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Chinese exegetical dictionary (c. 583)
Jingdian Shiwen
Jingdian Shiwen scrolls in the Chinese Dictionary Museum, Jincheng, Shanxi
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. 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
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).
Jingdian Shiwen scrolls in the Chinese Dictionary Museum, Jincheng, Shanxi
