Shuowen Jiezi is a magnificent masterpiece of Xu Shen in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Unfortunately, due to the tampering of later generations, by the Tang Dynasty, this book had lost its original appearance. Later scholars are faced with two major issues: one is to restore the original appearance of the Book of Narration, and the other is to further supplement it.
The first person to do this was Xu Kai of Southern Tang Dynasty, who wrote a biography of Shuo Wen Jie Zi, commonly known as Little Xu Ben. The book has the following characteristics: 1, which restores the original appearance of Xu Shu. 2. Explain ancient books with Xu Xun. 3. Explain the borrowing of ancient books. 4. Explain ancient and modern figures. 5. Explain the meaning of extension. 6. Give it another meaning. 7. Speech recognition error. 8. Pay attention to reverse cutting.
According to common sense, since the Ministry biography has been published, there is no need to waste pen and ink unless there are new ideas, or mistakes in the Ministry biography, or words that have not been said in the Ministry biography.
Xu Kai died in the Southern Tang Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, Xu Kai's brother Xu Xuan wrote another book, Shuowen Jiezi, which is now on the market, commonly known as "Great Xu Ben". Did my brother become a late bloomer and write a more authoritative book on the basis of his brother?
Open "Big Xu Ben", only half the length of "Biography of the Ministry". The space is short because Xu Xuan has few supplementary notes. Under most prefixes, except for Xu Shen's original training, Xu Xuan only marked anti-tangent. Only about 5% of prefixes have Xu Xuan's supplementary comments.
Xu Xuanjia's anti-tangency is copied from Tang Yun, which is inconsistent with the pronunciation of Xu Shen era. Compared with the reverse cut in the Ministry biography, there is no better. However, it is better to have a reverse cut than nothing, and it is also a reference.
Xu Xuan's other supplementary notes, first of all, are few, if they can be new and new, but refined. But these notes are not novel or exquisite. Xu Kai and Li's notes are quoted in this paper, which is a good example. The notes that really belong to Xu Xuan account for about 2% of the total number of prefixes. The supplementary explanation is inaccurate and some low-level mistakes have been made. Take the word "Geng" as an example:
Xu Shen Original: Geng, ears in cheeks. From the ear, save the sound. Du Lin said, "Geng, light is also. From a bright and sacred province. " Every word is left and right. Du Ye.
Soso read that "every word is left-handed and right-handed" and thought it was too absolute. It was not written by Xu Shen. He wrote in the biography of the Ministry: "Today's press: birds have more right voices and more left voices. I wonder if this statement (referring to the sentence' every word has a left sound and a right sound') will bring trouble to future generations? Will the biography be lost? "
As we all know, most pictophonetic characters are left-handed and right-handed, but there are also right-handed and left-handed. Taking the word "bird" as an example, Xu Kai pointed out that "all words are left-handed and right-handed" is too absolute.
Xu Xuan's "Shuo Wen Jie Zi" is annotated like this: "Xu Kai said:' Every word has a right shape and a left sound. This statement was either added by later generations or misspelled. ""You can see at a glance that Xu Xuanlian couldn't understand his brother's book and took it out of context.
Xu Xuan added that let's not talk about this first, and then look at what other work Xu Xuan has done.
As mentioned earlier, soso is trying to restore Xu Shu's true colors, and Xu Xuan is also doing this work. The reduction of the two brothers is slightly different. Supposedly, Xu Xuan should come from behind when writing a book, but the evaluation of later generations is "gain and loss coexist"
Saying that "gains and losses coexist" has given Xu Xuan a great face. In fact, Xu Xuan's revision is arbitrary. The most terrible thing is that Xu Xuan doesn't understand the ancient sound and deleted it by mistake. What was originally correct was revised as an error by Xu Xuan. In this regard, criticism has been repeated, and this article will not repeat it. Generally speaking, there are only slight differences between Xu Xuan and Xu Kai in restoring Xu Shen's original works.
Xu Xuan also did one thing: add a title. In other words, add a table of contents at the beginning of the book. But the table of contents in front of the book is similar to Xu Shen's radical table at the back of the book, which is meaningless repetition. From the analysis of later generations, people in Xu Xuan's era wrote books, and there was always a narrative before the book, and Xu Xuan blindly followed suit.
Xu Xuan did another thing: added a new postscript. At first glance, it seems to have contributed a lot. However, judging from the textual research in Qing dynasty, these so-called "new attached characters" are just poor manuscripts that Xu Xuan saw and neglected to textual research, and collected some typos. Qian Daxin said: "The first time I read Xu's book, I was disgusted with its many attached words. I didn't know that the attached words really meant Emperor Taizong until I saw it in the table. As a traveler, Xu is in a suspicious place. He knows right from wrong and dares not fight. He often sees his intentions in the notes. " The statement of money also excused Xu Xuan.
To sum up, Xu Xuan's Shuo Wen Jie Zi is a mediocre book with little value. But why did Xu Xuan write it? Why can books be handed down? It should have something to do with Song Taizong. Xu Xuan either ordered it by Emperor Taizong or took the initiative to pay attention to it, which led to today's Shuo Wen Jie Zi. This is different from other scholars who insist on their talents and write books. The following history can also provide evidence:
Li Yu, the queen of the Southern Tang Dynasty, was first placed under house arrest by Song Taizong and then poisoned. Why? People usually think that Li Yu wrote the desperate word "Youmei" (when is spring flowers and autumn moon). According to research, this is only a secondary reason. According to Song history, Song Taizong sent Xu Xuan to visit Li Yu. When the old man met the old minister, he was also a scholar. Li Yu poured out his heart and expressed regret for killing loyal ministers Pan You and Li Ping. After Xu Xuan left, he reported to Emperor Taizong in detail, which aroused the suspicion of Emperor Taizong and led to the death of Li Yu. Is Xu Xuan in have it both ways an indifferent scholar or an official? Xu Xuan's "Shuo Wen Jie Zi" spread, relying on real talent and learning, or relying on royal authority? I believe everyone has their own judgment.
My suggestion is:
If you just buy a book "Shuo Wen Jie Zi", whether it is used for general study or in-depth research, Xu Ben is not the first choice. Historically, people have never thought highly of da Xu Ben. Only in modern times has Xu Ben become very popular. The reason is that the title of Great Xu Ben is Shuowen Jiezi, while other versions are called Shuowen Jiezi Zhuan, Shuowen Jiezi Zhuan, Judu, Ding Sheng, Yizheng, Example, Changjian and so on, which gives people a misunderstanding: Great Xu Ben is the earliest. When writing an article, you'd better quote Otsuka, because quoting other versions will make people laugh.
Speaking of which, I think of a person who wants to buy a Xinhua dictionary in order to study. Later, someone gave him a modern Chinese dictionary. He said gloomily, "I didn't buy a genuine dictionary, so I have to make do with it." Alas, compared with other editions, Daxuben is just like the difference between Xinhua Dictionary and dictionary.
I guess, the Kyushu version of Shuowen Jiezi said by the landlord should still change the classical Chinese into vernacular Chinese on the basis of Xu Ben. It should be like a bilingual Xinhua dictionary, with more words and pages, but less information than a dictionary.
In order to find out the evolution process of sound, form and meaning of an ancient Chinese character and find out the basis for textual research, it is necessary to obtain quite a lot of information. Personally, it is more important to buy a book about Shuo Wen Jie Zi than to compare literature and Chinese.
In Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi, some sentences are stylized, such as "from a certain sound" and "from a certain genus". Some sentences are difficult to punctuate, so it is enough to buy a punctuation book. For example, Duan Yucai's Notes on Explaining Words is punctuated.
I should have recommended Shuowen Jiezi Zhuan, which is the earliest version of Shuowen that can be seen at present. Because it has been circulated, people in the Qing Dynasty will not repeat the existing notes in the biography. Just like the knowledge introduced in primary school Chinese textbooks, middle school Chinese textbooks will not be repeated. The most basic explanation is still in primary school textbooks. However, the shortcomings of Xi Zhuan are that it is not attached with the prefix of regular script, and the seal script is not easy to identify; There are no punctuation marks in the book, so it is a bit troublesome to break sentences. Publishing a book with punctuation marks will be the first choice in the future.