The , or the Sankoku (三国) for short, is a general-purpose
Japanese dictionary
have a history that began over 1300 years ago when Japanese Buddhist priests, who wanted to understand Chinese sutras, adapted Chinese character dictionaries. Present-day Japanese lexicographers are exploring computerized editing and electronic ...
. It is closely affiliated with another contemporary dictionary published by
Sanseidō
is a Japanese publishing company known for publishing dictionaries and textbooks.
Notable publications Dictionary
* ''Daijirin'' : Japanese dictionary
* ''Sanseido Kokugo Jiten'' : Japanese dictionary
* ''Shin Meikai kokugo jiten
The , co ...
, the ''
Shin Meikai kokugo jiten''.
The ''Sanseidō kokugo jiten'' has been revised about once a decade.
*1960, 1st edition
*1974, 2nd edition
*1982, 3rd edition
*1992, 4th edition
*2001, 5th edition
*2007, 6th edition
*2014, 7th edition
Japanese
linguist
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Lingu ...
and
lexicographer
Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries.
* Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries.
* Theoretica ...
Kenbō Hidetoshi (見坊豪紀, 1914-1992) was chief editor of the first four editions. Among his prominent coeditors,
Kindaichi Kyōsuke (金田一京助, 1882-1971), his son
Kindaichi Haruhiko (金田一春彦, 1913-2004), and
Yamada Tadao (山田忠雄, 1916-1996) began with the 1st edition;
Shibata Takeshi (柴田武) with the 2nd;
Hida Yoshifumi (飛田良文) with the 4th; and
Ichikawa Takashi (市川孝) began editing with the 5th edition ''Sanseidō kokugo jiten''. Several of these lexicographers worked together on a predecessor Sanseido dictionary, the ''
Meikai kokugo jiten'' (明解国語辞典). Kenbō began working with its chief editor Kindaichi Kyōsuke on the 1st edition (1943) and was an editor on the 2nd edition (1952).
In 1959, Sanseido placed Kenbō in charge of the ''Sanseidō kokugo jiten'', and subsequently put Yamada in charge of the comparatively larger ''Shin Meikai kokugo jiten'' (1972 … 2005). The 1st edition ''Sanseidō kokugo jiten'' (1960) had 57,000
headword
In morphology and lexicography, a lemma (plural ''lemmas'' or ''lemmata'') is the canonical form, dictionary form, or citation form of a set of word forms. In English, for example, ''break'', ''breaks'', ''broke'', ''broken'' and ''breaking'' ...
s, while the 2nd-5th editions increased the numbers to 62,000 (1974), 65,000 (1982), 73,000 (1992), and 76,000 (2001) respectively.
Emphasizing contemporary usage is one of ''Sanseidō kokugo jitens most significant contributions to modern Japanese
lexicography
Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries.
* Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries.
* Theoreti ...
. Many traditional Japanese dictionaries copy usage examples from earlier dictionaries, often taken from
Classical Japanese language
The classical Japanese language ( ''bungo'', "literary language"), also called "old writing" ( ''kobun''), sometimes simply called "Medieval Japanese" is the Literary language, literary form of the Japanese language that was the standard until ...
sources. When Kenbō Hidetoshi began compiling the 1st edition, he started collecting Japanese word usages from newspapers, magazines, and broadcasts, which he would write on cards. By the time he died, he had recorded some 1,400,000 usage example cards.
The ''Sanseidō kokugo jiten'' is known for including
neologism
A neologism Ancient_Greek.html"_;"title="_from_Ancient_Greek">Greek_νέο-_''néo''(="new")_and_λόγος_/''lógos''_meaning_"speech,_utterance"is_a_relatively_recent_or_isolated_term,_word,_or_phrase_that_may_be_in_the_process_of_entering_com ...
s, ''
katakana
is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived f ...
''
loanword
A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because ...
s, and informal expressions.
Tom Gally, a Japanese translator and lexicographer, gives this evaluation:
Like the other Sanseidou dictionaries, this one has a strong contemporary emphasis and shows the influence of its late editor's renowned citation collecting. The entries include many colloquialisms that were missed or ignored by other lexicographers.
References
External links
三省堂国語辞典 第7版 Sanseido's homepage for the 7th edition ''Sanseidō kokugo jiten''
{{Dictionaries of Japanese
Sanseido Kokugo Jiten
Lexicography
Sanseido books