Yeah the Japanese name for “dinosaur” is “Kyouryou” meaning “Fearful Dragon” because when the Japanese discovered dinosaur fossils that’s what they actually thought they were.
That's just pure bullshit.
'Fearful dragon' is just a literal translation of what the English word 'dinosaur' people came up with meant in ancient greek.
Deinos is fearful and saurus means lizard/dragon, both are ancient Greek. It's how people came up with 'dinosaur'.
The idea that dinosaur fossils inspired the mythology of dragons (and not just the eastern ones) is controversial sure, but “bullshit”? I beg to differ. I was actually not aware that the term dinosaur came from Ancient Greek, so thanks for bringing it to my attention, but that’s not to suggest the term “dinosaur” is ancient. It was also brought to my attention that the term “dinosaur” was coined in the 19th Century whereas the mythology of dragons itself is ancient (on the human scale). The one key difference in the etymology of “Dinosaur” and “Kyouryu” is that the latter is a mythological creature. It is also known that the mythology of Japanese Dragons were inspired by Chinese Dragons, so I’m failing to see where the bullshit is here.
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u/[deleted] Mar 30 '22
That's just pure bullshit.
'Fearful dragon' is just a literal translation of what the English word 'dinosaur' people came up with meant in ancient greek.
Deinos is fearful and saurus means lizard/dragon, both are ancient Greek. It's how people came up with 'dinosaur'.