一切經音義 20.110

20.110

鉞斧 (The first character has the fanqie *yuan* + *yue* [yuè]. Gu Yewang states: "In ancient times, a *yuè* battle-axe was used for judicial executions: the Xia grasped the dark axe, the Yin grasped the white axe, and the Zhou held the yellow axe." The *Shuowen* writes it as 戊 and states: "A large axe. Formed with [戉-戈] and has *ge* phonetic." Sūtra editions write it with *jin* (metal) as 鉞, which is the contemporary character).