Shuowen Jiezi Jin Shi (Full Two Volumes)

Author: Xu Shen (Eastern Han Dynasty), written by Xu Shen, edited by Tang Kejing
Publisher:
Publication Date: 1997-07-01
Features: Shuowen Jiezi is a dictionary arranged by radicals, one of the earliest dictionaries in the world. This immortal masterpiece, created during the early stages of the development of Chinese linguistics and literature in the Eastern Han Dynasty, was compiled by the renowned scholar Xu Shen. Shuowen Jiezi holds an extremely important position in the history of Chinese linguistics. It first established the radical arrangement system, pioneering the method of dictionary organization and retrieval used in later dictionaries. It preserves the richest textual materials from ancient times, making it an indispensable stepping stone for modern scholars studying oracle bone script and bronze inscriptions, as well as a direct sample for studying small seal script. It elaborated on the theory of the Six Types of Characters and was the first to analyze the structural and morphological features of Chinese characters using the Six Types theory. The explanations prioritize form, deriving meanings from shapes, and further explore the original meanings while also addressing extended and borrowed meanings. Through methods of analyzing meanings based on form and tracing origins based on sound, it explains ancient language, clarifies regional dialects, and elucidates classical texts. As a result, Shuowen Jiezi also serves as an essential reference for systematically understanding ancient phonetics, vocabulary, and comprehending classical texts from the pre-Qin, Han Dynasty, and later periods. Its emergence not only established textualology as a formal science but also had a significant impact on the emergence and development of phonology, etymology, and lexical studies. After two thousand years of passage, it continues to be consulted, studied, memorized, imitated, and researched by countless readers today.