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==Cultural meanings== {{main|Cultural depictions of weasels}} Weasels have been assigned a variety of cultural meanings. In [[Culture of Greece|Greek culture]], a weasel near one's house is a sign of bad luck, even evil, "especially if there is in the household a girl about to be married", since the animal (based on its Greek etymology) was thought to be an unhappy bride who was transformed into a weasel<ref name=lawson>{{cite book|last=Lawson|first=John Cuthbert|title=Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion: A Study in Survivals|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D6ghAB1AJR8C&pg=PA327|year=2012|publisher=Cambridge UP|isbn=978-1-107-67703-6|pages=327–28}}</ref> and consequently delights in destroying wedding dresses.<ref name=abbott/> In [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]], however, weasels are generally seen as an omen of good fortune.<ref name=lawson/><ref name=abbott>{{cite book|last=Abbott|first=George Frederick|title=Macedonian folklore|url=https://archive.org/details/macedonianfolklo00abborich|access-date=13 February 2012|year=1903|publisher=Cambridge UP|pages=[https://archive.org/details/macedonianfolklo00abborich/page/108 108]–109}}</ref> In [[Early modern Europe|early-modern]] [[Mecklenburg]], Germany, amulets from weasels were deemed to have strong magic; the period between 15 August and 8 September was specifically designated for the killing of weasels.<ref name=Thomas1900/>{{rp|255}} In [[Montagne Noire]] (France), [[Ruthenia]], and the [[Early Middle Ages|early medieval]] culture of the [[Wends]], weasels were not meant to be killed.<ref name=Thomas1900>{{cite journal|last=Thomas|first=N.W.|date=September 1900|title=Animal Superstitions and Totemism|journal=[[Folklore Society|Folk-lore]]|volume=11|issue=3|pages=228–67|doi=10.1080/0015587X.1900.9719953|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1810352|jstor=1253113}}</ref> According to [[Daniel Defoe]] also, meeting a weasel is a bad omen.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hazlitt|first1=William Carew|last2=Brand|first2=John|title=Faiths and folklore: a dictionary of national beliefs, superstitions and popular customs, past and current, with their classical and foreign analogues, described and illustrated|url=https://archive.org/details/faithsandfolklo00hazlgoog|access-date=13 February 2012|year=1905|publisher=Reeves and Turner|page=[https://archive.org/details/faithsandfolklo00hazlgoog/page/n296 622]}}</ref> In English-speaking areas, weasel can be an insult, noun or verb, for someone regarded as sneaky, conniving or untrustworthy. Similarly, "[[weasel words]]" is a critical term for words or phrasing that are vague, misleading or equivocal. ===Japanese superstitions=== [[File:Ten-Japanese-Marten-from-Gazu-Hyakki-Yagyo-by-Sekien.png|right|thumb|180px|"Ten" from the [[Gazu Hyakki Yagyō]] by [[Sekien Toriyama]]]] [[File:Mustela sibirica201602-02.jpg|180px|thumb|Japanese weasel]] In Japan, {{nihongo|weasels|鼬、鼬鼠|itachi}} were seen as ''[[yōkai]]'' (causing strange occurrences). According to the encyclopedia ''[[Wakan Sansai Zue]]'' from the [[Edo period]], a pack of weasels would cause conflagrations, and the cry of a weasel was considered a harbinger of misfortune. In the [[Niigata Prefecture]], the sound of a pack of weasels making a rustle resembled six people hulling rice, so was called the "weasel's six-person mortar", and it was an omen for one's home to decline or flourish. It is said that when people chase after this sound, the sound stops.<ref name="yokaijiten">村上健司編著 『妖怪事典』 毎日新聞社、2000年、36頁。{{ISBN|978-4-6203-1428-0}}。</ref> They are also said to shapeshift like the fox (''[[kitsune]]'') or ''[[Japanese raccoon dog|tanuki]]'', and the ''[[nyūdō-bōzu]]'' told about in legends in the [[Tōhoku region]] and the [[Chūbu region]] are considered weasels in disguise, and they are also said to shapeshift into ''[[ōnyūdō]]'' and little monks.<ref name="yokaijiten" /> In the collection of depictions ''[[Gazu Hyakki Yagyō]]'' by [[Sekien Toriyama]], they were depicted under the title 鼬, but they were read not as "''itachi''", but rather as "[[Japanese marten|''ten'']]",<ref>高田衛監修 稲田篤信・田中直日編 『鳥山石燕 画図百鬼夜行』 国書刊行会、1992年、50頁。{{ISBN|978-4-336-03386-4}}。</ref> and "ten" were considered to be weasels that have reached one hundred years of age and became yōkai that possessed supernatural powers.<ref>少年社・中村友紀夫・武田えり子編 『妖怪の本 異界の闇に蠢く百鬼夜行の伝説』 学習研究社〈New sight mook〉、1999年、123頁。{{ISBN|978-4-05-602048-9}}。</ref> Another theory is that when weasels reach several hundred years of age, they become ''[[mujina]]'' ([[Japanese badger]]s).<ref>草野巧 『幻想動物事典』 新紀元社、1997年、30頁。{{ISBN|978-4-88317-283-2}}。</ref> In Japanese, weasels are called {{Nihongo|''iizuna'' or ''izuna''|飯綱}} and in the [[Tōhoku Region]] and [[Shinano Province|Shinshu]], it was believed that there were families that were able to use a certain practice to freely use ''[[kudagitsune]]'' as ''iizuna-tsukai'' or ''kitsune-mochi''. It is said that [[Mount Iizuna]], from the [[Nagano Prefecture]], got its name due to how the gods gave people mastery of this technique from there.<ref name="koj2">『広辞苑 第4版』(1991年)、岩波書店「いづなつかい【飯綱使・飯縄遣】」の項</ref> According to the [[folklore studies|folklorist]] [[Mutō Tetsujō]], "They are called ''izuna'' in the [[Senboku District, Akita|Senboku District]],{{refn|group="*"|However, in the Senboku District, especially in {{nihongo|Obonai village|生保内村}}, they are called ''okojo''.<ref name="muto-042"/>}} [[Akita Prefecture]], and there are also the ichiko ([[itako]]) that use them."<ref name="muto-042">{{citation|last=武藤|first=鉄城|title=秋田郡邑魚譚|journal=アチックミユーゼアム彙報|volume=45|year=1940|url=http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1461537/189|pages=41–42|quote=北秋田ではモウスケと称して狐より怖がられ、仙北地方ではイヅナと称し、それを使う巫女(エチコ)もある。学名コエゾイタチを、此の付近..〔生保内村〕では..オコジョと云ふ(田口耕之助氏)}}。</ref> Also, in the [[Kitaakita District, Akita|Kitaakita District]], they are called'' mōsuke'' (猛助), and they are feared as ''yōkai'' even more than foxes (''[[kitsune]]'').<ref name="muto-042"/> In the [[Ainu language]], ermines are called ''upas-čironnup'' or ''sáčiri'', but since least weasels are also called ''sáčiri'', [[Mashio Chiri]] surmised that the honorary title ''poy-sáčiri-kamuy'' (where ''poy'' means "small") refers to least weasels.<ref>{{citation|last=知里|first=真志保 (Chiri, Mashiho)|title=アイヌ語獣名集 (On the names of the mammals of the Ainu language)|journal=北海道大學文學部紀要 = the Annual Reports on Cultural Science|date=30 March 1959|url=http://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/33244/1/7_PL150-121.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/33244/1/7_PL150-121.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|issn=0437-6668|page=141}}</ref> ====''Kamaitachi''==== {{Main|Kamaitachi}} ''[[Kamaitachi]]'' is a phenomenon wherein one who is idle is suddenly injured as if his or her skin were cut by a scythe. In the past, this was thought to be "the deed of an invisible ''yōkai'' weasel". An alternate theory, asserts that ''kamaitachi'' is derived from {{Nihongo|''kamae Tachi''|構え太刀||"stance sword"}}, so were not originally related to weasels at all.<ref name="shokoku">{{Cite book|author=人文社編集部|title=諸国怪談奇談集成 江戸諸国百物語 東日本編|year=2005|publisher=人文社|series=ものしりシリーズ|isbn=978-4-7959-1955-6|page=104}}</ref>
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