《国语·周语上》“树于有礼,艾人必丰”。韦昭注:“(艾)音刈。树,种也。艾,报也。丰,厚也。”初着韦注,似乎韦昭对“艾”字所做的注释相当容易理解。即“艾”读作刈,意思是报答。然而翻阅一下字典辞书以及前人的说法就会发现问题并非如此简单,仅举几家观点如下: 《中文大辞典》(中国文化研究所印行)[艾] “Mandarin Weekly” “Tree in courtesy, Ai must be abundance.” Wei Zhao Note: “(AI) sound mowing trees, species also Ai, reported also Feng, thick also.” The beginning of Wei Note, it seems Wei Zhao “Ai” word comment is quite easy to understand. That Ai reads as a mow, meaning repay. However, if you look through the dictionaries of dictionaries and your predecessors, you will find the problem is not so simple. Let me cite just a few of the points as follows: “Chinese Dictionary” (printed by the Institute of Chinese Culture) [Ai]