Weasel

The English word "weasel" was originally applied to one species of the genus, the European form of the least weasel (Mustela nivalis). This usage is retained in British English, where the name is also extended to cover several other small species of the genus. However, in technical discourse and in American usage, the term "weasel" can refer to any member of the genus, the genus as a whole, and even to members of the related genus Neogale. Of the 16 extant species currently classified in the genus Mustela, 10 have "weasel" in their common names. Among those that do not are the three species of ermine,{{refn|group="*"|These three species are Mustela erminea, (the Eurasian ermine or stoat); M. haidarum, (the Haida ermine); and M. richardsonii, (the American ermine).}} the polecats, the ferret, and the European mink.{{rp|12}}

The American mink and the extinct sea mink were commonly included in this genus as Mustela vison and Mustela macrodon, respectively, but in 1999 they were moved to the genus Neovison.Abramov, A.V. 1999. A taxonomic review of the genus Mustela (Mammalia, Carnivora). Zoosystematica Rossica, 8(2): 357-364 In 2021, both Neovison species, along with the long-tailed weasel (Mustela frenata), Amazon weasel (Mustela africana) and Colombian weasel (Mustela felipei) were moved to the genus Neogale, as the clade containing these five species was found to be fully distinct from Mustela.{{cite journal|last1=Patterson|first1=Bruce D.|last2=Ramírez-Chaves|first2=Héctor E.|last3=Vilela|first3=Júlio F.|last4=Soares|first4=André E. R.|last5=Grewe|first5=Felix|year=2021|title=On the nomenclature of the American clade of weasels (Carnivora: Mustelidae)|journal=Journal of Animal Diversity|volume=3|issue=2|pages=1–8 |doi=10.52547/JAD.2021.3.2.1|s2cid=236299740 |issn=2676-685X|doi-access=free}}

The genus name Mustela comes from the Latin word for weasel combining the words mus meaning "mouse" and telum meaning "javelin" for its long body.{{cite book |last1=King |first1=Carolyn M. |last2=Powell |first2=Roger A. |title=The Natural History of Weasels and Stoats: Ecology, Behavior, and Management |date=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-804113-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ae9c7GO_cUC |language=en}}{{rp|3}}

The following information is according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information System and MammalDiversity.

¹ Europe and Northern Asia division excludes China.

{{main|Cultural depictions of weasels}}

Weasels have been assigned a variety of cultural meanings.

In Greek culture, a weasel near one's house is a sign of bad luck, even evil, "especially if there is in the household a girl about to be married", since the animal (based on its Greek etymology) was thought to be an unhappy bride who was transformed into a weasel{{cite book|last=Lawson|first=John Cuthbert|title=Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion: A Study in Survivals|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D6ghAB1AJR8C&pg=PA327|year=2012|publisher=Cambridge UP|isbn=978-1-107-67703-6|pages=327–28}} and consequently delights in destroying wedding dresses. In Macedonia, however, weasels are generally seen as an omen of good fortune.{{cite book|last=Abbott|first=George Frederick|title=Macedonian folklore|url=https://archive.org/details/macedonianfolklo00abborich|access-date=13 February 2012|year=1903|publisher=Cambridge UP|pages=[https://archive.org/details/macedonianfolklo00abborich/page/108 108]–109}}

In early-modern Mecklenburg, Germany, amulets from weasels were deemed to have strong magic; the period between 15 August and 8 September was specifically designated for the killing of weasels.{{rp|255}}

In Montagne Noire (France), Ruthenia, and the early medieval culture of the Wends, weasels were not meant to be killed.{{cite journal|last=Thomas|first=N.W.|date=September 1900|title=Animal Superstitions and Totemism|journal=Folk-lore|volume=11|issue=3|pages=228–67|doi=10.1080/0015587X.1900.9719953|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1810352|jstor=1253113}}

According to Daniel Defoe also, meeting a weasel is a bad omen.{{cite book|last1=Hazlitt|first1=William Carew|last2=Brand|first2=John|title=Faiths and folklore: a dictionary of national beliefs, superstitions and popular customs, past and current, with their classical and foreign analogues, described and illustrated|url=https://archive.org/details/faithsandfolklo00hazlgoog|access-date=13 February 2012|year=1905|publisher=Reeves and Turner|page=[https://archive.org/details/faithsandfolklo00hazlgoog/page/n296 622]}} In English-speaking areas, weasel can be an insult, noun or verb, for someone regarded as sneaky, conniving or untrustworthy. Similarly, "weasel words" is a critical term for words or phrasing that are vague, misleading or equivocal.

File:Ten-Japanese-Marten-from-Gazu-Hyakki-Yagyo-by-Sekien.png by Sekien Toriyama]]

File:Mustela sibirica201602-02.jpg

In Japan, {{nihongo|weasels|鼬、鼬鼠|itachi}} were seen as yōkai (causing strange occurrences). According to the encyclopedia Wakan Sansai Zue from the Edo period, a pack of weasels would cause conflagrations, and the cry of a weasel was considered a harbinger of misfortune. In the Niigata Prefecture, the sound of a pack of weasels making a rustle resembled six people hulling rice, so was called the "weasel's six-person mortar", and it was an omen for one's home to decline or flourish. It is said that when people chase after this sound, the sound stops.村上健司編著 『妖怪事典』 毎日新聞社、2000年、36頁。{{ISBN|978-4-6203-1428-0}}。

They are also said to shapeshift like the fox (kitsune) or tanuki, and the nyūdō-bōzu told about in legends in the Tōhoku region and the Chūbu region are considered weasels in disguise, and they are also said to shapeshift into ōnyūdō and little monks.

In the collection of depictions Gazu Hyakki Yagyō by Sekien Toriyama, they were depicted under the title 鼬, but they were read not as "itachi", but rather as "ten",高田衛監修 稲田篤信・田中直日編 『鳥山石燕 画図百鬼夜行』 国書刊行会、1992年、50頁。{{ISBN|978-4-336-03386-4}}。 and "ten" were considered to be weasels that have reached one hundred years of age and became yōkai that possessed supernatural powers.少年社・中村友紀夫・武田えり子編 『妖怪の本 異界の闇に蠢く百鬼夜行の伝説』 学習研究社〈New sight mook〉、1999年、123頁。{{ISBN|978-4-05-602048-9}}。 Another theory is that when weasels reach several hundred years of age, they become mujina (Japanese badgers).草野巧 『幻想動物事典』 新紀元社、1997年、30頁。{{ISBN|978-4-88317-283-2}}。

In Japanese, weasels are called {{Nihongo|iizuna or izuna|飯綱}} and in the Tōhoku Region and Shinshu, it was believed that there were families that were able to use a certain practice to freely use kudagitsune as iizuna-tsukai or kitsune-mochi. It is said that Mount Iizuna, from the Nagano Prefecture, got its name due to how the gods gave people mastery of this technique from there.『広辞苑 第4版』(1991年)、岩波書店「いづなつかい【飯綱使・飯縄遣】」の項

According to the folklorist Mutō Tetsujō, "They are called izuna in the Senboku District,{{refn|group="*"|However, in the Senboku District, especially in {{nihongo|Obonai village|生保内村}}, they are called okojo.}} Akita Prefecture, and there are also the ichiko (itako) that use them."{{citation|last=武藤|first=鉄城|title=秋田郡邑魚譚|journal=アチックミユーゼアム彙報|volume=45|year=1940|url=http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1461537/189|pages=41–42|quote=北秋田ではモウスケと称して狐より怖がられ、仙北地方ではイヅナと称し、それを使う巫女(エチコ)もある。学名コエゾイタチを、此の付近..〔生保内村〕では..オコジョと云ふ(田口耕之助氏)}}。 Also, in the Kitaakita District, they are called mōsuke (猛助), and they are feared as yōkai even more than foxes (kitsune).

In the Ainu language, ermines are called upas-čironnup or sáčiri, but since least weasels are also called sáčiri, Mashio Chiri surmised that the honorary title poy-sáčiri-kamuy (where poy means "small") refers to least weasels.{{citation|last=知里|first=真志保 (Chiri, Mashiho)|title=アイヌ語獣名集 (On the names of the mammals of the Ainu language)|journal=北海道大學文學部紀要 = the Annual Reports on Cultural Science|date=30 March 1959|url=http://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/33244/1/7_PL150-121.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/33244/1/7_PL150-121.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|issn=0437-6668|page=141}}

{{Main|Kamaitachi}}

Kamaitachi is a phenomenon wherein one who is idle is suddenly injured as if his or her skin were cut by a scythe. In the past, this was thought to be "the deed of an invisible yōkai weasel". An alternate theory, asserts that kamaitachi is derived from {{Nihongo|kamae Tachi|構え太刀||"stance sword"}}, so were not originally related to weasels at all.{{Cite book|author=人文社編集部|title=諸国怪談奇談集成 江戸諸国百物語 東日本編|year=2005|publisher=人文社|series=ものしりシリーズ|isbn=978-4-7959-1955-6|page=104}}

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{{Reflist|group=*}}

{{Reflist}}

• Nowak, Ronald M., and Ernest P. Walker. Walker's Carnivores of the World. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. {{ISBN|0-8018-8033-5}}, {{ISBN|0-8018-8032-7}}.
• [https://archive.org/stream/synopsisofweasel00merriala/synopsisofweasel00merriala_djvu.txt C. Hart Merriam, Synopsis of the Weasels of North America, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1896].
• {{cite news | first=Natalie | last=Angier | title=Weasels Are Built for the Hunt | work=The New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/science/weasels-are-built-for-the-hunt.html | date=13 June 2016 | access-date=15 June 2016}}

• {{Wiktionary-inline|weasel}}
• {{Commons category-inline|Mustela}}
• {{Wikispecies-inline|Mustela}}

{{Weasels}}

{{Carnivora|M.}}

{{Musteloidea|Mae.|state=collapsed}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q28521}}

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Category:Carnivorans of Asia

Category:Carnivorans of Europe

Category:Carnivorans of North America

Category:Carnivorans of South America

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus

Category:Yōkai