skyin gor

This is the RYI Dictionary content as presented on the site http://rywiki.tsadra.org/, which is being changed fundamentally and will become hard to use within the GoldenDict application. If you are using GoldenDict, please either download and import the rydic2003 file from DigitalTibetan (WayBack Machine version as the site was shut down in November 2021).

Or go directly to http://rywiki.tsadra.org/ for more upcoming features.

སྐྱིན་གོར
lizard [RY]

lizard, snow frog [JV]

lizard, snow frog, shape like da byid meat used as med. ?? [IW]

(sman) Lizard (original meaning ?), salamander, toad (as synonym)

Illustrations : 'Phrin Las 1987 (23_085) skyin gor

The term skyin gor is ambiguous, from lizard, gecko, salamander to toad. It might have been applied to lizard in the beginning, and later also applied to 'soft' lizards or reptiles, like salamanders and geckos (sbal ba – soft muscles in the palm of the hand, soft parts in the paw of animals).
First it translated the sanskrit name godha in the Astangahrdayasamhita, identified with Monitor lizards, like the Indian monitor (Varanus benghalensis). Jäschke (whose dictionary is based on long fieldwork in Ladakh) is very clear in the meaning of lizard : da byid lizard, Med.; = skyin gor, as well as rmigs pa small lizard, and rtsangs pa lizard, brag-gi. He renders sbal pa with frog.
But already the images in the Medical Thangkas show a different picture. The image (23_085) skyin gor in the Medical Thangkas is basically identical with the image (23_079) sbal pa, both showing a toad-like animal. Lizard-likes are shown in images (23_082) rmigs pa (soft-skinned impression) and (23_083) rtsangs pa (leathery impression).
Again different synonymies and images one finds with 'Jam-dpal, who gives on pp 250-252 four subsequent notices. gangs sbal (=da byid), picturing a salamander-type ; rtsang pa (=skyin gor can), picturing a kind of soft-skinned lizard ; rmigs bu, picturing some leathery lizard ; and finally sbal pa, picturing a toad and a tadpole. In the notices he quotes different sources, which describe further subtypes and names.
dGa' ba'i rDo rje (1995) does not employ the term skyin gor in his four notices concerned. In the first two, da byid (gangs sbal) and nags sbal, he identifies da byid with the Mountain salamander (ill. 835), and mentions a second type with a strong body (ill. 836), which has a toad-like appearance. Under nags sbal he mentions 2 types of rtsangs pa, a bigger nags rtsangs and a smaller klung rtsang. He identifies the first, nags rtsang/nags sbal, with the Tokay Gecko (ill. 840). In the last two he identifies lizards, rmigs bu with the Mongolian Racerunner (ill. 854) and rtsangs pa, more specifically klung rtsangs, with the Himalayan Agama (ill. 855). As sbal pa, he specifies the Asiatic Toad (sbal nag)
Johannes Schmidt (talk) 17:50, 24 February 2024 (EST)