ch'ilin, qilin, kirin, girin, kylan

[Benjamin Barrett]

Thank you for the follow-up on the glyph etymologies. I looked at some Japanese references.

大漢語林 says "it is said" that the male is the first and the female the second character.

Both 大辞林 and 大字源 say there is one such theory but don't explain further.

Chinese Wiktionary (https://zh.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E9%BA%92%E9%BA%9F) simply says 麒為雄獸，麟為雌獸 without seeming to discuss the issue further. Chinese Wikipedia (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%BA%92%E9%BA%9F) has 雄麒雌麟 as a red link.


On Jun 23, 2014, at 7:31 AM, W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> WB's two cents RE: English <qilin> [CHEE-LEAN] (Mandarin qi2lin2,
> Wade-Giles ch'i2-lin2; Japanese kirin).
> 
> Each of the sinograms can be traced back to Old Chinese (ca. 1200 to 3rd
> century BC):
> 
> *g6 + *rin (where '6' = schwa; Schuessler notation). (One source claims
> that <qi2> is the male & <lin2> the female of the beast; caveat Hannibal.)
> Ascertaining earliest time of their collocation would require further
> investigation, beyond my meager resources.
> 
> Qilin/ch'ilin/kirin <unicorn-giraffe> not to be confused with the
> homophonous province in northeast PRC, Jilin [GEE-LEAN] <Lucky Forest>
> (Wade-Giles Chi2-lin2, postal code Kirin). Which I had always done till now.

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