术语“灵兽”的详细信息

英译术语:

holy beast

汉语语境:

古文献中所说的麒麟，头顶部只有一只角，古人认为其与鹿属动物相似。根据外形相似，可推测其原型实为印度犀牛。在古代，麒麟被视为四灵兽之一，其特点与印度犀牛的生活习性有关。麒麟虽为庞然大物，但不好斗，故被视为“仁兽”。在古代，印度犀牛因气候环境的变迁而不断南移，在中原已很少见到其踪迹，若其偶尔来到中原，便被认为是因圣王“仁德”而来，这便是麒麟被圣化为灵兽的重要原因。

英语语境:

Kylin, as the ancient classical literature called, has one horn on the head, which made the ancient Chinese people think of it as a kind of deer. With similar appearance it can be judged that the prototype of kylin is actually the Indian rhinoceros. The reason why kylin was considered as a holy beast in ancient times is that its characteristics had much to do with the living habits of the Indian rhinoceros. Big as it was, Kylin was not aggressive, so it was regarded as a “benevolent animal”. Since the Indian rhinoceros moved constantly to the south with the changes of the climate, it was rare to see them in the Central Plain area. Once they appeared, it was thought that it came for the “virtue” of the holy king, which gave rise to its consecration as a holy beast.