一切經音義 6.206

6.206

蚊蝱（上勿芬反說文作蟁古文奇字從昏作𧎪避　太宗廟諱改民從昏也。經中蚉俗字也說文云齧霓結反人飛虫子也。爾雅云鷏音田蟁母郭璞云似烏𪇰音駇而大黃白雜文鳴如鴿。今江東呼為蚊母俗說此鳥常吐出蚊虫故名蚊母。異苑曰水虫化為蚊子。下謀耕反。聲類云蟲嚙人似而大。案蝱虫其實似蜂而大小似蠅也。說文云嚙人飛虫也。生山澤川谷草花中化或於麞音章鹿腦中化生。從鹿鼻中噴出。普悶反。形大者曰蝱。一名木蝱。一名蜚音非蝱形小斑文者曰[虫*朁]音暫。[虫*朁]似蠅也）。

蚊蝱 (mosquitoes and horseflies: the first character is [pronounced with the fanqie] 勿芬. The Shuowen jiezi writes it as 蟁; the ancient character is an odd glyph with 昏, written as 𧎪. To avoid the taboo on the personal name of the temple of Taizong [Li Shimin], the character 民 was changed to 昏. The 蚉 found in the sūtras is a popular variant. The Shuowen jiezi says: 'A flying insect [pronounced with the fanqie] 霓結 that bites humans.' The Erya says: 'The tián (鷏) [pronounced] 田 is the mother of mosquitoes.' Guo Pu says: 'It resembles a wūpù (烏𪇰, [pù pronounced with the fanqie] 駇) but is larger, with variegated yellow and white markings, and coos like a dove. Nowadays east of the Yangtze it is called the mosquito mother; folklore says this bird continually vomits out mosquitoes, hence the name mosquito mother.' The Yiyuan says: 'Water insects transform into mosquitoes.' The second character is [pronounced with the fanqie] 謀耕. The Shenglei says: 'An insect that bites humans, resembling [a mosquito] but larger.' I examine that horsefly insects actually resemble bees, and their small ones resemble flies. The Shuowen jiezi says: 'A flying insect that bites humans. They are transformed and born among mountain marshes, river valleys, grasses, and flowers, or they are born through transformation inside the brains of roe deer [章] and deer, sprayed out [普悶] from the deer's nose. Those of large form are called méng (蝱); another name is wooden horsefly (木蝱); another name is flying horsefly (蜚蝱, [fēi pronounced] 非). Those of small form with spotted markings are called cǎn ([虫*朁], pronounced 暫). The [虫*朁] resembles a fly.')