“龟”在中国古代曾经有过神圣的地位,《礼记·礼运》说:“麟、凤、龟、龙,谓之四灵。”这表明,在上古人们的心目中,龟是一种神灵之物。从生物学的意义上说,四灵中只有龟才确有其物,而事实上古人对龟的崇敬不下于神话中的龙、凤,这使得“龟”这个字也多现褒义。 首先是“龟”有时与“玉”连用,如《论语·季氏》说:“虎兕出于柙,龟玉毁于椟中,是谁之过与?”这里“龟”指龟甲,龟甲和玉器要用专门 “Turtle” had a sacred status in ancient China, and “Book of Rites, Li Yun” said: “Lin, Feng, Turtle, Dragon, the four spirits.” This shows that in ancient peoples’ minds, turtles are one God kind of thing. From a biological point of view, only the turtle does have its own thing in the four spirits, but in fact the ancients respect the turtle not under the myth of the dragon, phoenix, which makes the word “turtle” are more commendatory. First of all, “turtle” is sometimes used in conjunction with “jade,” as the Analects of Confucius says: "The turtle is a tortoise shell and a tortoise shell. And jade use special