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Duan Yucai () (1735–1815),
His monumental ''Shuowen Jiezi Zhu'' (說文解字注 "Annotated ''Shuowen Jiezi''"), which he spent 30 years to complete, was published shortly before his death (in 1815). Wang Niansun, in his preface to the work, says that "it has been 1,700 years since a work of the same quality appeared" (), suggesting that it is the greatest Chinese philological work since ''Shuowen Jiezi'', which was published during the early 2nd century.
On-line edition of ''Annotated Shuowen Jiezi''說文解字注 online version by Alain Lucas and Jean-Louis Schott
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duan, Yucai 1735 births 1815 deaths Chinese Confucianists Linguists from China Qing dynasty writers Writers from Changzhou Scientists from Changzhou People from Jintan District 18th-century Chinese writers
Duan Yucai () (1735–1815), courtesy name
A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...
Ruoying () was a Chinese philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
of the Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
. He made great contributions to the study of Historical Chinese phonology
Historical Chinese phonology deals with reconstructing the sounds of Chinese from the past. As Chinese is written with logographic characters, not alphabetic or syllabary, the methods employed in Historical Chinese phonology differ considerably ...
, and is known for his annotated edition of ''Shuowen Jiezi
''Shuowen Jiezi'' () is an ancient Chinese dictionary from the Han dynasty. Although not the first comprehensive Chinese character dictionary (the '' Erya'' predates it), it was the first to analyze the structure of the characters and to give ...
''.
Biography
A native ofJintan
Jintan District is a district under the administration of Changzhou in the Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China.
History
Jintan, known as Jinshan () in ancient times, was a township of Yanling commandery since the reign of the ...
, Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...
, he resigned his government post at the age of 46 to concentrate on his studies. A student of Dai Zhen
Dai Zhen (, January 19, 1724 – July 1, 1777) was a Chinese philosopher of the Qing dynasty. Hailing from Xiuning, Anhui Dai was a versatile scholar who made great contributions to mathematics, geography, phonology and philosophy. His philos ...
, he divided Old Chinese
Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...
words into 17 rhyme groups. He suggested that "characters sharing the same phonetic component must belong to the same rhyme group s_deduced_from_the_rhyming_scheme_of_'' s_deduced_from_the_rhyming_scheme_of_''Shijing''">Shijing.html"_;"title="s_deduced_from_the_rhyming_scheme_of_''Shijing">s_deduced_from_the_rhyming_scheme_of_''Shijing''_()._He_also_suggested_that_there_is_no_four_tones.html" ;"title="Shijing''.html" ;"title="Shijing.html" ;"title="s deduced from the rhyming scheme of ''Shijing">s deduced from the rhyming scheme of ''Shijing''">Shijing.html" ;"title="s deduced from the rhyming scheme of ''Shijing">s deduced from the rhyming scheme of ''Shijing'' (). He also suggested that there is no four tones">departing tone in Old Chinese.
His monumental ''Shuowen Jiezi Zhu'' (說文解字注 "Annotated ''Shuowen Jiezi''"), which he spent 30 years to complete, was published shortly before his death (in 1815). Wang Niansun, in his preface to the work, says that "it has been 1,700 years since a work of the same quality appeared" (), suggesting that it is the greatest Chinese philological work since ''Shuowen Jiezi'', which was published during the early 2nd century.
References
*He Jiuying 何九盈 (1995). ''Zhongguo gudai yuyanxue shi'' (中囯古代语言学史 "A history of ancient Chinese linguistics"). Guangzhou: Guangdong jiaoyu chubanshe. *''Zhongguo da baike quanshu
The ''Encyclopedia of China'' () is the first large-entry modern encyclopedia in the Chinese language. The compilation began in 1978. Published by the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, the encyclopedia was issued one volume at a time, begin ...
'' (1980–1993). 1st Edition. Beijing; Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe.
*
External links
On-line edition of ''Annotated Shuowen Jiezi''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duan, Yucai 1735 births 1815 deaths Chinese Confucianists Linguists from China Qing dynasty writers Writers from Changzhou Scientists from Changzhou People from Jintan District 18th-century Chinese writers