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Peng (mythology)
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Peng (mythology)
A Peng (Chinese: 鵬; pinyin: péng) or Dapeng (大鵬; dàpéng) is a giant bird that transforms from a Kun (鯤; kūn), a giant fish, in Chinese mythology.
The Chinese logograms for peng and kun exemplify common radical-phonetic characters. Peng (鵬) combines the "bird radical" (鳥) with a peng (朋; 'friend') phonetic, and kun (鲲; 鯤) combines the "fish radical" (魚) with a kun (昆; 'progeny', 'insect') phonetic.
Both the mythic Chinese Peng and Kun names involve word play. Peng (鵬) was anciently a variant Chinese character for feng (鳳) in fenghuang (鳳凰; "Chinese phoenix"), as in the ca. 100 CE Shuowen Jiezi; Kun (鯤) originally meant "fish roe; fry; spawn" (ca. 200 BCE Erya).
Synonyms of Peng include Dapeng (大鵬; "Big Peng", "Great Peng") and Dapengniao (大鵬鳥; "Great Peng Bird"). Dapeng is also a place name for a few places in greater China, most notably in Shenzhen and Taiwan.
After recent fossil discoveries in northeast China, Chinese paleontologists used Peng to name the enantiornithine bird Pengornis and the wukongopterid pterosaur Kunpengopterus.
Linguist Wang Li relates 鵬, OC:*bɯːŋ (ZS) "peng, fabulous great bird" to element 鳳, OC:*bums (ZS), mod. fèng in 鳳凰, OC:*bums ɡʷaːŋ, mod. fènghuáng; 鳳 is also related to *plum, OC:*風, mod. fēng "wind".
In Chinese literature, the Daoist classic Zhuangzi has the oldest record of the Kun Peng myth. The first chapter (逍遙遊; xiāoyáoyóu; "Free and Easy Wandering") begins with three versions of this parable; the lead paragraph, a quote from the Qixie (齊諧; "Universal Harmony", probably invented by Zhuangzi), and a quote from the Tang zhi wen Ji (湯之問棘; "Questions of Tang to Ji", cf. Liezi chapter 5, 湯問; Tang wen). The first account contrasts the giant Peng bird with a small tiao (蜩; "cicada") and jiu (鳩; "pigeon; turtledove") and the third with a yan (鴳 or 鷃; "quail"). The Peng fish-bird transformation is not only the beginning myth in Zhuangzi, but Robert Allinson claims, "the central myth".
In the northern darkness there is a fish and his name is K'un. The K'un is so huge I don't know how many thousand li he measures. He changes and becomes a bird whose name is P'eng. The back of the P'eng measures I don't know how many thousand li across and, when he rises up and flies off, his wings are like clouds all over the sky. When the sea begins to move, this bird sets off for the southern darkness, which is the Lake of Heaven.
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Peng (mythology)
A Peng (Chinese: 鵬; pinyin: péng) or Dapeng (大鵬; dàpéng) is a giant bird that transforms from a Kun (鯤; kūn), a giant fish, in Chinese mythology.
The Chinese logograms for peng and kun exemplify common radical-phonetic characters. Peng (鵬) combines the "bird radical" (鳥) with a peng (朋; 'friend') phonetic, and kun (鲲; 鯤) combines the "fish radical" (魚) with a kun (昆; 'progeny', 'insect') phonetic.
Both the mythic Chinese Peng and Kun names involve word play. Peng (鵬) was anciently a variant Chinese character for feng (鳳) in fenghuang (鳳凰; "Chinese phoenix"), as in the ca. 100 CE Shuowen Jiezi; Kun (鯤) originally meant "fish roe; fry; spawn" (ca. 200 BCE Erya).
Synonyms of Peng include Dapeng (大鵬; "Big Peng", "Great Peng") and Dapengniao (大鵬鳥; "Great Peng Bird"). Dapeng is also a place name for a few places in greater China, most notably in Shenzhen and Taiwan.
After recent fossil discoveries in northeast China, Chinese paleontologists used Peng to name the enantiornithine bird Pengornis and the wukongopterid pterosaur Kunpengopterus.
Linguist Wang Li relates 鵬, OC:*bɯːŋ (ZS) "peng, fabulous great bird" to element 鳳, OC:*bums (ZS), mod. fèng in 鳳凰, OC:*bums ɡʷaːŋ, mod. fènghuáng; 鳳 is also related to *plum, OC:*風, mod. fēng "wind".
In Chinese literature, the Daoist classic Zhuangzi has the oldest record of the Kun Peng myth. The first chapter (逍遙遊; xiāoyáoyóu; "Free and Easy Wandering") begins with three versions of this parable; the lead paragraph, a quote from the Qixie (齊諧; "Universal Harmony", probably invented by Zhuangzi), and a quote from the Tang zhi wen Ji (湯之問棘; "Questions of Tang to Ji", cf. Liezi chapter 5, 湯問; Tang wen). The first account contrasts the giant Peng bird with a small tiao (蜩; "cicada") and jiu (鳩; "pigeon; turtledove") and the third with a yan (鴳 or 鷃; "quail"). The Peng fish-bird transformation is not only the beginning myth in Zhuangzi, but Robert Allinson claims, "the central myth".
In the northern darkness there is a fish and his name is K'un. The K'un is so huge I don't know how many thousand li he measures. He changes and becomes a bird whose name is P'eng. The back of the P'eng measures I don't know how many thousand li across and, when he rises up and flies off, his wings are like clouds all over the sky. When the sea begins to move, this bird sets off for the southern darkness, which is the Lake of Heaven.
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