Qilin#Origins

File:Chinese - Dragon - Walters 492425 - Profile.jpgThe earliest mention of the mythical qilin is in the poem {{zh|t=麟之趾|s=麟之趾|p=Lín zhī zhǐ|l=Feet of the Lin|labels=no}} included in the Classic of Poetry (11th – 7th c. BCE).Classic of Poetry [https://ctext.org/book-of-poetry/lin-zhi-zhi "Airs of Zhou and the South – Lin's Feet"] translated by James LeggeDurrant, Li, & Schaberg (translators) (2016). Zuo tradition: Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals. Seattle & London: University of Washington Press. p. 1920, n. 292. quote: "It is significant that the earliest source known to mention the lin itself is “Lin zhi zhi” {{lang|zh|麟之趾}}, or “The Foot of the Lin" Spring and Autumn Annals mentioned that a lin ({{lang|zh|麟}}) was captured in the 14th year of Duke Ai of Lu ({{lang|zh|魯哀公}}) (481 CE); Zuo Zhuan credited Confucius with identifying the lin as such.[http://engine.cqvip.com/content/tu/98575x/2001/000/002/gc13_tu1_5337044.pdf {{lang|zh|古建上的主要装饰纹样――麒麟 古建园林技术－作者:徐华铛}}] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930201732/http://engine.cqvip.com/content/tu/98575x/2001/000/002/gc13_tu1_5337044.pdf |date=30 September 2007 }}Zuozhuan "Duke Ai – 14th year – [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%98%A5%E7%A7%8B%E5%B7%A6%E6%B0%8F%E5%82%B3/%E5%93%80%E5%85%AC#%E7%B6%93_14 jing] & [https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%98%A5%E7%A7%8B%E5%B7%A6%E6%B0%8F%E5%82%B3/%E5%93%80%E5%85%AC#%E5%82%B3_14 zhuan]"'Durrant, Li, & Schaberg (translators) (2016). Zuo tradition: Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals. pp. 1919–1921

The bisyllabic form qilin ({{lang|zh|麒麟}} ~ {{lang|zh|騏驎}}), which carries the same generic meaning as lin alone, is attested in works dated to the Warring States period (475–221 BCE).{{cn|date=December 2024}} Qi denotes the male and lin denotes the female[http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Myth/personsqilin.html ChinaKnowledge.de] according to Shuowen Jiezi.SWJZ [https://ctext.org/shuo-wen-jie-zi/lu-bu1#n32769 Radical 鹿]" quote: "{{lang|zh|麟：大牝鹿也。……麒：仁獸也。麋身牛尾，一角。……麐：牝麒也。}}" translation: "Lín ({{lang|zh|麟}}): a large female deer. [...] Qí ({{lang|zh|麒}}): a humane beast. With elaphure's body, ox's tail, and one horn. [...] Lín ({{lang|zh|麐}}): female qí."Parker, Jeannie Thomas (2018) The Mythic Chinese unicorn. Victoria: Friesen Press. p. 44

The legendary image of the qilin became associated with the image of the giraffe in the Ming dynasty.[http://www.chinanews.com.cn/news/2004year/2004-05-31/26/442822.shtml {{lang|zh|此“麟”非彼“麟”专家称萨摩麟并非传说中麒麟}}]{{Cite journal |date=2004 |title=What Kind of Animal Was the Questing Beast? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27870605 |journal=Arthuriana |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=66–69 |jstor=27870605 |issn=1078-6279}} The identification of the qilin with giraffes began after Zheng He's 15th-century voyage to East Africa (landing, among other places, in modern-day Somalia). The Ming Dynasty bought giraffes from the Somali merchants along with zebras, incense, and various other exotic animals.{{cite magazine |last=Wilson |first=Samuel M. |title=The Emperor's Giraffe |magazine=Natural History |volume=101 |number=12 |date=December 1992 |pages=22–25 |url=http://muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/art/WILSON09.ART |access-date=14 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081202235051/http://muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/art/WILSON09.ART |archive-date=2 December 2008}} Zheng He's fleet brought back two giraffes to Nanjing and they were mistaken by the emperor for the mythical creature. The identification of qilin with giraffes has had a lasting influence: even today, the same word is used for the mythical animal and the giraffe in both Korean and Japanese.Parker, J. T.: "The Mythic Chinese Unicorn"

File:Tribute_Giraffe_with_Attendant_cropped.jpg painting of a tribute giraffe, which was thought to be a qilin by court officials, from Bengal]]

Axel Schuessler reconstructs Old Chinese pronunciation of {{linktext|lang=zh|麒麟}} as *gərin. Finnish linguist Juha Janhunen tentatively compares *gərin to an etymon reconstructed as *kalimV,Janhunen, J. (2011). "Unicorn, Mammoth, Whale: mythological and etymological connections of zoonyms in North and East Asia". Linguistics, Archaeology and the Human Past, Occasional Paper, 12, 189–222. denoting "whale"; and represented in the language isolate Nivkh and four different language families Tungusic, Mongolic, Turkic and Samoyedic, wherein *kalay(ә)ng means "whale" (in Nenets) and *kalVyǝ "mammoth" (in Enets and Nganasan). As even aborigines "vaguely familiar with the underlying real animals" often confuse the whale, mammoth, and unicorn: they conceptualized the mammoth and whale as aquatic, as well as the mammoth and unicorn possessing a single horn; for inland populations, the extant whale "remains{{nbsp}}... an abstraction, in this respect being no different from the extinct mammoth or the truly mythical unicorn." However, Janhunen cautiously remarks that "[t]he formal and semantic similarity between *kilin < *gilin ~ *gïlin 'unicorn' and *kalimV 'whale' (but also Samoyedic *kalay- 'mammoth') is sufficient to support, though perhaps not confirm, the hypothesis of an etymological connection", and also notes a possible connection between Old Chinese and Mongolian (*)kers ~ (*)keris ~ (*)kiris "rhinoceros" (Khalkha: {{lang|mn|хирс}}).{{Cite web |url=http://www.bolor-toli.com/dictionary/word?search=%D1%85%D0%B8%D1%80%D1%81&selected_lang=4-1&see_usages=true&see_variants=true |title=Хирс in Bolor dictionary |access-date=31 January 2019 |archive-date=26 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220926150057/http://www.bolor-toli.com/dictionary/word?search=%D1%85%D0%B8%D1%80%D1%81&selected_lang=4-1&see_usages=true&see_variants=true |url-status=dead }}

File:QingQilin.jpg]]

Qilin generally have Chinese dragon-like features: similar heads with antlers, eyes with thick eyelashes, manes that always flow upward, and beards. The body is fully or partially scaled and often shaped like an ox, deer, or horse, or more commonly a goat.{{Cite web |title=Charger with a qilin, anonymous, c. 1350 |url=https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/AK-RBK-1965-88 |access-date=2022-05-15 |website=Rijksmuseum |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Liscomb |first=Kathyln |title=The Zoomorphic Imagination in Chinese Art and Culture |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |year=2016 |isbn=9780824872564 |pages=341–378 |chapter=9: How the Giraffe Became a Qilin: Intercultural Signification in Ming Dynasty Arts}} They are always shown with cloven hooves.{{Cite book |last=Bush |first=Susan |title=The Zoomorphic Imagination in Chinese Art and Culture |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |year=2016 |isbn=9780824872564 |pages=76–77 |chapter=2: Labeling the Creatures: Some Problems in Han and Six Dynasties Iconography}} While dragons in China (and thus qilin) are also most commonly depicted as golden, qilin may be of any color or even various colors, and can be depicted as bejeweled or exhibiting a jewel-like brilliance.{{Cite journal |last=Yoshida |first=Masako |title=Trade Stories: Chinese Export Embroideries in the Metropolitan Museum |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/680031 |journal=Metropolitan Museum Journal |year=2014 |volume=49 |issue=1 |pages=4–5 |doi=10.1086/680031 |jstor=10.1086/680031 |s2cid=192217718 }}

The qilin is depicted throughout a wide range of Chinese art, sometimes with parts of their bodies on fire.

Legends tell that qilin have appeared in the garden of the legendary Yellow Emperor and in the capital of Emperor Yao; both events bore testimony to the benevolent nature of the rulers. It has also been told that the birth of the great sage Confucius was foretold by the arrival of a qilin.

File:2015-09-23-110304 - Historisches Museum, Einhorn-Keramik aus der Nördl. Wei Periode (386-534).jpg period (386–534)]]

In modern times, the depictions of qilin have often fused with the Western concept of unicorns, and qilin ({{lang|zh-hant|麒麟}}) is often translated into English as "unicorn". The Han dynasty dictionary Shuowen Jiezi describes qi as single-horned, and it can sometimes be depicted as having a single horn. The translation, however, may be misleading, as qilin can also be depicted as having two horns. In modern Chinese, "one-horned beast" ({{lang-zh|t=獨角獸|s=独角兽|p=Dújiǎoshòu|labels=no}}) is used for "unicorns". A number of different Chinese mythical creatures can be depicted with a single horn, and a qilin depicted with one horn may be called a "one-horned qilin" in Chinese.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

Nevertheless, the mythical and etymological connections between the creatures have been noted by various cultural studies and even the Chinese government, which has minted silver, gold, and platinum commemorative coins depicting both archetypal creatures.{{Cite web|url=https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces89740.html|title=5 Yuan, China|publisher=Numista|website=en.numista.com|language=en|access-date=13 December 2017}}

File:Qilin with Rider, c. 1800-1894.jpg]]

File:Kinesiskt lyckobådande fabeldjur med drakhuvud, hjortkropp med fjäll, oxsvans från cirka 1750 - Hallwylska museet - 95453.tif

Kirin, which has also come to be used as the modern Japanese word for a giraffe, are similar to qilin. Japanese art tends to depict the kirin as more deer-like than in Chinese art. Alternatively, it is depicted as a dragon shaped like a deer, but with an ox's tail{{cite book|last=Griffis|first=William Elliot|title=The Religions of Japan|publisher=Bibliobazaar|year=2007|pages=39|isbn=978-1-4264-9918-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f8oc2uzD6GgC&q=Kirin+tail&pg=PA39}} instead of a lion's tail. They are also often portrayed as partially unicorn-like in appearance, but with a backwards curving horn.

Girin or kirin ({{lang|ko|기린}}) is the Korean form of qilin. It is described as a maned creature with the torso of a deer, an ox tail with the hooves of a horse. The girin were initially depicted as more deer-like, however over time they have transformed into more horse-like.[http://navercast.naver.com/contents.nhn?contents_id=7922&path=|458|539|&leafId=806 {{lang|ko|기린 : 네이버캐스트}}] They were one of the four divine creatures along with the dragon, phoenix, and turtle. Girin were extensively used in Korean royal and Buddhist arts.

In modern Korean, the term "girin" is used for "giraffe".

In Thailand, the qilin is known as "{{lang|th-latn|gilen|italics=no}}" ({{langx|th|กิเลน}}), and is a member of the pantheon of Thai Himapant forest mythical animals. It is most probable that the Gilen was introduced into the pantheon under the influence of the Tai Yai who came down from Southern China to settle in Siam in ancient times, and the legend was probably incorporated into the Himapant legends of Siam in this manner. The Gilen is a mixture of various animals which come from differing elemental environments, representing elemental magical forces present within each personified creature. Many of the Himapant animals actually represent gods and devas of the Celestial Realms, and bodhisattvas, who manifest as personifications which represent the true nature of each creature deity through the symbolism of the various body parts amalgamated into the design of the Mythical creature.{{cite web | url=https://buddhistamulet.net | title=Taep Payatorn Riding Qilin Himapant Lion Hlang Yant – Nuea Pong Maha Sanaeh Luan – Ajarn Warut – Wat Pong Wonaram | publisher=Buddha Magic Multimedia & Publications | access-date=12 January 2016}}

In Phra Aphai Mani, the masterpiece epic poem of Sunthorn Phu, a renowned poet of the 18th century, there is a monster that is Sudsakorn's steed, one of the main characters in the epic. This creature was called "Ma Nin Mangkorn" ({{langx|th|ม้านิลมังกร}}, "ceylonite dragon horse") and is depicted as having diamond fangs, ceylonite scales, and a birthmark on the tongue. It was a mixture of horse, dragon, deer antlers, fish scales, and Phaya Nak tail, and has black sequins all over. Its appearance resembles a qilin.{{cite web|url=https://www.thairath.co.th/content/451280|title=ม้ามังกร|language=Thai|trans-title=Dragon horse|first=Gilen|last=Pralongchoeng|date=20 September 2014|accessdate=7 August 2021|work=Thai Rath}}

File:Qilin statue in Pingzhen Xinshi Park.jpg|Qilin statue in Pingzhen Xinshi Park, Taoyuan, Taiwan

File:Grote schotel met een qilin Schotel met een qilin bij een rots tussen planten, AK-RBK-1965-88.jpg|Plate with a qilin in the center, Yuan dynasty

File:MET 36 65 6 O.jpeg|Embroidered qilin, Qing dynasty

File:Qilin statues, Bat Trang kiln, Hanoi, Nguyen dynasty, crackle glaze ceramics - National Museum of Vietnamese History - Hanoi, Vietnam - DSC05411.JPG|Kỳ Lân statues, Bat Trang kiln, Hanoi, Nguyen dynasty, crackle glaze ceramics – at the National Museum of Vietnamese History in Hanoi, Vietnam

File:Kirin Beer Sign (2627839004).jpg|The logo of Kirin Beer features a kirin (photo taken in Hiroshima, Japan)

File:Qilin Pendant.jpg|Qilin pendant

File:Simorgh und Qilin im Gulistan RAS 258, Fol. 82v.png|An illustration of Simurgh and Qilin in Gulistan

File:Qilin incense burner (one of a pair), World Museum Liverpool (1).JPG|Qilin incense burner (one of a pair) at the World Museum in Liverpool, United Kingdom

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Animal Kingdom - pic151 - 麒麟圖.png|Qilin depicted in the Imperial Encyclopaedia

File:靖国神社 麒麟 - panoramio.jpg|Kirin relief in Tokyo, Japan

File:1 Chome Nihonbashi, Chūō-ku, Tōkyō-to 103-0027, Japan - panoramio (9).jpg|A winged variant of kirin statue in Tokyo, Japan

File:宜蘭文昌廟麒麟像.jpg|Qilin (kî-lîn) as an object of worship in Yilan, Taiwan

File:Qilin-shaped incense burner 1 CAC.JPG|A Qing dynasty qilin-shaped incense burner

File:MingQilinDragonFish.jpg|A qilin in the dragon, fish, and ox style of the Ming dynasty. Note the pair of horns.

{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}

• Chinese spiritual world concepts
• Chinthe
• Four Holy Beasts
• Kanglasha
• Longma
• Nian
• Nongshaba
• Pakhangba
• Pixiu
• Poubi Lai
• Questing Beast
• Serpopard
• Shaanxi Kylins
• Shisa
• Singha
• Sin-you
• Taoroinai
• Xiezhi
• Yali

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Category:Chinese legendary creatures

Category:Four Holy Beasts

Category:Japanese legendary creatures

Category:Korean legendary creatures

Category:Mythological deer

Category:Unicorns