Ancient Book Collection of Virtual Characters with Explanations

Author: Pei Xuehai
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-11-01
Features: Pei Xuehai's Collected Explanations of Virtual Characters in Ancient Books is another important work on virtual characters published in the 1930s after Yang Shuda's Word Comprehension. Collected Explanations of Virtual Characters in Ancient Books includes over 290 common virtual characters from the pre-Qin and Han periods (homographs with different forms are combined into one entry). This book compiles research findings on virtual characters from works such as Liu Qi's Discrimination of Auxiliary Characters, Wang Yinji's Explanations of Words in Classics, Yu Yue's Examples of Doubts in Ancient Books, Yang Shuda's Word Comprehension, Advanced Chinese Grammar, Zhang Binglin's New, and Sun Jingshi's Supplement to Explanations of Words in Classics, with Explanations of Words in Classics being the primary source. All adopted materials from other works are clearly noted. The arrangement follows Explanations of Words in Classics, ordered by the 36 initials. Under each entry, different usages are listed, followed by examples. Most examples are drawn from books of the Zhou, Qin, and Han periods, with some from later works used as supplementary evidence. The purpose of this book is to correct and supplement the aforementioned works by Liu, Wang, Yu, and Yang. It contains many valuable insights. However, its analysis of virtual character usage is overly detailed, with excessive transformations, which is a flaw. Additionally, the arrangement by 36 initials is not very convenient for general readers. The book does not include characters not considered virtual, those not found in Zhou, Qin, and Han texts, or those already thoroughly explained by predecessors, so the number of entries is relatively small and should be used in conjunction with works like Word Comprehension. The arrangement of Collected Explanations of Virtual Characters in Ancient Books is the same as Explanations of Words in Classics, using the 36 initials by the Tang monk and phonologist Shouwen as the order of entries.
Volume I, II, III, and IV are for pharyngeal sounds, such as: (yǔ), (yǔ), (yǐ), (yǐ), (yú), (fāng), (yīn), (yǔn), (ān), (yān), (wéi), (yǐ), (yě), (hé), (xī), (hú), (hé), (hū) etc.;
Volume V is for dental sounds, such as: (gù), (gù), (gū), (gè), (gǎn), (guǒ), (kě), (kǒng) etc.;
Volume VI is for dental-retroflex sounds, such as: (dé), (dū), (dāng), (děng), (dǐng), (dān), (dú), (tú), (dài), (tè), (dàn), (nǎi), (nà), (zhī), (liáng), (lái), (lüè) etc.;
Volumes VII, VIII, and IX are for dental sounds, such as: (ér), (rǔ), (nǚ), (rú), (ruò), (rán), (ěr), (réng), (zé), (jiāng), (zī), (zāi), (zuò), (sī), (sī), (zhī), (zhě), (zhū), (suǒ), (shì), (shú) etc.;
Volume X is for labial sounds, such as: (bǐ), (bì), (bì), (bìng), (bié), (pǔ), (pǒ), (pō), (bù), (fēi), (fú), (wú), (wú), (wù), (wēi), (wǎng) etc.
In terms of writing style, each virtual character is first discussed for its original meaning, followed by its extended meanings and borrowed meanings. All adopted interpretations from predecessors are noted in the annotations. Taking the character “” as an example: Under the entry for “,” the original meaning is first stated: “, .” Then, the earliest source of this explanation is annotated in small print: “See Zheng's annotation on Tang Gong in Liji,” followed by examples. Next, borrowed characters related to the meaning of “” are listed using the format “×” (the character may also be written as ×) and appended to the relevant meanings. For instance, after introducing the source and examples for “, ,” it is followed by: “‘’.” Zuo Zhuan (Duke Zhao, 2nd year—should be 3rd year—author's note): “, , , .” This means that when “” represents the meaning of “,” the borrowed character is “.” As an example like this from Zuo Zhuan, the “” here means “.”