Han-Han Dae Sajeon is the generic term for

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, ...

-to-

hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The le ...

dictionaries. There are several such dictionaries from different publishers. The most comprehensive one, published by

Dankook University Dankook University (commonly referred to as Dankook), abbreviated as DU or DKU, is a prestigious private research university in Yongin and Cheonan, South Korea. The university was established in 1947. It was the first university established after ...

Publishing, contains 53,667

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji ...

and 420,269 compound words. This dictionary was a project of the

Institute of Oriental Studies, which started in June 1977 and was completed 28 October 2008, and cost 31 billion KRW, or US$25 million.World’s Biggest Chinese Dictionary Completed – Digital Chosunilbo (English Edition)
/ref> The dictionary comprises 16 volumes (including an index volume) totalling over 20,000 pages. In addition to the Han-Han Daesajeon, in 1966, Dankook University completed the "Dictionary of Korean Chinese Characters." Composed of 4 volumes with more than 4,410 pages, this dictionary "catalogs Chinese characters made and used only by our Korean ancestors (182 characters) as well as examples of Chinese words with Korean usages (84,000 words)."

History

With no Chinese dictionaries with Korean translations, most Korean scholars were resigned to relying on Chinese dictionaries in foreign languages to interpret original Chinese texts. Dr. Choong-sik Chang, the president of Dankook University, brought Lee Hee-seung, the leading authority on Korean literature, to head Dankook's Institute of Oriental Studies. Scholars were invited as advisers in 1977 and as editors to start compilation in 1978. Initially, the university foundation turned down the project after financial difficulties, and concerned senior scholars tried to dissuade Chang from compiling the dictionary. In 2009, Dankook University presented the first complete edition of the Han-Han Daesajeon, or the "Great Chinese-Korean Dictionary". 200,000 people worked on the dictionary for 132,800 days, and scholars at Dankook continue to revise and add footnotes to the dictionary. The scale of the existing large Chinese character dictionaries of other countries is as follows: (Dankook University News cross reference) * ''China's Comprehensive Dictionary of Chinese Words'': 23,000 characters, 380,000 words * ''Taiwan's Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Chinese Language'': 50,000 characters, 400,000 words * '' Japan's Great Chinese–Japanese Dictionary'' (大漢和辞典): 50,305 characters, 540,000 words * '' China's Great Compendium of Chinese Characters'' (汉语大字典) (Second Edition): 60,370 characters

Others

Classical Chinese character dictionaries are an essential tool for accessing and understanding traditional humanities with a foundation in Chinese literature, not only in Chinese-speaking world but also in Korea, Japan and Vietnam. The first notable effort to compile a comprehensive classical Chinese character dictionary was made by

Tetsuji Morohashi was an important figure in the field of Japanese language studies and Sinology. He is best known as chief editor of the '' Dai Kan-Wa jiten'', a comprehensive dictionary of Chinese characters, or ''kanji''. Biography Morohashi's father was also ...

(1883–1982), a Japanese scholar. Tetsuji recognized the need and grew determined to compile a Chinese–Japanese Dictionary while studying abroad in China. Despite his manuscripts being burned in a fire during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, his publisher going bankrupt, and numerous other setbacks, after 32 years of collaborative work, the '' Dai Kan-Wa Jiten'' or "Great Chinese–Japanese Dictionary" was finally completed. Taiwan's Defense Committee followed suit with a 10-year effort, along with the Academia Sinica, to complete the ''

Zhongwen Da Cidian __NOTOC__ The ''Zhongwen Da Cidian'', also known in English as the ''Encyclopaedic Dictionary of the Chinese Language'', is an unabridged Chinese dictionary, edited by Zhang Qiyun and others. The first edition had 40 volumes including its rad ...

'', or "Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Chinese Language." In 1975, China also made the compilation of a Chinese character dictionary a national project. Collaboration attracted the participation of 43 universities, as well as numerous research centers and scholars nationwide, yielding the 12 volume ''

Hanyu Da Cidian The ''Hanyu Da Cidian'' () is the most inclusive available Chinese dictionary. Lexicographically comparable to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', it has diachronic coverage of the Chinese language, and traces usage over three millennia from Ch ...

'' or "Comprehensive Dictionary of Chinese Words" in 1993.

References

External links

Dankook University Institute of Oriental StudiesHan-Han Dae SajeonDankook University
{{Dictionaries of Chinese Dankook University Korean dictionaries Chinese dictionaries

History

Others

See also

References

External links