一切經音義 53.158

53.158

夭殤 (the first character is yao + jiao fan; Du [Yu]'s commentary on the Zuozhuan says: "Dying young and cut short is called 夭"; the Shuowen says: "Bent"; it is formed from 'large' [大] picturing the shape; the second character is shang + yang fan; the Book of Rites says: "Males and females who die before the capping or hair-pinning ceremonies are said to suffer a premature death [殤]; dying between the ages of nineteen and sixteen is a long premature death; between fifteen and twelve is a medium premature death; between eleven and eight is a short premature death; below the age of eight is an unmoved-mourning premature death"; the Shuowen says it is formed with dai [歹] and the phonetic shang [傷] abbreviated; 歹 is the character pronounced jin).