中国神话中蛇变龙的阐释

An Interpretation of the Transformation of Snake into Dragon in Chinese Mythology

蛇与龙有着密切的关系,蛇是世界各地普遍崇拜的一种动物,而龙是由人类想象出的动物。文章在分析世界各地关于龙的形象及其来源的各种学说后,指出龙的原型即蛇。运用结构主义分析法推导出蛇变龙的中间项—人首蛇身,解释蛇变龙的4个阶段,即自然蛇、蛇神崇拜、人首蛇身、龙。当龙成为一个新的概念之后,又会用这种新的概念来解释客观世界,这就导致龙的形象经常与其他动物甚至是自然界的景象产生混淆。

There is a close relationship between the snake and the dragon.The snake is a kind of animal worshipped all over the world,and the dragon is an animal imagined by human beings.After analyzing various theories about the image and origin of the dragon around the world,it is pointed out that the prototype of the dragon is the snake.By using structuralism,this paper deduces the middle term of snake changing into dragon-human head and snake body,and explains the four stages of snake changing into dragon,that is,natural snake,snake god worship,human head and snake body,and dragon.When the dragon becomes a new concept,it will use this new concept to explain the objective world,which leads to the confusion between the image of the dragon and other animals or even the natural scene.