阿鼻叫喚

From 阿鼻 (ābí, “Avīci”) +‎ 叫喚 / 叫唤 (jiàohuàn, “Raurava, clamoring, screaming”), in reference to two of the hells or Narakas of Buddhism.

阿鼻叫喚

1. hell; agonized cries in the midst of tragedy
   • 1931, 雷馬克 [Erich Maria Remarque], translated by 沈叔之, 戰後 [zhànhòu, The Road Back], page 537:

     這是阿鼻叫喚的場面！……不多一刻之前？還是在那靜寂的落陽下面，眺望着銅色皮膚的女子，……可是同在這一天，同在這一天的下午，繼續着的，就是機關鎗的掃射，負傷者的呼喊！ [MSC, trad.]
     这是阿鼻叫唤的场面！……不多一刻之前？还是在那静寂的落阳下面，眺望着铜色皮肤的女子，……可是同在这一天，同在这一天的下午，继续着的，就是机关枪的扫射，负伤者的呼喊！ [MSC, simp.]

     Zhè shì ābíjiàohuàn de chǎngmiàn!...... Bù duō yīkè zhī qián? Háishì zài nà jìngjì de luòyáng xiàmiàn, tiàowàngzhe tóngsè pífū de nǚzǐ,...... Kěshì tóng zài zhè yī tiān, tóng zài zhè yī tiān de xiàwǔ, jìxùzhe de, jiùshì jīguānqiāng de sǎoshè, fùshāngzhě de hūhǎn! [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1936, “『夜店』的藝術與社會價值”, in 李誼, transl., edited by 周天民 and 張彥夫, 高爾基選集, volume 3 戲劇, page 10:

     當世上正在恐怖的阿鼻叫喚，苦悶苦鬥之眞中，如羅嘉這樣篤信謙恭的老人之出現，結果只是間接地促進止宿此間的憂鬱的旅人的自殺。 [MSC, trad.]
     当世上正在恐怖的阿鼻叫唤，苦闷苦斗之真中，如罗嘉这样笃信谦恭的老人之出现，结果只是间接地促进止宿此间的忧郁的旅人的自杀。 [MSC, simp.]

     Dāng shìshàng zhèngzài kǒngbù de ābíjiàohuàn, kǔmēn kǔdòu zhī zhēnzhōng, rú Luójiā zhèyàng dǔxìn qiāngōng de lǎorén zhī chūxiàn, jiéguǒ zhǐshì jiànjiē dì cùjìn zhǐsù cǐ jiān de yōuyù de lǚrén de zìshā. [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1989, 杨骚, “灾区巡礼”, in 杨西北, editor, 杨骚选集:

     阿鼻叫喚的地獄，移植在這錦繡般的天府，錦繡被敵人撕碎了，伙伴們，記住記住！ [MSC, trad.]
     阿鼻叫唤的地狱，移植在这锦绣般的天府，锦绣被敌人撕碎了，伙伴们，记住记住！ [MSC, simp.]

     Ābíjiàohuàn de dìyù, yízhí zài zhè jǐnxiù bān de tiānfǔ, jǐnxiù bèi dírén sīsuì le, huǒbànmen, jìzhù jìzhù! [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Two theories are prominent:

1. 阿鼻地獄(あびじごく) (abi jigoku, “avīci”) and 叫喚地獄(きょうかんじごく) (kyōkan jigoku, “raurava”) are two of the hot hells of Buddhism. Thus, the term is a coordinative compound of two major hells in Buddhism.
2. The term is made of 阿鼻(あび) (abi, “avīci”) + 叫喚(きょうかん) (kyōkan, “to cry out”), referring to the screams of the damned in Avīci.

The hell Avīci is described in the Lotus Sutra, chapter 19, although raurava (叫喚地獄 (kyōkan jigoku)) does not appear to be referenced in the same chapter, which is otherwise claimed to be the source of this term (e.g. by Kanken Yojijukugo Jiten), and the combination of "avīci" and "screaming" appears to fit well one of the common yojijukugo patterns of combining nouns and verbs.

Further, unlike other yojijukugo, it does not seem that the Chinese translation of the Lotus Sutra text directly uses this combination of characters (e.g. 叫喚 is not found therein), so it seems that a direct textual origin is not the case. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

• (Tokyo) あび・きょーかん [áꜜbì kyòókáń] (Atamadaka + Heiban – [1]-[0])

• IPA^(key): [a̠bʲi kʲo̞ːkã̠ɴ]

阿(あ)鼻(び)叫(きょう)喚(かん) • (abi kyōkan) ^{←あびけうくわん (abi keukwan)?}

1. (literally) agonized crying out while going through hell (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)
2. (figuratively) extreme hardship and suffering

• “^▲阿鼻叫喚”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026
• “阿鼻叫喚”, in 漢検四字熟語辞典 (Kanken Yojijukugo Jiten, “Kanji Kentei Four-Character-Idiom Dictionary”) (in Japanese), second edition, Tōkyō: Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2012, →ISBN, pages 63–64

阿鼻叫喚 • (abigyuhwan) (hangeul 아비규환)

1. hanja form^? of 아비규환