Guangya
Encyclopedia
The Guangya was an early 3rd century CE Chinese dictionary
, edited by Zhang Yi
during the Three Kingdoms
period. It was later called the Boya (博雅; Bóyǎ; Po-ya; "Broadened [Er]ya") owing to naming taboo
on Yang Guang (楊廣), which was the birth name of Emperor Yang of Sui
.
Zhang Yi wrote the Guangya as a supplement to the centuries older Erya
dictionary. He used the same 19 chapter divisions into lexical categories, and numerous Guangya entries are abstract words under the first three chapters Shigu (釋詁 "Explaining Old Words"), Shiyan (釋言 "Explaining Words"), and Shixun (釋訓 "Explaining Instructions").
The Qing Dynasty
philologist Wang Niansun
spent a decade studying this dictionary, and his Guangya shuzheng (廣雅疏證 "Guangya Annotations and Proofs") is still considered the authoritative edition, in which he demonstrated the important philological principle of "looking for the ancient meaning by considering the ancient sound ... not constrained by the structure of the character" (就古音以求古義......不限形體). His preface notes the Guangya has 2343 entries and a total of 18,150 characters (the received text has 17,326), including corrections and emendations, which is about 5000 more than the received Erya. The linguist Zhou Fagao edited an index (1977) to the Guangya.
Chinese dictionary
Chinese dictionaries date back over two millennia to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, which is a significantly longer lexicographical history than any other language. There are hundreds of dictionaries for Chinese, and this article will introduce some of the most important...
, edited by Zhang Yi
Zhang Yi (Cao Wei)
Zhang Yi , styled Zhì Ràng , was a native of Cao Wei of the Three Kingdoms period. He was the author of the Guangya, an early 3rd century CE Chinese dictionary. Around 230 CE, he held the rank of Doctor in the Imperial Academy under the Emperor Ming Di....
during the Three Kingdoms
Three Kingdoms
The Three Kingdoms period was a period in Chinese history, part of an era of disunity called the "Six Dynasties" following immediately the loss of de facto power of the Han Dynasty rulers. In a strict academic sense it refers to the period between the foundation of the state of Wei in 220 and the...
period. It was later called the Boya (博雅; Bóyǎ; Po-ya; "Broadened [Er]ya") owing to naming taboo
Naming taboo
Naming taboo is a cultural taboo against speaking or writing the given names of exalted persons in China and neighboring nations in the ancient Chinese cultural sphere.-Kinds of naming taboo:...
on Yang Guang (楊廣), which was the birth name of Emperor Yang of Sui
Emperor Yang of Sui
Emperor Yang of Sui , personal name Yang Guang , alternative name Ying , nickname Amo , known as Emperor Ming during the brief reign of his grandson Yang Tong), was the second son of Emperor Wen of Sui, and the second emperor of China's Sui Dynasty.Emperor Yang's original name was Yang Ying, but...
.
Zhang Yi wrote the Guangya as a supplement to the centuries older Erya
Erya
The Erya is the oldest extant Chinese dictionary or Chinese encyclopedia. Bernhard Karlgren concluded that "the major part of its glosses must reasonably date from" the 3rd century BC....
dictionary. He used the same 19 chapter divisions into lexical categories, and numerous Guangya entries are abstract words under the first three chapters Shigu (釋詁 "Explaining Old Words"), Shiyan (釋言 "Explaining Words"), and Shixun (釋訓 "Explaining Instructions").
The Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
philologist Wang Niansun
Wang Niansun
Wang Niansun , courtesy name: Huaizu was a Chinese scholar of the Qing Dynasty.-Biography:A native of Gaoyou, Jiangsu, he worked as a government official specializing in channelization before retiring to devote himself to his studies...
spent a decade studying this dictionary, and his Guangya shuzheng (廣雅疏證 "Guangya Annotations and Proofs") is still considered the authoritative edition, in which he demonstrated the important philological principle of "looking for the ancient meaning by considering the ancient sound ... not constrained by the structure of the character" (就古音以求古義......不限形體). His preface notes the Guangya has 2343 entries and a total of 18,150 characters (the received text has 17,326), including corrections and emendations, which is about 5000 more than the received Erya. The linguist Zhou Fagao edited an index (1977) to the Guangya.
External links
- Guangya 廣雅, Ulrich Theobald