Cultural Explanation Of 龙(Dragon)蛇(Snake)龟(Tortoise)黾(Frog)

As the important totem in ancient China,龍(Dragon)蛇(Snake)龜(Tortoise)黽(Frog) can be find in many literature and folk-custom events. They began to appear in kernel words which means the four animals had something to do with ancient people's life in Shang Dynasty, so they have significant cultural meanings.Through they are important totem in ancient China, they are different. Unlike蛇龜黽,""(龍) can be found in kernel words, but the real animal it stands for does not exist. Therefore, we can regard龍as spiritual animal while the other three are real animals.Spiritual"龍"represents Chinese national spirit. In this article, the author discuss the word structure of"龍"and the meaning of the words combined with the morpheme"龍". Through the analysis of the meaning of"龍", we can get the picture the cultural meaning of"龍"develops."蛇"is an aggressive animal that always does harm to human beings, so the ancient people adore it while feel scared. The features make the meaning of"蛇"develop in two different ways--- it stands for holy things as well as evil-minded things."龜"is an auspicial tool used in ancient China. The ancient people adore"龜"which is the unique cultural phenomena."龜"means honour, auspicious sign and longevity, and later it also means wealth and power."黽"is a kind of animal with strong procreation ability. In ancient times, the environment is abominable, so strong procreation ability is the guarantee for survival. The ancient people adore the procreation ability of"黽", so it carries the sex meaning in Chinese culture.When the morphemes龍蛇龜黽 combine with other morphemes, they will own logical meaning as well as color meaning. Through the research on these words, we can find the cultural meanings they stand for. The meaning of"龍"develops in masculine way;"蛇"develops in feminine way; The character"龜"looks almost the same with"黽", so it is hard to distinguish them. When the specific words like蛙and蟾(all are kind of frog)appear, we can find their different cultural role through the analysis of these words.Character, word and language can reflect people's thinking. In different cultures, the same object will have different cultural meanings. The cultural meanings龍蛇龜黽 stand for are the reflection of the thinking way. The compatibility"龍"stands for, being the effeminate apparently and aggressive indeed"蛇"stands for and being dormant"龜""黽"stands for can be found in Chinese traditional thinking.In this article, the author tries to find out their relations and differences through the analysis of their cultural meanings to get the effect they do on traditional thinking. In this way, we may have a better understanding of the cultural meanings the four words stand for.