一切經音義 35.72

35.72

Molars and jaw (The first character is yǎ + jiā fanqie. The Shuowen says: 'Strong teeth.' It depicts the shape of upper and lower teeth interlocking. Originally in seal script it was written as [?/爿], and now in clerical script it is written as 牙. The second character is hán + gǎn fanqie, in the rising tone. In the sūtra it is written as 頷, which is a vulgar character. The Shuowen says: 'The chin and jaw.' The ancient text originally took hán, pronounced hán, with 'head' as 顄, or written as 顄; these are ancient characters. For now, we follow vulgar usage).