也谈“白日”与“红日”

Our Views about the "White Sun" and the "Red Sun

有人认为古代的“白日”不表示白色。这种说法值得商榷。古人直觉中的太阳在一定时段中是白色的 ,而“白日”在使用中也有白色的意义。用“白日”指称红色的朝阳、夕阳 ,是一种习惯性的沿用。而唐以后的“红日”取代“白日”

Some people think that the ancient term of 'white sun' has nothing to do with the white colour. Such a view is open to question. The sun in the intuition of the ancient people was white in a certain period of time, but the 'white sun' in use also means the white colour. The use of the 'white sun' to refer to the red morning sun and the setting sun is a customary practice. The cause for the use of 'red sun' instead of 'white sun' after the Tang dynasty is due to the belief that both the sun and the red colour have an active symbolic meaning.