一切經音義 20.5

20.5

Interpretation (鞮譯: upper character is *di-xi* fanqie; the *Liji* says: people of the five directions do not share languages and have different desires; to convey their intents and communicate their desires, those of the West are called *diti*; Zheng [Xuan]'s commentary says: these are worldly people and their designations simply follow the categories of their work; *di* means to know; the *Guangya* says: *diti* means interpreter; the *Shuowen jiezi* says it derives from 革 with 是 as phonetic).