Chinese etymology

Author: Feng Haofei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-03-01
Features: The basic purpose of this book is to enable those who are enthusiastic about etymology and lexicography to understand the annotations of ancient books across generations, master systematic and scientific etymological knowledge, and be able to create new annotations through learning. To achieve this, the content arrangement eliminates the outdated practice of mixing various subjects and unclear priorities of predecessors. Instead, it focuses on introducing the etymological system reflected in the etymological works of Chinese literature across generations—encompassing etymological styles, aspects of etymology, and etymological methods, with an emphasis on the introduction of etymological methods. In the chapter arrangement, apart from the preface, the development of etymology in ancient China is presented in a comprehensive manner, and other items related to the etymological system are inserted into the main chapters. Therefore, each is given a dedicated chapter and introduced first. The ordering of the main chapters follows the general process of modern etymological work, i.e., in the order of urgency in etymology, with methods and theories integrated within.