Collection of Explanations on Virtual Words in Ancient Books (Vol. 1-2)

Author: Pei Xuehai
Publisher:
Publishing Time: Not available
Features: The Collected Explanations of Virtual Characters in Ancient Books includes over 290 common virtual characters from the pre-Qin and Han periods (homonymous variants 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 Yinzhi's Explanations of Words in Classics, Yu Yue's Examples of Doubts in Ancient Books, Yang Shudao's Word Comprehension, Advanced Chinese Grammar, Zhang Binglin's New Folklore, and Sun Jingshi's Supplementary Explanations of Words in Classics, with Explanations of Words in Classics as the primary reference. All adopted materials are clearly annotated. The arrangement follows Explanations of Words in Classics, ordered by the thirty-six phonetic initials. Under each entry, different usages are listed, followed by illustrative examples. Most examples are drawn from books of the Zhou, Qin, and Han periods, with occasional references to later works as supplementary evidence. The purpose of this book is to correct and complement the aforementioned works by Liu, Wang, Yu, and Yang. It contains many valuable insights. However, its analysis of virtual characters is overly detailed, with excessive interchanges, which is a flaw. Additionally, the arrangement by thirty-six phonetic initials may not be convenient for general readers. The book does not include characters not used as virtual characters, 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 The Collected Explanations of Virtual Characters in Ancient Books is the same as that of Explanations of Words in Classics, using the thirty-six phonetic initials compiled by the monk Shouwen of the late Tang dynasty, a phonetic scholar.
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, the book first discusses the original meaning of each virtual character, followed by its extended meanings and borrowed meanings. All references to previous scholars' interpretations are annotated in the notes. 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 commentary on Tang Gong in the Book of Rites,” 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: “‘’.” The Zuo Zhuan (Book of Zuo) in the second year of the Zhao Gong era (should be the third year—author’s note): “, , , .” This means that when “” represents the meaning of “,” the borrowed character is “.” As an example, the character “” in the Zuo Zhuan sentence means “.”