Concise Ancient Chinese Dictionary

Author: Shi Dong
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1999-10-01
Features: This dictionary is a compact toolbook for ancient Chinese, designed for middle school students and readers with similar educational backgrounds to study ancient Chinese. The dictionary includes single characters, including traditional characters and variant characters, totaling around 8,900. It also includes annotated compound words and phrases, numbering around 8,500. The scope of characters and phrases is based on middle school classical Chinese textbooks while also considering famous classical works and passages. Rare characters and phrases rarely used in ancient texts, as well as characters and phrases with the same meaning in both ancient and modern Chinese but more commonly used in modern Chinese, are generally not included. The dictionary is arranged in the order of Chinese Pinyin. At the beginning, there are an "Index of Pinyin Syllables," a "Table of Radicals for Word Lookup," and a "Table of Difficult Characters for Word Lookup," for searching characters by sound and form. At the end, there is an appendix, "A Concise Table of the Chronological Order of Dynasties in Chinese History." The characters in this dictionary are standardized. The headers, entries, and annotations all use common characters (including simplified characters). The traditional characters and variant characters included are based on the officially published "Total Table of Simplified Characters" and the "Table for the Rectification of Variant Characters." The dictionary uses Chinese Pinyin to annotate each character, with difficult characters also annotated with homophones. Old or alternative pronunciations are also indicated. For characters with multiple pronunciations, they are listed separately with ㈠㈡㈢, etc., and renumbered. A simplified character that covers several traditional or variant characters is also listed separately with ㈠㈡㈢, etc., and renumbered, with the corresponding pronunciation code marked before the traditional or variant characters. To facilitate comparison and lookup, characters with multiple pronunciations are arranged with separate headers, annotations compiled together, and book examples provided as evidence. All content is listed under the header for the pronunciation marked with , while for other pronunciations, only the header is listed with the pronunciation and the page number where the pronunciation is found, without further annotations or book examples. The dictionary strives for precise and comprehensive definitions. For characters with multiple meanings, they are listed as ①②③, and for submeanings within a single meaning, they are listed as 1、2、3, all in sequential order. The arrangement of definitions generally follows the basic meaning first, then extended meanings, and finally borrowed meanings, to help readers understand and grasp the meanings of ancient Chinese words. The dictionary attempts to annotate the part of speech based on the grammatical nature of the character's meaning to deepen readers' understanding of the meaning of words, phrases, and sentences. However, as this is a first attempt, the level is limited, and there is little reference material. For some words, the part of speech is controversial among scholars, making it difficult to decide, and there may be some inaccuracies. Generally, after the definition, the dictionary provides classical Chinese examples as evidence. The selected book examples are preferably from classical Chinese textbooks and famous classical works or passages, with the book name, passage name, or author's name noted. The selection of book examples emphasizes typicality and familiarity to readers, generally without considering whether they are from the earliest source. For difficult examples, pronunciation, annotations, or even necessary explanations are provided. In the book examples, the ~ symbol represents the header character, and in the examples under disyllabic words or phrases, the ~~ symbol represents the disyllabic word or phrase. The entries selected for the dictionary are marked with 【】 and compiled together after the character's definition. For entries with multiple meanings, they are listed as 1、2、3, and when necessary, classical Chinese examples are provided as evidence. The dictionary attempts to include synonyms, antonyms, and semantic differentiation to help readers gain some knowledge of word origins. Semantic differentiation here is limited to two-character combinations, as some synonyms have since evolved into synonymous mixed usage.