上贴重义轻于马，源于汉字的偏义，比如蚁科仅一科，便不提马。兵蚁Army ants也
不译兵蚂蚁，还有割叶蚁。但再补充一节蚂字的来历：
翟灏《通俗编·禽鱼》：“马蚁是蚁之别种，而今以概呼凡蚁，且益虫旁为蚂字，举世
相承，不知其非矣。”章炳麟《新方言·释言》：“古人於大物輒冠马字……通言谓大蚁
为马蚁。”
看来旧时是没有虫旁的马字，也好。说文中虫字旁还有几个蚁一类的，比如蚁卵称蚳
，可制酱。还有蠪， 前面提到了：蚁大而赤色斑駁者。其场谓之坻，或谓之垤是也，
我记得有蚁封，蚁冢，蚁丘，蚁穴，蚁山，当有分化。当年写过一首非洲蚁冢诗，单
名称就化了不少心力：
蚁冢 Anthill
察沃河流过
辽阔干瘦一带热草原
稀疏的树
象、牛、长颈鹿
黄昏的景色中
一束束燃烧的火焰
一座座蚁冢
河水泛青，土壤猩红
一步一趔趄的
变色龙，夺路而过
斑剥绿灌丛
风卷红尘，把周身一切
各式的鹿或羚羊
都染得菲红
在黄昏的景色中
我惊异这一座座蚁冢
这巍峨的城堡
多少蚁民在此安居？
多少通道、暗道
红火的生命
生育间与墓地
蚁垤？蚁丘？
如一团独自燃烧的火
独自嶣峣……
04/23/11
====
Anthill，在热带干瘦草原上寻常可见，但都没有Tsavo国家公园里高大翻红，当即让
我想到陶潜挽歌诗(三)的名句：高坟正嶣峣。幸好中文有个’蚁冢’的译名，便足成诗。
Anthill古诗称蚁垤，现在英文对应蚁丘、蚁山等。蚁蛭(die2)又为古印度大诗人跋弥
(Valmiki) 的意译名，写《罗摩衍那》的。
这里是染红的大象，亦可见蚁冢的尺寸！
蚍蜉还是古文诗句中最常见的称呼，但说文里的正字可没这么简单。
西洋拼音文字，大统一早在腓尼基时代就已建立，这样学究探源起来也容易。Ants，
英文当然源自于古高地德语：The word ant is derived from ante of Middle English
which is derived from æmette of Old English and is related to the Old High
German āmeiza, hence the modern German Ameise. All of these words come
from West Germanic *amaitjo, and the original meaning of the word was “the
biter” (from Proto-Germanic *ai-, “off, away” + *mait- “cut”).
蚂蚁学，Myrmecology；蚂蚁学家，Myrmecologist；源自于古希腊。蚂蚁上万种类，
也只有一科Formicidae，源于古典拉丁：The family name Formicidae is derived
from the Latin formīca (“ant”) from which the words in other Romance languages
such as the Portuguese formiga, Italian formica, Spanish hormiga, Romanian
furnică and French fourmi are derived. It has been hypothetized that a Proto
-Indo-European word *morwi- was used, cf. Sanskrit vamrah, Latin formīca,
Greek myrmex, Old Church Slavonic mraviji, Old Irish moirb, Old Norse maurr.
这又是一种大统一了，建立在蚂蚁名的语源学基础上。也是是，西洋的蚁，包括犹太
人的蚁名都取义于切割，革杀勿论。The Hebrew name for ant is nemalah, from
the verb namal, to “cut off.” This probably refers to the cutting off of seeds
by the harvester ants. The Arabic word for ant is similar; it is nimala.
看来还是中国文化看到了蚁社会中个体蚁身上存在的这个“义”(Altruism)字。
Chinese character for ant is a combination of the characters for righteousness
and insect. Thousands of years ago, the Chinese had already understood the
unusual ability of these righteous insects to sacrifice their individual needs for
the good of their society.
Jae Choe, Secret Lives of Ants
xw Blog 