Shuowen Jiezi - (Literary and Vernacular Contrast)

Author: Xu Shen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: ★ Shuowen Jiezi, written by Xu Shen (c. 58–c. 147), a renowned Confucian scholar and philologist of the Eastern Han Dynasty, is the foundational work of Chinese textual studies. The book contains 9,353 main characters, 1,163 variant characters, totaling 10,516 characters, with explanations using 133,441 characters. It pioneered the system of 540 radicals. Since its publication in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Shuowen Jiezi has been highly regarded by language and textual scholars throughout the ages, serving as a crucial reference for later studies and ranking as one of China and even the world's most authoritative dictionaries. ★ This edition is based on the Chen Changzhi edition of 1873 (the 12th year of the Tongzhi era), with collation from the Sun Xingyan reprint of the Song Dynasty edition (1809, the 14th year of the Jiaqing era), and references to Shuowen Jiezi Zhu by Duan Yucai, Shuowen Tongun Dingsheng by Zhu Junsheng, Shuowen Jiezi Yizheng by Gui Fu, Shuowen Juedu and Shuowen Jieyi by Wang Yun, Shuowen Jiezi Zhuanshuo by Xu Hao, as well as recent research findings, for punctuation and collation. ★ The original small seal script is listed first, followed by the regular script character head, which is then accompanied by Pinyin and the Daxu edition’s phonetic annotations. Next are the original explanations, followed by Translation and Notes. The Translation provides the English rendering of the original explanations, while the Notes clarify the interpretations of the small seal script and explanations. Xu Xuan’s newly added characters are omitted. ★ The character forms primarily follow the Chen Changzhi and Sun Xingyan editions, with references to Shuowen Jiezi Xituan and Shuowen Jiezi Zhu. Variants in the explanations are generally left unchanged, while taboo characters are directly revised. ★ The character origins in Etymology are derived from unearthed artifacts, bronze inscriptions, and ancient texts, with sources identified below each character form. ★ The "Wen × Chong ×" at the end of each radical section is a specialized term for counting the number of characters and variant characters (archaic forms appended to the main character) within each radical. Due to long-term circulation and varying printings, discrepancies in the number of radicals, characters, and variants often occur. These are preserved as-is to maintain the original appearance. ★ Over 1,900 years since its publication, many character pronunciations have changed. There may be inconsistencies between Pinyin and the Daxu edition’s phonetic annotations. This edition uses Pinyin to indicate modern pronunciations, while retaining the Daxu edition’s annotations.