Abstract:

After analysis, statistics and conclude 1175 species (variety) of plants,1370 Dai names and 1691 meanings were obtained to elucidate how the Dai people recognize and define the plant. They used ‘hongebin’, which means‘the things with life come out from the ground’ to define the plant. This is similar to the modern science which defined the plant as ‘anything that grows from the ground’. This is a highly synthesized scientific term that seldom seen in many other ethnics in the world. In their method of naming plants, they used the types of plant lifeform and economic type for ‘generic’ names, and used the meanings of plant morphogenesis and characters, economic uses, ecological distribution, and stories and legends etc. for ‘specific’ names. Among the 1691 meanings, they are occupied 60%, 30%, 8% and 2% respectively. This reflected that the naming method of Dai for plant ‘Just see what′s looking alike on naming them’ is similar to Linnaeus′ binomenclature of the modern botanical taxonomy. Moreover, the folk plant classification system based on the structure of Dai names is then established, including 5 categories as plant kingdom, tow ‘families’ of wild or cultivated plant, about 20 ‘genera’ of lifeforms and economic types, and more than 3000 species and over 1000 varieties, by the ‘two names’ in the paper as well.

Key words: Xishuangbanna Dai nationality, Dai′s definition of plant, Dai′s ‘bi-nomenclature&rsquo, of plant naming, Dai′s folk plant classification

摘要：

通过所收集的1175种 （品种） 植物的1390个傣名，并对生活型外的1691个含义进行分析、统计、归纳，阐明了傣族对植物的认知。他们用“宏哦宾”，即“从地上长出来的，有生命的东西”对“植物”这个抽象而综合词汇进行定义，与现代科学“从地上长出的任何东西”的“植物”定义异曲同工，这是世界上很多其它民族所没有的。他们把植物的生活型和经济类型作为“属”名，把植物的形态特征、经济用途、分布生态和故事传说等有关含义作为“种”名，在对1691个植物名字含义的统计中，它们分别占了60%、30%、8%和2%，充分体现了傣族对植物“见什么像什么就叫什么”的植物命名方法。它类似于现代植物分类学对植物命名的林奈氏“双名法”。基于傣族对植物的认知和植物傣名结构，可以建立起“植物界”、栽培植物和野生植物的两个“科”、生活型和经济类型的约20个“属”，以及具有“双名”的3000多个“种”和1000多个“品种”的5个结构层次的民间植物分类系统。

关键词: 云南西双版纳傣族, 植物定义, 植物命名的&ldquo, 双名法&rdquo, 民间植物分类