Naxi-English-Chinese Vocabulary (Volume 1)

Author: J.F. Rock [J.F. Roc]
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-01-01
Features: Research on the Naxi culture has spanned over 80 years since the 1920s. Foreign scholars have published a large number of articles and works, while domestic scholars have also produced numerous papers and books on Dongba culture. However, in terms of historical conditions, background, depth, academic rigor, and impact, J.F. Rock's research and contributions seem more outstanding. In fact, as early as the 1960s, the international academic community had already recognized J.F. Rock as the father of Naxi studies. German orientalist Klaus Jarrett remarked, "Without his works in this field of research, there would be no Naxi studies today. The Naxi hieroglyphs are one of the few pictographic scripts that have survived internationally. Dr. Rock devoted his entire life to studying the culture, history, and language of the Naxi people in southwestern China. Professor Giuseppe Tucci, the director of the Institute of Oriental Art in Rome and a renowned expert in Tibetan studies, strongly supported Rock's academic research in the 1950s and 1960s and published his seminal work, A1Na-2khi-English Encyclopedic Dictionary, as part of the Rome Oriental Series. The first volume was published in 1963, while the second volume was only printed in 1972. It required immense human and material resources in terms of layout and compilation. Under the technological conditions of that time, it can be considered a masterpiece in the history of publishing and printing. Due to the very limited print run at the time, only a few people had the opportunity to read it. The newly released bilingual edition undoubtedly provides an extensive resource for numerous researchers studying Naxi culture.
Special Notes:
1. The original work is divided into two volumes, and this is the first volume, which includes 3,414 Dongba characters. To facilitate readers in consulting the original text, the translator has retained the Naxi and English originals while adding Chinese translations, publishing it under the title Naxi-English-Chinese Encyclopedic Dictionary.
2. The original work, in addition to Naxi and English, contains Rock's phonetic notation, Latin, parts of Tibetan, and some non-standard Chinese. Due to the difficulties in typesetting, the entire original content has been scanned. If there are occasionally unclear characters or non-standard typesetting in the translation, we kindly ask for the readers' understanding.
3. To preserve the historical flavor of the original work, some of the less standard terms used in the text to refer to certain ethnic groups in China have not been adjusted in the translation. These terms include Naxi, Rixi, Mijia, Kuzi, Naxi people, Guolu people, and Ruanke people, among others.
4. The main text is mostly translated freely, with place names and personal names transliterated and accompanied by the original. Due to the passage of time, some place names cannot be verified, so the translated names may be imprecise or inaccurate.
5. Due to the differences in historical backgrounds of the original author, personal ideologies, academic perspectives, and research methods, although the content of the dictionary undoubtedly has significant academic reference value, it may still contain personal biases or even inaccuracies that do not align with historical facts. Experts and scholars are advised to exercise discernment.
The original work of this book is divided into two volumes, and this is the first volume, which includes 3,414 Dongba characters. To facilitate readers in consulting the original text, the translator has retained the Naxi and English originals while adding Chinese translations.