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Jingdian Shiwen

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Jingdian Shiwen
Jingdian Shiwen scrolls in the Chinese Dictionary Museum, Jincheng, Shanxi
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese經典釋文
Simplified Chinese经典释文
Literal meaningExplaining words used in the classics
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinJīngdiǎn shìwén
Bopomofoㄐㄧㄥ ㄉㄧㄢˇ ㄕˋ ㄨㄣ
Wade–GilesChing¹-tien³ shih⁴-wên²
Wu
SuzhouneseCin1tie3 seq7ven2
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationGīngdín sīkmàhn
JyutpingGing1din2 sik1man4
Southern Min
Hokkien POJKeng-tián siak-bûn
Middle Chinese
Middle Chinesekeng tenX syek mjun
Old Chinese
Baxter–Sagart (2014)*k-lˤeŋ tˤə[r]ʔ l̥Ak mə[n]
Korean name
Hangul경전석문
Hanja經典釋文
Transcriptions
Revised RomanizationGyeongjeon seongmun
McCune–ReischauerKyŏngjŏn sŏngmun
Japanese name
Kanji経典釈文
Hiraganaけいてんしゃくもん
Transcriptions
RomanizationKeiten shakumon

An exhibit of Jingdian Shiwen in the Chengdu Library

The Jingdian Shiwen, often simply referred to as the Shiwen by Chinese philologists, was a Chinese dictionary compiled by the scholar Lu Deming c. 583. Based on the works of 230 scholars whose work spanned the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties periods, the work provides exegetical commentary on the evolution of words present in the Confucian Thirteen Classics and the Daoist Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi.[1] Namely, it tacks the gradual shifts in both the meaning and pronunciation of classical words. to It also cites numerous ancient works that no longer exist; citations which for some constitute the only documentary evidence of their previous existence.

The dictionary's pronunciations are given by fanqie annotations, and have proved invaluable for historical linguists studying the Middle Chinese stage of the language's history. Sinologist Bernhard Karlgren considered the Jingdian Shiwen and the Qieyun, a rime dictionary assembled in 601, as the two primary sources for the reconstruction of Middle Chinese. Many studies in Chinese historical linguistics use data from the Jingdian Shiwen .

References

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  1. ^ Mair, Victor H. (1998), "Tzu-shu 字書 or tzu-tien 字典 (dictionaries)," in The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature (Volume 2), ed. by William H. Nienhauser, Jr., SMC Publishing, p. 168 (165-172).

Further reading

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