一切經音義 4.6

4.6

Plantain (芭蕉: the first character, bu [補] + jia [加] fan; the second character, zi [子] + yao [姚] fan. The Zizhi says: “The plantain grows in Jiaozhi; its leaves are like mats, and when boiled can be spun and woven into cloth; its sap can be used to retting hemp. The leaves are two to three spans wide, seven to eight spans long.” The Shuowen says: “The jiāo vegetable.” Both are formed from grass [草] with 巴 and 尗 phonetic, losing the correct character [...]. In vulgar modern usage it is traditionally written as 蕉, which was not originally a character).