杜鹃的前世今生

Cognitive History About Cuckoo and Azalea in China

在中国,杜鹃作为鸟类和花卉的一个通用名称,可谓非常独特的现象。众多的史籍记载表明,杜鹃原本为一种在中国几乎全境分布的鸟类名称,这种鸟的啼叫因其时令和特点,很早被当作农事安排的物候,故又称"布谷鸟"。杜鹃名称来源于古代巴蜀的一个传说。从唐代开始,中国南方广布的一种美丽花卉,因花期与杜鹃鸣叫的时期接近也被叫作杜鹃或杜鹃花,并被作为观赏植物大范围栽培。近代西方生物学传入后,杜鹃的内涵进一步扩大,被用来泛称杜鹃属的各种花。考察历史上这种动植物名称的流变,不仅有趣,更有助于解析中国传统博物学的一些特点。

It is peculiar and interesting that the Chinese name of cuckoo(Dujuan in pinyin) is used both for bird and flower(Azalea). Many historical records showed cuckoo was a general name of bird species which are distributed almost in the whole China. Their cry, for the temporal and acoustic characteristics,was used as a sign of phenology in agricultural activities reminding people of farming activities in ancient China, thus they were also called farming birds. The name of cuckoo in China came from a legend among ancient Sichuan people. Since the Tang Dynasty, the beautiful flower azalea which is grown widely in southern China was called "cuckoo" or "cuckoo flower" because its florescence coincides with the time of the cuckoo’s crying, and was gradually cultivated as ornamental plants in gardens. Since the introduction of the modern biology from the west, the connotation of Chinese name of cuckoo was further expanded,becoming a general name of Rhododendron species. Study of the change of names of animals and plants in history, is not only very interesting, but can also help us to explain some peculiarities in traditional natural history of China.