The ''Xiao Erya'' (; "Little ra") was an early

Chinese dictionary Chinese dictionaries date back over two millennia to the Han dynasty, which is a significantly longer lexicographical history than any other language. There are hundreds of dictionaries for the Chinese language, and this article discusses some of ...

that supplements the ''

Erya The ''Erya'' or ''Erh-ya'' is the first surviving Chinese dictionary. Bernhard Karlgren (1931:49) concluded that "the major part of its glosses must reasonably date from the 3rd century BC." Title Chinese scholars interpret the first title chara ...

''. It was supposedly compiled in the early

Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

by Kong Fu ( 264?-208 BCE), a descendant of

Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...

. However, the received ''Xiao Erya'' text was included in a

Confucianist Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...

collection of debates, the ''Kongcongzi'' (; ''K'ung-ts'ung-tzu''; "The Kong Family Master's Anthology"), which contains fabrications that its first editor Wang Su (, 195-256 CE) added to win his arguments with

Zheng Xuan Zheng Xuan (127– July 200), courtesy name Kangcheng (), was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer near the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. He was born in Gaomi, Beihai Commandery (modern Weifang, Shandong), and was a student of Ma R ...

(, 127-200CE). 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 ...

scholar Hu Chenggong (, 1776–1832), who wrote the ''Xiao Erya yizheng'' ( "Exegesis and Proof for the ''Xiao Erya''"), accepted Kong Fu as the author. Liu concludes the ''Xiao Erya'' reliably dates from the Western Han Dynasty and suggests its compiler was from the southern state of Chu. The ''Xiao Erya'' has 374 entries, far less than the ''Erya'' with 2091. It simplifies the ''Eryas 19 semantically-based chapter divisions into 13, and entitles them with ''guang'' (廣 "expanding") instead of ''shi'' (釋 "explaining"). In comparison with the ''Erya'' chapter arrangement, ''Xiao Erya'' sections 1-3 (defining abstract words) are identical. Despite the different title with ''yi'' ("righteousness") instead of ''qin'' ("relatives"), both Section 4 and Chapter 4 ("Explaining Relatives") define kinship terms. Sections 6 and 7 divide Chapter 6 ("Explaining Utensils"). ''Xiao Erya'' Section 8 combines Chapters 13 ("Explaining Plants") and 14 ("Explaining Trees"); 9 mirrors 17; and Section 10 combines 18 ("Explaining Beasts") and 19 ("Explaining Domestic Animals"). ''Xiao Erya'' sections 5 (funeral terms) and 11-13 (units of measurement) are not included in the ''Erya''.

References

External links

''Xiao Erya''
Complete text in Chinese

ChinaKnowledge {{Dictionaries of Chinese Chinese classic texts Chinese dictionaries

See also

References

External links