Recorded in the late-Qing novel 《
二十年目睹之怪现状》 (Twenty Years of Witnessing Strange Things, by Wu Jianren), in which a young widow 'covered her face and cried out, then broke into great mournful wailing'. The four characters
大-
放-
悲-
声 form a vivid action sequence: 'big — release — grief — sound'.
