Sweltering · ye ye

At a glance

Pinyin

yē yē

Simplified

暍暍

Literal

暍暍 yē yē — the graph is 日, sun, over 曷, and its basic meaning is heatstroke: what the sun does to a person. In this chapter it is paired with 熇熇 hè hè, the blazing of fire, and the two together give the two faces of the same heat: 熇熇 is heat that flames, 暍暍 is heat that smothers. The pairing matters, because a malaria fit is not simply hot — it is hot in a way that will not lift. The word appears once in the whole Suwen, here, and only in this doubled form.

Shuowen

《說文解字》：暍，傷暑也，从日曷聲——**「傷暑」二字是暍之本義，謂為暑氣所傷**。「暍」讀 yē，本篇2見，**皆在「暍暍」一詞中，本篇之外《素問》他篇未見**；**从日不从火**，與「熇」（「熇」讀 hè）之从火者別：**日之熱鬱而不可解，火之熱熾而可見**，**二字連用，一外一內**。「然」讀 rán，本篇6見。**「熇熇暍暍然」五字，為本篇寫熱之最重者**——與第三十五篇「無剌熇熇之熱」之「熇熇」（本站 id 1060 已立目）同字而異用：**彼以之設禁，此以之狀證**。