Week 8 Session: Where classification fails

Kind

蛇, the word the record uses

Form

a snake with one head and two bodies; also a quail-like yellow bird with a red bill; also a six-legged, four-winged snake written 肥𧔥

Habitat

渾夕之山 in the north, 英山 and 太華之山 in the west

Omen

見則其國大旱 and 見則天下大旱 — that state goes dry, or the world does

Use

食之已癘，可以殺蟲 — the bird cures pestilence and kills vermin

Records

1. 北山經 · 北山經之首 · 渾夕之山Northern Mountains · first northern section · Mount Hunxi

   有蛇一首兩身，名曰肥遺，見則其國大旱。

   There is a snake with one head and two bodies. It is called 肥遺. Where it appears, that state goes dry.

2. 西山經 · 西山經之首 · 英山Western Mountains · first western section · Mount Ying

   有鳥焉，其狀如鶉，黃身而赤喙，其名曰肥遺，食之已癘，可以殺蟲。

   There is a bird there, shaped like a quail, yellow-bodied with a red bill. It is called 肥遺. Eat it and it cures pestilence, and it can kill 蟲, vermin.

3. 西山經 · 西山經之首 · 太華之山Western Mountains · first western section · Mount Taihua

   有蛇焉，名曰肥𧔥，六足四翼，見則天下大旱。

   There is a snake there. It is called 肥𧔥, and it has six feet and four wings. Where it appears, the world goes dry.

One name over a snake, a bird and a third thing, with contradictory omens and a use belonging to only one of them. 郭璞 notices and writes 疑是同名, a suspicion rather than a ruling. The worst case in the book, and the anchor of week 8.

Quoted from 山海經 (the Classic of Mountains and Seas), 四庫全書本，郭璞注 — the Siku Quanshu text with 郭璞's (Guō Pú) commentary. Interlinear notes removed; the base text is otherwise unaltered.

Kind

the record never says

Form

dragon-headed and like a 貙 in one record; snake-bodied with a human face in the other

Habitat

in the 弱水, west of 狌狌; and the inner west, where it is a thing that was killed

Records

1. 海內南經Within the Seas, South

   窫窳龍首，居弱水中，在狌狌之西，其狀如貙，龍首，食人。

   窫窳 has a dragon's head. It lives in the 弱水, west of 狌狌. It is shaped like a 貙, a lynx-like beast, with a dragon's head, and it eats people.

2. 海內西經Within the Seas, West

   窫窳者，蛇身人面，貳負臣所殺也。

   窫窳 has a snake's body and a human face. It was killed by 貳負's servant.

Two records that cannot both describe one body. A taxonomy has to pick one, and neither record supplies a reason to prefer it.

Quoted from 山海經 (the Classic of Mountains and Seas), 四庫全書本，郭璞注 — the Siku Quanshu text with 郭璞's (Guō Pú) commentary. Interlinear notes removed; the base text is otherwise unaltered.

Kind

龜, the word the record uses

Form

bird-headed, viper-tailed in one record and turtle-tailed in the other; sounds like wood splitting

Habitat

怪水 below 杻陽之山, and 豪水 below 密山

Use

佩之不聾，可以為底 — wear it against deafness, and against calluses

Records

1. 南山經 · 南山經之首 · 杻陽之山Southern Mountains · first southern section · Mount Niuyang

   其中多玄龜，其狀如龜而鳥首虺尾，其名曰旋龜，其音如判木，佩之不聾，可以為底。

   In it there are many 玄龜, shaped like a turtle but with a bird's head and a viper's tail. They are called 旋龜, and their sound is like wood splitting. Wear one and you will not go deaf, and it can be used against 底, calluses.

2. 中山經 · 中次六經 · 密山Central Mountains · sixth central section · Mount Mi

   其中多旋龜，其狀鳥首而鼈尾，其音如判木。

   In it there are many 旋龜, shaped with a bird's head and the tail of a 鼈, a soft-shelled turtle. Their sound is like wood splitting.

Two records, one name, two tails, and only one of them carries a use. Either the species is wrong or the tail is not a character.

Quoted from 山海經 (the Classic of Mountains and Seas), 四庫全書本，郭璞注 — the Siku Quanshu text with 郭璞's (Guō Pú) commentary. Interlinear notes removed; the base text is otherwise unaltered.

Kind

神, the word the record uses

Form

eight heads with human faces; eight feet and eight tails on a blue-yellow back in one record, a tiger's body and ten tails in the other

Habitat

the outer east, and the great wilds of the east

Records

1. 海外東經Beyond the Seas, East

   其為獸也，八首人面，八足八尾，背青黃。

   As a beast it has eight heads with human faces, eight feet and eight tails, and a blue-yellow back.

2. 大荒東經Great Wilds, East

   有神人，八首人面，虎身十尾，名曰天吳。

   There is a god-person with eight heads and human faces, a tiger's body and ten tails. It is called 天吳.

A 獸 in the first record and a 神人 in the second, with the tail count changing between them. Eight heads is the only character that survives both.

Quoted from 山海經 (the Classic of Mountains and Seas), 四庫全書本，郭璞注 — the Siku Quanshu text with 郭璞's (Guō Pú) commentary. Interlinear notes removed; the base text is otherwise unaltered.

Kind

the record never says

Form

like a pig, black, with a head at each end

Habitat

east of 巫咸 in the outer west; and the great wilds of the west, named 屏蓬

Records

1. 海外西經Beyond the Seas, West

   并封在巫咸東，其狀如彘，前後皆有首，黑。

   并封 is east of 巫咸. It is shaped like a pig, with a head at the front and a head at the back, and it is black.

2. 大荒西經Great Wilds, West

   有獸，左右有首，名曰屏蓬。

   There is a beast with a head on the left and a head on the right. It is called 屏蓬.

The second record gives the same symmetry a different name and drops the pig. Two names for one animal, or two animals sharing a trick.

Quoted from 山海經 (the Classic of Mountains and Seas), 四庫全書本，郭璞注 — the Siku Quanshu text with 郭璞's (Guō Pú) commentary. Interlinear notes removed; the base text is otherwise unaltered.

Kind

the record never says

Form

nine heads with human faces, a snake's body, green; it eats from nine lands

Habitat

the outer north; and the great wilds of the north, named 相繇, minister to 共工

Records

1. 海外北經Beyond the Seas, North

   相柳者，九首人面，蛇身而青。

   相柳 has nine heads with human faces. Its body is a snake's, and green.

2. 大荒北經Great Wilds, North

   共工臣名曰相繇，九首蛇身，自環，食于九土。

   共工's minister is called 相繇. It has nine heads on a snake's body, coiled round on itself, and it feeds on the nine lands.

Neither record says what kind of thing it is. The two differ by one character in the name and by everything in the framing.

Quoted from 山海經 (the Classic of Mountains and Seas), 四庫全書本，郭璞注 — the Siku Quanshu text with 郭璞's (Guō Pú) commentary. Interlinear notes removed; the base text is otherwise unaltered.

Kind

獸, the word the record uses

Form

like a wildcat, one eye, three tails, its cry holding a hundred voices

Habitat

翼望之山, on the third western route

Use

可以禦凶，服之已癉 — it wards off ill, and taken as medicine it cures fever

Record

1. 西山經 · 西次三經 · 翼望之山Western Mountains · third western section · Mount Yiwang

   有獸焉，其狀如狸，一目而三尾，名曰讙，其音如奪百聲，是可以禦凶，服之已癉。

   There is a beast there, shaped like a wildcat, with one eye and three tails. It is called 讙, and its cry is like a hundred voices at once. It wards off ill, and taken as medicine it cures 癉, fever.

The same character names two mountains and a country elsewhere in the text, and its own mountain has a namesake in 中次十一經. Four referents, no collision the text notices.

Quoted from 山海經 (the Classic of Mountains and Seas), 四庫全書本，郭璞注 — the Siku Quanshu text with 郭璞's (Guō Pú) commentary. Interlinear notes removed; the base text is otherwise unaltered.