Chi (mythology)

In Modern Standard Chinese usage, chi 螭 "hornless dragon" occurs in words such as:

Note that the following discussion of the word chi 螭's written forms and etymological origins requires using some jargon linguistics and sinology. See also 9 sons of the dragon.

The Chinese character for chi "hornless dragon" combines the "bug radical" (typically signifying words for insect, reptiles, and dragons, e.g., shen 蜃) with a phonetic of chi or li "mountain demon; leave". This phonetic element 离 is pronounced either chi when used for chi 螭 "demon; dragon" or li when used for li ("with the "bird radical" 隹) "leave; part from; ☲ The Clinging bagua". The (ca. 3rd century BCE) Seal script character for 螭, which is the earliest known writing, has the same radical-phonetic combination.

This chi 螭 "hornless dragon" is also a variant Chinese character for chi (differentiated with the "ghost radical" ) "mountain demon", which only occurs in the compound chimei "mountain and forest demons; evil spirits; goblins". Chimei 魑魅 is sometimes written 螭魅 or 螭鬽 with chi 螭. Note the "ghost radical" in the mei characters 魅 (with a phonetic of wei ) and (with the "hair radical" representing the demon's hair, cf. chi 螭's variant ).

The (121 CE) Shuowen Jiezi, which was the first Chinese dictionary of characters, gives chi 离, 螭, and 魑 definitions (tr. Carr 1990:137, cf. Visser 1913:101).

This dilou 地螻 "earth cricket" compares with the tulou 土螻 "earth cricket," which the Shanhaijing (2, tr. Birrell 2000:23) mentions on 昆侖邱 ("Kunlun Mound"), "There is an animal here [Mound of Offspringline] which looks like a ram, but has four horns. Its name is the earth-cricket. It devours humans."

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