Figurative meanings of animal words in English and Chinese culture
1 Same animal association vehicles and similar figurative meanings
As all human beings live in the similar environment, the Chinese people and English people nearly have the same knowledge of animals. Therefore, they have the same or similar figurative meanings to animal words. For example,
English people would say, “He is a fox.” Similarly, Chinese people can understand the meaning of the sentence “He is a fox.” in Chinese “他是一只狐貍。” This example shows that in English “fox” can be used to describe somebody who is cunning and dishonest. This example indicates that different languages and cultures endow “fox’’ the same figurative meanings.
“Sheep(羊) or lamb(羔羊)” can be considered as a kind of animal with a sweet and tame temper. As a result, the “sheep(羊) or lamb(羔羊)” is used to show the character with a sweet and tame temper both in English and Chinese, for example: “as lovely as a little sheep (像小羊羔一樣可愛)”.
Wolf(狼) is a kind of greedy, savage and cruel beast, so in Chinese there exist such expressions:
“狼心狗肺”,
“豺狼當(dāng)?shù)?#8221;,
“如狼似虎”,
“狼吞虎咽”,
“狼狽為奸”,
“狼子野心”.
Similarly, the greedy, sinister險(xiǎn)惡的, dishonest character of wolf also displays vividly and incisively in western culture, e.g.:
“a wolf in a sheep’s clothing or a wolf in lamb’s skin (披著羊皮的狼)”;
“wake a sleeping wolf (自找麻煩)”;
“hold a wolf by the ears (騎虎難下，進(jìn)退兩難)”;
“keep the wolf from the door (勉強(qiáng)度日)”.
“Ass(驢)” in English and Chinese has the same connotation and figurative meaning “foolish, stupid”. In Chinese the expression “笨驢” is used to indicate a fool or an idiot. In English, most of the set phrases, idioms and proverbs including the word “ass’’ all imply the meaning of “foolish”, e.g.
“ass in grain (十足的大傻瓜)”;
“an ass in a lion’s skin (from Aesop’s Fables, 冒充聰明人的傻瓜)”;
“all asses wag搖動(dòng) their ears (諺語：驢子搖耳朵，傻瓜裝聰明)”;
“asses’ bridge (笨人難過的橋)”;
“act the ass (做糊涂事)”;
“make an ass of oneself (做蠢事)”;
“sell you ass (口語：不要這樣呆頭呆腦)”.
“dove” in Chinese and English shares the same meaning, and symbolizes for peace. We regard the dove as “peace dove”. In some grand celebrations, we often see the scene of taking the doves away, standing for cherished desire for peace world of all of us.
The following are some other familiar examples:
as free as a bird (像鳥兒一樣自由);
as ugly as a toad (像癩蛤蟆一樣丑);
as busy as a bee (像蜜蜂一樣忙碌);
as slow as a nail (像蝸牛一樣慢).
This kind of terms with same or similar figurative meanings show that in different cultures there does exist something in common, which reflects the commonness of different national cultures.
英漢語中對豬的形象和喻義也基本一致，豬給人的印象是臟而丑陋，令人討厭，其喻義是集“懶”、“饞”、“貪”和“笨”于一身。漢語中
“豬玀”、
“豬頭阿三”、
“肥得像頭豬”、
“懶得像頭豬”等粗俗的臟話都是以豬為形象的，
在英語中，a pig意為a greedy, dirty or bad-mannered person(貪婪，骯臟或舉止粗魯之人)，因此常用以喻指貪婪，懶惰，骯臟的人。英語中有不少含有pig的習(xí)語短語，幾乎都含有明顯的貶義，如eat like a pig（喧鬧而貪婪地大吃大喝），
make a pig of oneself （大吃大喝，狼吞虎咽），
pigs in clover（行為卑鄙或粗魯?shù)挠绣X人），
buy a pig in a poke （未經(jīng)過目而買下的上當(dāng)之貨）。
2． Same animal association vehicles and different figurative meanings
Different living conditions have caused varied states of mind and ways of thinking, so Chinese and English people have different ideas and attitudes to some animals such as dragon, dogs, etc. And their figurative meanings in both languages and cultures differ greatly.
2.1 Some animal words with commendatory figurative meaning in Chinese, but with derogatory figurative meaning in English
“dragon (龍)” is completely opposite in Chinese and English. “Dragon (龍)”is not a real animal but an imaginary one. In China, dragon is the symbol of the Chinese nation, especially in the ancient time, people worshiped dragon to beg for rain. And the Chinese feudal emperors were often referred to as sons of dragons (龍子), wearing clothes with designs of dragons (龍袍). And also the Chinese all call themselves descendents of the dragon（龍的傳人）and are very proud of being the descendents of the dragon. However, in Western people’s minds, the dragon is some evil monster with a large tail with wings and claws, breathing out fire and smoke. It symbolizes evil.
“Monkey (猴子)” has different figurative meaning in Chinese and English languages. In Chinese, “monkey” is often likened to a smart and agile person, with commendatory sense. The Chinese people often jokingly call clever and cute children “little monkey”. But, if you praise a western child “You are like a little monkey.”, he will be angry, thinking that you curse him. Because in English, “little monkey,” means “a troublesome playful child”. And “monkey” is often likened to a person with a whole bag of tricks, e.g. “The man is as tricky as a monkey. (那人詭計(jì)多端，極為狡猾。)” Therefore, in English, expressions with “monkey” have derogatory meanings, e.g.
“monkey business (搗鬼，騙人的勾當(dāng))”; “monkey around (閑蕩，瞎弄)”;
“monkey meat (美俚：劣等牛肉)”;
“suck the monkey (英俚：酗酒)”.
“petrel (海燕)”. In English the petrel is considered as an omen of disaster. The Longman Dictionary of English-Chinese offers us the explanations: “A stormy petrel is a person whose presence excites discontentment, quarrelling, etc. in a social group.” The reason for such a dislike is that they think petrel is the symbol for disaster. However, in China the word “petrel” is associated with braving hardship and adversity, advancing with perseverance and courage. The spirit is well reflected in the poem petrel written by Gorky, a famous Russian writer.
magpie (喜鵲)， To English people, if a magpie (喜鵲) flies near a window, it is a symbol of bad luck. There are two explanations in The Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary: (a) person who collects or hoards things (愛收藏或貯藏東西的人), (b) person who chatters a lot (愛饒舌的人). All these explanations are figurative with derogatory meanings. On the contrary, a magpie is a symbol of good luck in China. If a magpie sings in a tree near houses, people would think some happy things would happen. So Chinese people often say, “Magpie sings, happy thing comes.”
“fish”， “fish” and “魚” has quite different cultural figurative meanings in English and Chinese. In English “fish” has derogatory meaning that refers to bad things and persons, e.g.:
“a poor fish (可憐蟲)”;
“a loose fish (生活放蕩的女人)”;
“fish in the air (水中撈月)”.
In Chinese the letter “魚” and “余” are homophones. Therefore, in the important festivals such as Spring Festival, Chinese people would like to use “fish” as an indispensable dish to symbolize “abundance”.
“elephant (象)”， In China, “elephant (象)” is a mascot（吉祥的東西）. Many places in China are named for the letter “象” such as
“象山” in Zhejiang province,
“象州”, “象鼻山” in Guangxi province,
“象河” in Tibet, etc.
“Elephant” also symbolizes status. For example, in remote antiquity古代, the noble ladies wore clothes with designs of elephants (象服); The emperors rode on elephants. The “elephant” is doted溺愛 by Chinese people because of the Buddhist legends. It is said that the Buddhist patriarch was the reincarnation化身 of white elephant. On the contrary, in English white elephant (白象) is likened to things that are useless and often expensive. The allusion is originated from a folk story that in Siam (now Thailand), the king would give a white elephant as a present to a subject that he did not like. The subject would have to spend all his money on looking after the rare animal. Therefore, there exist such expressions in English,
“elephantine (笨拙)”,
“elephant humor (蹩腳的幽默)”,
“elephant task (累贅的活兒)”.
2.2 Some animal words with commendatory figurative meaning in English, but with derogatory figurative meaning in Chinese
“dog”. The dog is very interesting and closely related with people. Most of the “dog” expressions possess a commendatory sense or at least a neutral sense in English. It is all right to refer to certain people as
“big dog (重要人物)”,
“top dog (優(yōu)勝者)”,
“lucky dog (幸運(yùn)兒)”, etc.
in English. “To help a lame dog over the stile階梯” means “to help someone in difficulty”.
“To let sleeping dogs lie” means “to make no trouble” or “not to disturb people”.
“Every dog has its day,” means “every person will some day succeed or become fortunate.”
Such usage does not contain derogatory meaning. But figures of speech like these are not proper in Chinese as the word “狗” in most Chinese phrases is associated with some derogatory meanings, as is reflected in sayings like
“狗膽包天、
狗急跳墻、
狗頭軍師、
狗腿子、
狗血噴頭、
狼心狗肺、
狗眼看人低、
喪家之犬、
狗嘴吐不出象牙”, etc.,
even though most Chinese now think the dog is man’s faithful friend.
However, in some cases the word “dog” may have derogatory sense in English, as is shown in the following examples:
“yellow dog (卑鄙之人)”,
“dirty dog (齷齪之人)”,
“sly dog (陰險(xiǎn)之人)”,
“dead dog (無用的人)”,
and some vulgar languages:
“son of bitch (狗雜種)”,
“you dog (狗東西)”,
“that cur (小雜種狗)”, etc.
“Owl (貓頭鷹)” is very popular with the western. The Greeks use “owl” to stand for Athens雅典, which is famous for its many owls. And it’s said that Athena, the woman patron saint was given an owl as her mark. It symbolizes wisdom, calmness, gravity and steadiness. In dispute among birds and beats, it is the owl that they go to for advice, and we can see such idiom
“as wise as an owl”.
If we use “owlish” to describe somebody, we want to say he is clever or serious, e.g. “Patrick peered owlishly at us through his glasses. (帕特里克透過他的眼鏡嚴(yán)肅而機(jī)智地審視著我們。) ” But in Chinese, the figurative meaning of the word “owl” is quite different. “Owl” is described as the devil, ill omen征兆 and evil. People are afraid of seeing an owl, especially seeing its entering the house, so there are proverbs which go like these:
“夜貓子進(jìn)宅，無事不來”;
“夜貓子抖擻翅，大小有點(diǎn)事兒”.
The mere sight of an owl or the sound of its hooting might cause people to draw back in fear.
“bear”. To Chinese people “bear” means “cowardly and timid” or “stupid”, such as “笨熊”, “瞧那熊樣”, etc. However, in English, people use “bear” to refer to those persons having special ability, for instance, “He is a bear at music. (他是音樂天才。)”
3 Different animal association vehicles and similar figurative meanings
Different animal words have similar cultural connotations in English and Chinese languages and people use different animal words to express similar meanings. Even though the animal association vehicles are different, they have similar figurative meanings.
For instance, agriculture is the foundation of China’s economic development, so the cattle (牛) play a great role in Chinese culture. There are so many expressions which use “cattle” as association vehicles, such as
“壯實(shí)如牛”,
“牛氣沖天”,
“象老黃牛一樣辛勤工作”,
“過著牛馬不如的生活”.
However, in the Middle Ages, horse was not only the inseparable part of Knights’ lives, but also the animal kept and used by the imperial families. So English people give horse many good figurative meanings such as
“as strong as a horse”,
“to work like a horse”,
In English, there are many figurative expressions using the word “horse” as association vehicles, e.g.
“change horse (換馬)” is likened to “change groups or leaders (換班子或領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人)”;
“from the horse’s mouth (第一手的)”;
“talk horse (吹牛)”, etc.
Similarly, Great Britain is an island country, so fishery is important. Therefore, there exists such figurative expression
“to drink like a fish (牛飲)”.
To Chinese people, “tiger” is referred to as the king of animals and stands for power, vigor and bravery. So there are many expressions with the letter “虎”:
“英雄虎膽”,
“龍爭虎斗”,
“藏龍臥虎”,
“如虎添翼”,
“虎將”, etc.
But in English “tiger” symbolizes cruelty. The western regards “lion” as the king of animals. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language interprets “a person felt to be like a lion especially in courage, ferocity, dignity or dominance (一個(gè)象是獅子的人，特別指勇氣、兇猛、威嚴(yán)或權(quán)勢方面)”. We use “as bold as a lion” to describe a brave person. The lion enjoys high prestige. In addition, English people regard lion as the national emblem of Great Britain. “A literary lion” is referred to a famous person in the field of literature.
“Snake” and “中山狼” share the same figurative meaning in English and Chinese, which are both likened to a person who returns hate for love. The only difference is that Chinese language uses “中山狼” as association vehicle, but English language uses “snake” as association vehicle.
For generation the fable of “中山狼” has circulated among the people. The story is that: Zhao Jianzi shot at a wolf in the wood. The wolf escaped and asked master Dongguo for help. Mr. Dongguo was softhearted and hid the wounded wolf in his bag to keep it from being caught by Zhao Jianzi. But the wolf wanted to eat him. So the figurative meaning “恩將仇報(bào)” of “中山狼” is created.
“Snake” is referred to a person requiting kindness with enmity敵意, which is originated from Aesop’s Fables, that is, a snake was frozen stiff at the verge of death. A pedestrian saw it and warmed it in his bosom. After a while, the snake came round and bit its benefactor to death. So it causes the figurative meaning.
Different animal association vehicles with similar figurative meanings can be also seen from such expressions:
“as timid as a rabbit, chicken-hearted or pigeon-hearted (膽小如鼠)”;
“like a cat on hot bricks (熱鍋上的螞蟻)”;
“as stubborn as a mule (犟得像頭牛)”;
“wet as a drowned rat (落湯雞)”;
“goose flesh (雞皮疙瘩)”; etc.
Other associations:
add fuel to the flames 火上澆油
a thunder of applause 雷鳴般的掌聲
burn one’s boat (破釜沉舟) 。
Burn one’s boat 出自古羅馬愷撒大帝帶兵乘船出擊外敵,有意燒毀船只以斷絕其士兵退路,強(qiáng)迫他們下戰(zhàn)死的決心。
而“破釜沉舟”說的是楚霸王項(xiàng)羽“引兵渡河,皆沉船,破斧甑,燒廬舍,持三日糧,以兵士卒必死,無一還心”(《史記·項(xiàng)羽本紀(jì)》) 。
有的是喻體相同、喻義不同,如:
pull one’s leg 不等于“拖后腿”,英語中的pull one’s leg 是“開某人玩笑”(to make a fool of sb /to make fun of sb. ) 的意思,而漢語的“拖后腿”意為“成為別人或事物前進(jìn)的障礙”;
有的是喻義相同、喻體稍有差異,如:
a rat in a bowl (甕中之鱉) 和kill two birds with one stone (一箭雙雕) ;
還有的則是喻義相同、喻體完全不同,如:
cry up wine and sell vinegar (掛羊頭,賣狗肉) ,
fish in the air (水中撈月) 等等。
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