狐火
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狐火 (kitsunebi): a print depicting the commonly held folk belief that will o' the wisps or foxfire was caused by a fox.
Japanese
| Kanji in this term | |
|---|---|
| 狐 | 火 |
| きつね Hyōgai |
ひ > び Grade: 1 |
| kun'yomi | |
Etymology
Compound of 狐 (kitsune, “fox”) + 火 (hi, “fire”).[1][2] The hi changes to bi as an instance of rendaku (連濁).
First cited to a text from 1488.[1]
Pronunciation
Noun
- a mysterious pale fire often seen in the fields and mountains at night from winter to early spring: will o' the wisp, foxfire
-
- 夜前於㆓野路㆒有㆓狐火㆒
- yazen noji ni oite kitsunebi ari
- will o' the wisps appeared in the field path last night
- 夜前於㆓野路㆒有㆓狐火㆒
- 1784, Yosa Buson, 蕪村句集 :
- 狐火や髑髏に雨のたまる夜に
- kitsunebi ya dokuro ni ame no tamaru yo ni
- There's foxfire on nights when the rain collects in the skull.
- 狐火や髑髏に雨のたまる夜に
-
- kabuki props designed to imitate will o' the wisps
- Synonym of 野鶏頭 (nogeitō /ノゲイトウ/, “plumed or silver cockscomb (Celosia argentea)”)
- Synonym of 埃茸 (hokoritake /ホコリタケ/, “puffball (Lycoperdon perlatum)”)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN