摘要
Shuowen J iezi (《说文解字 》)is one of the richest sources of linguistic data for Ancient Chinese.However,unlike edited primary texts like Shijing(《诗经》)or compilations of individual glosses like Erya (《《尔雅》),the Shuowen is a work through and through shaped by the novel intention and method of its author.Consequently,without understanding Xu Shen's(许慎)purpose and how it motivates his individual explanations one risks misconstruing the data.By inclination an intellectual historian rather than a linguist,I am primarily interested in the vision that shaped this unique collection of language facts rather than in using the information contained therein toward a reconstruction of the Chinese it reflects.My own goal,however,is not opposed to the later,quite on the contrary,by uncovering the motivation behind Shuowen glosses I hope to disentangle them from the intricate mesh of interrelations into which they had been woven by their author so that they can be safely utilized by the linguist.
Shuowen Jiezi(《说文解字》)is one of the richest sources of linguistic data for Ancient Chinese.However,unlike edited primary texts like Shijing(《诗经》)or compilations of individual glosses like Erya(《尔雅》),the Shuowen is a work through and through shaped by the novel intention and method of its author.Consequently,without understanding Xu Shen’s(许慎)purpose and how it motivates his individual explanations one risks misconstruing the data.By inclination an intellectual historian rather than a linguist,I am primarily interested in the vision that shaped this unique collection of language facts rather than in using the information contained therein toward a reconstruction of the Chinese it reflects.My own goal,however,is not opposed to the later,quite on the contrary,by uncovering the motivation behind Shuowen glosses I hope to disentangle them from the intricate mesh of interrelations into which they had been woven by their author so that they can be safely utilized by the linguist.
作者
魏宏泽
Jan Vihan(Charles University)
