What's up?：Lunatic as a rabbit?

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　■2011年的陽曆(solar calendar)2月3日是陰曆(lunar calendar)正月初一，華人社會屆時將送虎迎兔，慶祝新年到來。資料圖片

There seems to be a revival (= the process of becoming popular again) of Greek and Latin studies in the United Kingdom, which is good news. One of the many reasons is that, by learning Greek and Latin, as well as the related ancient Greek and Roman cultures and mythologies(= collections of myths), we can understand the modern English language and Western culture much more.

Sol & Luna

Take the examples of the sun god and the moon goddess(= female god). Do you know their names in Greek and Roman mythologies? In Greek mythology, they are called Helios(pronounced 'HEE-li-os) and Selene(pronounced 'sa-LEE-nee) respectively; while in the Roman system, they are called Sol(pronounced a short 's-ALL') and Luna (pronounced 'LOO-na'). Can you think of any English words that start with 'sol' and related to the sun, or starts with 'luna' and related to the moon? If the adjectives 'solar'(which means 'of the sun') and 'lunar'(meaning 'of the moon') come to your mind, congratulations.

It is interesting that Chinese people celebrate two new years. What are their differences? One of them is based on the solar calendar, while the other follows the lunar calendar. We celebrated the solar one on January 1 already, and next week we are going to celebrate the lunar one - we call it the Lunar New Year, aka(= also known as) the Chinese New Year.

Rabbit & Hare

According to the signs of the Chinese zodiac(= the twelve animals of the Chinese calendar system) - again, 'zodiac' originated from Greek, and had the meaning of 'circle of little animals', as what most of the zodiac signs were - we are welcoming the Year of the Rabbit. Note that we usually say 'rabbit' here, rather than 'hare', though probably we do not know much about their differences. This is another interesting cultural point.

Ask a Briton or American, and they can naturally tell you that, while rabbits and hares are similar, rabbits are small, and often kept as pets, whilst hares are bigger, and seldom kept as pets.(It is much like a mouse and a rat - Westerners will be very surprised to find that Chinese people cannot distinguish between the two.)

Mad & Lunatic

Back to the goddess Luna. In the past, people wrongly thought that insanity(= being mad and crazy) could be brought about by the changes of the moon, hence came the word 'lunatic'. It can be a noun, referring to a crazy person; or it can act as an adjective, meaning mad or extremely silly.

　There is a common phrase in English that contains both 'mad' and 'hare'. Can you tell what the expression is? It is 'mad as a March hare', which means very crazy, extremely silly. But why is a March hare connected with madness? What is so mad about a hare in March? The answer is: March is the mating(= the act of sex in order to have little animals) season of hares!

Though 'lunatic' is synonymous(= having similar meanings) with 'mad', and a rabbit is similar to a hare, we cannot change the words and say something like 'lunatic as a rabbit'! Anyway, may the coming Lunar New Year, the Year of the Rabbit, be anything but lunatic to you!

Questions

1.　The word 'rabbit' can act as a verb. How do you talk if you 'rabbit on'?

2.　'Hare' can also be a verb. What is it to hare?

3.　Besides meaning crazy or silly, what emotional state does the adjective 'mad' refer to?

Answers

1.　Talk continuously about unimportant or uninteresting things.

2.　To run or go very quickly.

3.　Very angry.　　　　■MT Ness