The Chinese classics use the wordshèn to mean "a large shellfish" that was associated with funerals and "an aquatic monster" that could change its shape, which was later associated with "mirages".
Large shellfish
The word used to mean a shellfish, or mollusk, identified as an oyster, mussel, or giant clam such as the Pearl of Lao Tzu. While early Chinese dictionaries treat shèn as a general term for "mollusca", the Erya defines it as a large yáo "shellfish", "clam", "scallop", or "nacre". The Shuowen Jiezi, an early second-century dictionary of the Eastern Han, defines it a large gé, meaning "clam", "oyster", "shellfish", or "bivalve". Chinese classics variously record that shèn was salted as a food, named a "lacquered wine barrel" used in sacrifices to earth spirits, and its shells were used to make hoes and receptacles. They also record two shèn-compounds related with funerals: shènchē "hearse" and shèntàn "oyster-lime; white clay", which was especially used as mortar for mausoleum walls. Wolfram Eberhard describes the shèn mussel as "a strange animal", and mentions the Rites of Zhous zhǎngshèn "manager of shèn", who was a special government official in charge of acquiring them for royal sacrifices and funerals. "It is not clear why these mussels were placed into the tombs," he admits, possibly either as a sacrifice to the earth god or "the shell lime was used simply for a purifying and protective effect." Edward H. Schafer, who translates shèn as "clam-monster", traces its linguistic evolution from originally designating a "large bivalve mollusc":
Aquatic dragon
Second, shèn meant the "clam-monster" that miraculously transformed shapes. The Shuowen Jiezi defines gé as the "category of shèn", which includes three creatures that transform within the sea. A que "sparrow" transforms into a gé or muli "oyster" in the dialect of Qin, after 1000 years; a yān "swallow" transforms into a hǎigé after 100 years; and a fulei or fuyi "bat" transforms into a kuígé after it gets old. These kinds of legendary animal "transformations" are a common theme in Chinese folklore, particularly for dragons like the shèn. The "dragon's transformations are unlimited", writes, and "it is no wonder that Chinese literature abounds with stories about dragons which had assumed the shape of men, animals, or objects". The Yuèlíng "Monthly Commands" chapter of the Book of Rites lists sparrows and pheasants transforming into shellfish during the traditional Chinese lunisolar calendar. In Shuangjiang the last month of autumn, "[jue, a rebus character for que "sparrow"] Small birds enter the great water and become [gé 蛤] mollusks", and in the first month of winter, "[zhi "pheasant"] Pheasants enter the great water and become [shen 蜃] large mollusks." While many other classical texts repeat this seasonal legend about pheasants that transform in dàshui "great water; flood", the Da Dai Liji and Guoyu say they transform in the Huai River. According to Chinese folklore, swallows are a favorite food of both lóng and shèn dragons. explains, "Hence if people eat swallow's flesh they should not go out and cross a river." Eberhard equates the shàn with the jiaolong "flood dragon; crocodile" and compares tales of both these dragons attacking cattle in rivers. The 1596 Compendium of Materia Medica describes the shèn under the jiaolong entry with quotes from the Yueling and Lu Dian's Piya.
Mirage
The shape-changing shèn is believed to cause a mirage or Fata Morgana. Shèn- synonyms meaning "mirage" include shènlóu , shènqì, shènqìlóu, hǎishì shènlóu, and shènjǐng. In Japanese and Korean, shinkirō/singiru is the usual word for "mirage". Compare the association between the lóng "dragon" and "waterspouts", evident in words like lóngjuǎn "waterspout" and lóngjuǎnfēng "cyclone; tornado"
Characters
Many Chinese characters are phono-semantic compounds, written with a phonetic element that indicates pronunciation with a radical or signifier that suggests semantic meaning. Shen's standard and antiquated characters combine the character chen phonetic with the chong radical. A variety of other characters utilize this phonetic chen 辰, which the Wenlin says "may have depicted an ancient kind of hoe" in ancient oracle bone script. Some etymologically significant examples include:
etymologically hypothesizes that the chen < *dyən 辰 phonetic series split between *dyən "dragon" and *tyən "thunder". The former words include aquatic shen < *dyən 蜃 "large shellfish; sea dragon", celestial chen < *dyən 晨 "dragon star", and possibly through dragon-emperor association, chen < *dyən 宸 "imperial palace; mansion". The latter ones, reflecting the belief that dragons cause rainfall and thunder, include zhen < *tyən 震 "thunder; shake", zhen < *tyən 振 "shake; scare", and ting < *d'ieng 霆 "thunderbolt". provides a different set of reconstructions and etymologies:
chén < *dən or "Time when life begins to stir: 'early morning' … "start of growing/agricultural season in the 3rd month; heavenly bodies that mark that time' … 'heavenly body', 'time'."
shēn < təns "'Pregnant', 'become pregnant' … is derived from 'to shake, rouse, excite', hence lit. 'start stirring, moving'."
Modern times
In the present day, the mythical shèn is best known in East Asia through the everyday words for mirage or illusion. One is used by the Second Mizukage in the manga series Naruto.
