一切經音義 76.179

76.179

Rainbow (虹蜺; the first character is fanqie 胡 + 公; the second character is fanqie 研 + 奚. The 'Monthly Ordinances' of the Classic of Rites says: 'In the last month of spring, the rainbow first appears.' Wang's commentary to the Songs of Chu says: 'The secondary rainbow (蜺) is coloured clouds resembling a dragon.' The Sounds and Meanings of the Book of Han says: 'The male is called 虹; the female is called 蜺.' The Wenzi dianshuo says: 'It is the didong rainbow, shaped like a creature. Both take 虫 as semantic classifier, with 工 and 兒 as phonetics.' 螮 is pronounced 帝; 蝀 is fanqie 丁 + 孔).