The Chinese character螣 for teng or te graphically combines a phonetic element of zhen朕 "I, we (only used by emperors)" with the "insect radical" 虫. This radical is typically used in characters for insects, worms, reptiles, and dragons (e.g., shen蜃 "a sea-monster dragon" or jiao蛟 "an aquatic dragon"). The earliest written form of teng螣 is a (ca. 3rd century BCE) Seal script character written with the same radical and phonetic.
Teng螣 has two etymologically cognate Chinese words written with this zhen朕 phonetic and different radicals: teng滕 (with the "water radical" 水) "gush up; inundate; Teng (state); a surname" and teng騰 (with the "horse radical" 馬) "jump; gallop; prance; mount; ascend; fly swiftly upward; soar; rise". This latter teng, which is used to write the 騰蛇tengshe flying dragon, occurs in draconic 4-character idioms such as longtenghuyue龍騰虎躍 (lit. "dragon rising tiger leaping") "scene of bustling activity" and tengjiaoqifeng騰蛟起鳳 ("rising dragon soaring phoenix", also reversible) "a rapidly rising talent; an exceptional literary/artistic talent; a genius".
The (3rd–2nd centuries BCE) Erya dictionary (16)[1] defines teng螣 as tengshe螣蛇 "teng-snake", and Guo Pu's commentary glosses it as a "[feilong飛龍] flying dragon that drifts in the clouds and mist".
Some bilingual Chinese dictionaries translate teng as "wingless dragon", but this apparent ghost meaning is not found in monolingual Chinese sources. For instance, the Wiktionary and the Unihan Database translation equivalent for teng螣 is "mythological wingless dragon of" [sic]. This dangling "of" appears to be copied from Robert Henry Mathews's dictionary[2] "A wingless dragon of the clouds", which adapted Herbert Giles's dictionary[3] "A wingless dragon which inhabits the clouds and is regarded as a creature of evil omen." While dragons are depicted as both winged and wingless (e.g., the lindworm "a bipedal wingless dragon"), Chinese dictionaries note teng "flying serpents" are wuzu無足 "footless; legless" (see the Xunzi below) not "wingless".
"The teng螣 dragon", says Carr, "had a semantically more transparent name of tengshe騰蛇 'rising/ascending snake'." Tengshe is written with either teng螣 "flying dragon" or teng騰 "soaring; rising" and she蛇 "snake; serpent".[1]
Second, Tengshe names "a battle formation". The (643–659 CE) Beishi history of Emperor Wencheng of Northern Wei Dynasty (r. 452–465 CE) describes a 454 CE battle. The Wei army routed enemy soldiers by deploying troops into over ten columns that changed between feilong "flying dragons", tengshe螣蛇 "ascending snakes", and yuli魚麗 "beautiful fishes" (alluding to Shijing 170).
Third, Tengshe "flying dragon" has a specialized meaning in Xiangshu相術 "Chinese physiognomy", referring to "vertical lines rising from corners of the mouth".
Te
The earliest occurrence of 螣 means te "a plant pest" instead of teng "a flying dragon". The (ca. 6th century BCE) Shijing (212 大田) describes farmers removing plant pests called mingte螟螣 and maozei蟊賊 in fields of grain. These Shijing names rhyme, and Bernhard Karlgren reconstructed them as Old Chinese *d'ək螣 and *dz'ək賊. The Mao Commentary glosses four insects; the ming螟 eats hearts, the te螣 eats leaves, the mao蟊 eats roots, and the zei賊 eats joints. Compare these translations:
We remove the insects that eat the heart and the leaf, And those that eat the roots and the joints[4]
We remove the noxious insects from the ears and leaves, and the grubs from roots and stems[6]
Han DynastyChinese dictionaries write te螣 "a plant pest" with the variant Chinese character蟘. The Erya defines ming螟 as "[insect that] eats seedlings and cores" and te蟘 "[insect that] eats leaves". Guo Pu's commentary glosses these four pests as types of huang蝗 "locusts; grasshoppers". The (121 CE) Shuowen Jiezi dictionary defines ming "insect that eats grain leaves" and te as "insect that eats sprout leaves".
The identity of this rare te螣 or 蟘 "a grain pest" called remains uncertain. In Modern Standard Chinese usage, te only occurs as a literary archaism, while ming is used in words like mingling螟蛉 "corn earworm; adopted son" and mingchong螟虫 "snout moth's larva".
Classical usages
Chinese classic texts frequently mention tengshe螣蛇 or 騰蛇 "flying dragons". The examples below are roughly arranged in chronological order, although some heterogeneous texts are of uncertain dates. Only texts with English translations are cited, excluding tengshe occurrences in texts such as the Guiguzi, Shuoyuan, and Shiji.
Xunzi
The (c. 4th century BCE) ConfucianistXunzi (1 勸學) first records the Classical Chinese idiom tengshe wuzu er fei螣蛇無足而飛 "flying dragon is without feet yet flies", which figuratively means "success results from concentrating on one's abilities".
The T'eng-she dragon has no feet but flies; the squirrel have five talents, but cannot perform any one of them to perfection.[7]
The wingless dragon has no limbs, but it can fly; the flying squirrel has five talents, but it is reduced to extremity.[8]
Hanfeizi
The (3rd century BCE) Legalist text Hanfeizi uses tengshe騰蛇 in two chapters.
"Ten Faults" (十過),[9] uses it describing the Yellow Emperor's heavenly music.
In by-gone days the Yellow Emperor once called a meeting of devils and spirits at the top of the Western T'ai Mountain, he rode in a divine carriage pulled by [龍] dragons, with Pi-fang a tree deity keeping pace with the linchpin, Ch'ih-yu [a war deity] marching in the front, Earl Wind [a wind deity] sweeping the dirt, Master Rain [a rain deity] sprinkling water on the road, tigers and wolves leading in the front, devils and spirits following from behind, rising serpents rolling on the ground, and male and female phoenixes flying over the top.
The "Critique on the Concept of Political Purchase" (難勢,[10] quotes Shen Dao contrasting feilong飛龍 "flying dragon" with tengshe螣蛇 to explain shi勢 "political purchase; strategic advantage".
Shen Tzu said: "The flying dragon mounts the clouds and the t'eng snake wanders in the mists. But when the clouds dissipate and the mists clear, the dragon and the snake become the same as the earthworm and the large-winged black ant because they have lost that on which they ride. Where men of superior character are subjugated by inferior men, it is because their authority is lacking and their position is low. Where the inferior are subjugated by the superior, it is because the authority of the latter is considerable and their position is high.
Chuci
The (3rd–2nd centuries BCE) Chuci parallels tengshe騰蛇 with feiju飛駏 "flying horse" in the poem "A Road Beyond" (通路).[11]
With team of dragons I mount the heavens, In ivory chariot borne aloft. ... I wander through all the constellations; I roam about round the Northern Pole. My upper garment is of red stuff; Of green silk is my under-robe. I loosen my girdle and let my clothes flow freely; I stretch out my trusty Gan-jiang sword. The Leaping Serpent follows behind me, the Flying Horse trots at my side.
Huainanzi
The (2nd century BCE) Huainanzi uses both tengshe graphic variants 螣蛇 (with the insect radical, chapters 9 and 18, which is not translated) and 騰蛇 (horse radical, chapter 17).
"The Art of Rulership" (9 主術訓),[12] uses tengshe螣蛇 with yinglong應龍 "responding dragon". The t'eng snake springs up into the mist; the flying ying dragon ascends into the sky mounting the clouds; a monkey is nimble in the trees and a fish is agile in the water."
The "Discourse on Forests" (17) 說林訓,[1] has tengshe騰蛇 in the same 遊霧 "drifts into the mist" phrase, "The ascending snake can drift in the mist, yet it is endangered by the centipede."
Other texts
Tengshe frequently occurs in Chinese poetry. Two early examples are "The Dark Warrior shrinks into his shell; The Leaping Serpent twists and coils itself" ("Rhapsody on Contemplating the Mystery" by Zhang Heng, 78–139 CE,[13]) and "Though winged serpents ride high on the mist, They turn to dust and ashes at last" ("Though the Tortoise Lives Long" by Cao Cao, 155–220 CE.[14])
Mythology
The Chinese books above repeatedly parallel the tengshe "soaring snake; flying dragon" with its near synonym feilong "flying dragon". Like the tianlong "heavenly dragon", these creatures are associated with clouds and rainfall, as Visser explains.
The Classics have taught us that the dragon is thunder, and at the same time that he is a water animal akin to the snake, sleeping in pools during winter and arising in spring. When autumn comes with its dry weather, the dragon descends and dives into the water to remain there till spring arrives again.[15]
The (1578 CE) Bencao Gangmu (43),[16] mentions this mythic serpent, "There are flying snakes without feet such as the 螣蛇 T'eng She." The commentary explains, "The t'eng-she changes into a dragon. This divine snake can ride upon the clouds and fly about over a thousand miles. If it is heard, (this means) pregnancy."[17]
Wolfram Eberhard surveys the cultural background of tengshe "ascending snake" myths.[18]
Frequently, in the early literature, the snake steps into the clouds [Shenzi, Baopuzi, Huainanzi]. Here one suspects that the word dragon was taboo and had to be substituted; this is confirmed by Chung-ch'ang T'ung [Hou Han Shu] stating that the ascending snake loses it scales. One can hardly speak of scales in the case of a real snake, but a dragon was believed to be scaly. Otherwise this flying snake may be compared with the folktale of the fight between centipede and snake which is associated with Thai culture … The dragon-like snake in the sky is again the dragon lung, again of the Thai cultures. Otherwise the "ascending snake" (t'eng-she) may mean a constellation of stars near the Milky Way [Xingjing]. According to Ko Hung [Baopuzi] it makes lightning, and this again equates it with the dragon lung.
Legends about flying snakes, serpents, and dragons are widespread in comparative mythology, exemplified by the Biblical Fiery flying serpent. Snakes in the genus Chrysopelea are commonly known as "flying snakes".
^ abcTr. Carr, Michael (1990). "Chinese Dragon Names"(PDF). Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 13 (2): 87–189. p. 111.
^Mathews, Robert H., ed. 1931. Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary. Presbyterian Mission Press. Rev. American ed. 1943. Harvard University Press. p. 894.
^Tr. Read, Bernard E. (1934). "Chinese Materia Medica VII; Dragons and Snakes". Peking Natural History Bulletin. Peking Society of Natural History: 349.
