notes qiu and chi are types of long "dragons". The fourth uses qiu 虬 alone; (通路, tr. Hawkes 1985:271) "With team of dragons I mount the heavens, In ivory chariot borne aloft."

The (121 CE) Shuowen Jiezi

Shuowen Jiezi

The Shuōwén Jiězì was an early 2nd century CE Chinese dictionary from the Han Dynasty. Although not the first comprehensive Chinese character dictionary , it was still the first to analyze the structure of the characters and to give the rationale behind them , as well as the first to use the...

dictionary gives inconsistent definitions of qiu 虯. Some early editions define 龍無角者 "a dragon without horns", while later editions define 龍子有角者 "a young dragon with horns". Carr (1990:93-4) notes the discrepancy of three Shuowen definitions for "hornless dragon": qiu 虯, jiao 蛟, and chi 螭. The Shuowen Jiezi scholar Zhu Junsheng 朱駿聲 (1788-1834 CE) explains that male long 龍 "dragons" have horns and female ones do not, and among young dragons, jiao 蛟 has one horn, qiu 虯 has two, and chi 螭 is hornless.

A few later sources, such as the (ca. 1011 CE) Guangyun

Guangyun

The Guangyun is a Chinese rime dictionary that was compiled from 1007 to 1008 under the auspices of Emperor Zhenzong of Song. Chen Pengnian and Qiu Yong were the chief editors....

rime dictionary

Rime dictionary

thumb|upright=1.0|A page from Shiyun Hebi , a rime dictionary of the [[Qing Dynasty]]A rime dictionary, rhyme dictionary, or rime book is an ancient type of Chinese dictionary used for writing poetry or other genres requiring rhymes. A rime dictionary focuses on pronunciation and collates...

, concur with early Shuowen Jiezi editions and define qiu 虯 as "hornless dragon", but most dictionaries define a contrast set between qiu 虯 "horned dragon" and chi 螭 "hornless dragon".

Horned dragon

The (ca. 139 BCE) Huainanzi

Huainanzi

The Huáinánzǐ is a 2nd century BCE Chinese philosophical classic from the Han dynasty that blends Daoist, Confucianist, and Legalist concepts, including theories such as Yin-Yang and the Five Phases. It was written under the patronage of Liu An, Prince of Huainan, a legendarily prodigious author...

"Peering into the Obscure" chapter (6) mentions qingqiu 青虯 "green horned-dragon" twice. First, "The Fable of the Dragons and the Mud-Eels" uses it with chichi 赤螭 "red hornless-dragon"; (tr. Le Blanc 1987:144) "When the red hornless dragon and the green horned dragon roamed the land of Chi 冀, the sky was limpid and the earth undisturbed." The commentary of Gao Yu 高淯 (fl.

Floruit

Floruit , abbreviated fl. , is a Latin verb meaning "flourished", denoting the period of time during which something was active...

 205 CE) notes qingqiu and chichi are types of long 龍 "dragons", but without mentioning horns. Second, a description of Fu Xi and Nüwa

Nüwa

Nüwa is a goddess in ancient Chinese mythology best known for creating mankind and repairing the wall of heaven.-Primary sources:...

, who are represented as having dragon tails, uses qingqiu with yinglong

Yinglong

Yinglong is a winged dragon and rain deity in ancient Chinese mythology.-Name:This legendary creature's name yinglong combines 4th-tone yìng 應 "respond; correspond; answer; reply; agree; comply; consent; promise; adapt; apply" and lóng 龍 "Chinese dragon"...

應龍 "winged dragon"; (tr. Le Blanc 1987:161-2) "They rode the thunder chariot, using winged dragons as the inner pair and green dragons as the outer pair."

The (ca. 100 BCE) Shiji "Records of the Grand Historian

Records of the Grand Historian

The Records of the Grand Historian, also known in English by the Chinese name Shiji , written from 109 BC to 91 BC, was the Magnum opus of Sima Qian, in which he recounted Chinese history from the time of the Yellow Emperor until his own time...

" biography of Sima Xiangru

Sima Xiangru

Sima Xiangru, also known as Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju was a Chinese writer. He was a minor official of the Western Han Dynasty, but was better known for his poetic skills, jiu business, and controversial marriage to the widow Zhuo Wenjun after both eloped...

 quotes his fu

Fu (poetry)

Fu is a kind of rhymed prose, or poetry style essay, popular in ancient China, especially during the Han Dynasty. The term fu is often used in a multiway contrast with the more purely poetic shi style, with the fixed-rhythm forms of poetry , and with various more explicitly prosaic forms of...

賦 poem entitled Zixu 子虛 "Sir Fantasy". Like the Huaiananzi, it contrasts qingqiu 青虯 "green horned-dragon" with chichi 赤螭 "red hornless-dragon", which Watson (1993:2:309, 312) translates "horned dragon" and "hornless dragon".

Ge Hong

Ge Hong

Ge Hong , courtesy name Zhichuan , was a minor southern official during the Jìn Dynasty of China, best known for his interest in Daoism, alchemy, and techniques of longevity...

's (4th century CE) Baopuzi 抱朴子 (外篇, tr. Visser 1913:73-4) has four references. It mentions: jiu 虬 "As to the flying to the sky of the k'iu of the pools, this is his union with the clouds", shenjiu 神虬 "divine horned-dragon" "If a pond inhabited by fishes and gavials is drained off, the divine k'iu go away", and qingjiu 青虬 "green horned-dragon" "The ts'ui k'iu (kingfisher-k'iu) has no wings and yet flies upwards to the sky", "Place the shape (i.e. an image of this dragon) in a tray, and the kingfisher-k'iu (shall) descend in a dark vapoury haze".

The (ca. 230 CE) Guangya

Guangya

The Guangya was an early 3rd century CE Chinese dictionary, edited by Zhang Yi during the Three Kingdoms period. It was later called the Boya owing to naming taboo on Yang Guang , which was the birth name of Emperor Yang of Sui.Zhang Yi wrote the Guangya as a supplement to the centuries older...

dictionary defines qiu 虯 (written with a rare 黽 "frog"-radical graphic variant) as "horned dragon" and chi 螭 as "hornless dragon". This semantic contrast is repeated in later dictionaries such as the (997 CE) Longkan Shoujian

Longkan Shoujian

Longkan Shoujian is a Chinese dictionary compiled during the Liao Dynasty by the monk Xingjun . Completed in 997, the work had originally been entitled Longkan Shoujing , but had its title changed owing to naming taboo when it was later printed by the Song publishers...

and the (ca. 1080 CE) Piya

Piya

The Piya was a Chinese dictionary compiled by Song Dynasty scholar Lu Dian . He wrote this Erya supplement along with his Erya Xinyi commentary...

, which says (tr. Visser 1913:73) differentiates: "If a dragon has scales, he is called kiao-lung (蛟龍); if wings, ying-lung (應龍); if a horn, k'iu-lung (虬龍); and if he has no horn, he is called ch'i-lung (螭龍)."

In traditional Chinese art

Chinese art

Chinese art is visual art that, whether ancient or modern, originated in or is practiced in China or by Chinese artists or performers. Early so-called "stone age art" dates back to 10,000 BC, mostly consisting of simple pottery and sculptures. This early period was followed by a series of art...

, dragons are commonly represented with two horns. According to the (2nd century CE) Qian fu lun

Qian fu lun

Qian fu lun is a political-metaphysical text by the Later Han philosopher Wang Fu. It contains criticisms of contemporary societies, especially the power of consort clans and the growing regionalism. Wang Fu strongly supports the Confucian model of good government and humanism.-Further reading:*...

(tr. Visser 1913:70), the dragon's "horns resemble those of a stag". The (1578 CE) Bencao Gangmu materia medica

Materia medica

Materia medica is a Latin medical term for the body of collected knowledge about the therapeutic properties of any substance used for healing . The term 'materia medica' derived from the title of a work by the Ancient Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides in the 1st century AD, De materia medica libre...

 prescribes longjue 龍角 "dragon horn" (tr. Read 1934:9, "fossilized horns of the Chalicotherium

Chalicotherium

Chalicotherium is a genus of extinct browsing odd-toed ungulates of the order Perissodactyla and family Chalicotheriidae, found in Europe, Africa, and Asia during the Late Oligocene to Lower Pliocene, living from 16—7.75 mya, existing for approximately .This animal...

 sinense"), "For convulsions, fevers, diarrhea with fever and hardened belly. Taken continuously it lightens the body, enlightens the soul and prolongs life."

Curling

Qiu can mean "curling; twisting; coiling; wriggling; writhing" in Chinese compounds

Compound (linguistics)

In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word formation that creates compound lexemes...

. For instance:

• qiupan 虬蟠 "curled up like a dragon; curling and twisting (esp. tree roots)"
• jiaoqiu 蛟虬 "coil like a dragon"
• qiuxu 虬鬚 "curly beard; curly mustache"
• qiuran 虯髯 "curly whiskers"

Besides the four "hornless dragon" examples above, three Chuci contexts use qiu in words describing dragons "coiling; wriggling; writhing". Two use youqiu 蚴虬 to describe the canglong 蒼龍 Azure Dragon constellation; (惜誓, cf. qingqiu 青虯 "green horned-dragon" above, tr. Hawkes 1985:240) "I rode in the ivory chariot of the Great Unity: The coiling Green Dragon ran in the left-hand traces; The White Tiger made the right hand of my team", (遠逝, tr. Hawkes 1985:290) "To hang at my girdle the coiling Green Dragon, To wear at my belt the sinuous rainbow serpent." One uses liuqiu 蟉虬 with chi 螭 "hornless dragon"; (遠遊, tr. Hawkes 1985:198) "They lined water monsters up to join them in the dance: How their bodies coiled and writhed in undulating motion!"

Mythic parallels

The ancient Chinese jiu 虯 "horned dragon" is analogous with the Mountain Horned Dragon lizard and several legendary creatures in Comparative mythology

Comparative mythology

Comparative mythology is the comparison of myths from different cultures in an attempt to identify shared themes and characteristics. Comparative mythology has served a variety of academic purposes...

.

Assuming trans-cultural diffusion, MacKenzie (1923:54) suggests that the Chinese "horned-dragon, or horned-serpent" derives from the Egyptian Osiris

Osiris

Osiris is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and...

 "water-serpent". The Chinese Hui people

Hui people

The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...

 have a myth (Li and Luckert 1994:104) about a silver-horned dragon that controls rainfall.

In Babylonian mythology, the deity Marduk

Marduk

Marduk was the Babylonian name of a late-generation god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon, who, when Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of Hammurabi , started to...

 supposedly rode a horned dragon when he defeated Tiamat

Tiamat

In Babylonian mythology, Tiamat is a chaos monster, a primordial goddess of the ocean, mating with Abzû to produce younger gods. It is suggested that there are two parts to the Tiamat mythos, the first in which Tiamat is 'creatrix', through a "Sacred marriage" between salt and fresh water,...

, and it became his emblem. In Persian mythology

Persian mythology

Persian mythology are traditional tales and stories of ancient origin, some involving extraordinary or supernatural beings. Drawn from the legendary past of the Iranian cultural continent which especially consists of the state of Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Central Asia, they reflect the...

, the hero Garshasp

Garshasp

Garshāsp is the name of a monster-slaying hero in Iranian mythology. The Avestan form of his name is Kərəsāspa and in Middle Persian his name is Kirsāsp.-Kərəsāspa / Kirsāsp in Zoroastrian literature:...

 killed an Aži Sruvara "horned dragon". In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, the two-headed Amphisbaena

Amphisbaena

Amphisbaena , amphisbaina, amphisbene, amphisboena, amphisbona, amphista, amphivena, or anphivena , a Greek word, from amphis, meaning "both ways", and bainein, meaning "to go", also called the Mother of Ants, is a mythological, ant-eating serpent with a head at each end...

 dragon was represented with horns.

External links

• 虯 entry, Chinese Etymology
• 虯 and 虬 entry page, 1716 CE Kangxi Dictionary
  Kangxi dictionary
  The Kangxi Dictionary was the standard Chinese dictionary during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Kangxi Emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty ordered its compilation in 1710. The creator innovated greatly by reusing and confirming the new Zihui system of 596 radicals, since then known as 596 Kangxi...