一切經音義 14.160

14.160

Divine turtle (神龜: [the character 龜 (turtle)] is 愧 [kui] + 韋 [wei] [guī]; an aquatic shelled creature. The Zhouli has six types of turtles, and the Erya has ten types of turtles; this refers to the first, the divine turtle. The Shuowen jiezi says: 'Bones on the outside and flesh on the inside.' Composed of 它 as a pictograph; it takes the alligator (鼉) as its male mate. Giant turtles (黿), softshell turtles (鼈), and frogs (黽) all derive from 它).