The so-called “nine sons of the dragon” doesn’t mean that the dragon has exactly nine sons. In traditional Chinese culture, the number “nine” suggests a large number and is put in a supreme status. Nine is not an exact number, but a noble number. That’s why it is used to de...
Earliest Attestation and Etymology: The earliest reference in the Oxford English Dictionary is to 1941 (thought that reference leads back to the Great War): ‘As he flew round, he wished that his instructor had never told him about the Little People—a mythological bunch of good and bad fairi...
This pattern is based on the Western pattern, maintaining the traditional form of Chinese pattern such as four-sided continuous, replacing the Lianzhu patterns with circular flowers or scrolling grass, and replacing the Western mythological shape with the traditional Chinese animal theme. Ling Yang Go...
All is Lost [75].The hero hits rock bottom. He loses everything he’s gained so far, and things are looking bleak. The hero is overpowered by the villain; a mentor dies; our lovebirds have an argument and break up. Dark Night of the Soul [75-85-ish].Having just lost everything,...
of the “sorcerer” (a bearded figure wearing a mask on the top of which were antlers of a deer) at LesTrois Frèresin France—and rock paintings of the Aruntas of central Australia—such as totemic animals (symbolizing clan andanimalrelationships) or mythological nature heroes (e.g., ...
the splendid frontally squatting Silenus (foster father of the wine god Dionysus) on the coinage for the refounding of Sicilian Naxos in 461, Dionysus seated backward on a donkey at Mende, or the many mythological compositions on Cretan coins—often diminishing the previous importance of the cit...
The inspired stroke of genius whereby the ancient Greeks adapted a variety of the Phoenician consonantal script so as to represent the distinctive consonant and vowel sounds of Greek, thus producing the first alphabet such as is known today, was linked with the mythological figure Cadmus, who, ...
the mimicry of parrots and of some other birds that have been kept in the company of humans, is whollyderivativeand serves no independent communicative function. Humankind’s nearest relatives among the primates, though possessing a vocal physiology similar to that of humans, have not developed any...