Lǐjì Xú-shì yīn 禮記徐氏音
Master Xú’s Phonological Commentary on the Lǐjì
by 徐邈 (撰)
About the work
A three-juàn reconstruction of 徐邈 Xú Miǎo’s (344–397) lost Lǐjì Xú-shì yīn 禮記徐氏音 — the most extensive of the reconstructed Eastern-Jìn Lǐjì yīn commentaries in this corpus, and the principal companion to his parallel KR1d0109 Zhōulǐ Xú-shì yīn. The CHANT reconstruction (CH2e1103) is drawn from Lù Démíng 陸德明’s Jīngdiǎn shìwén 經典釋文 citations.
Abstract
At 6121 lines in the source-text, the work is by far the most substantial of the four Lǐjì yīn reconstructions, organised across three juàn (juàn-shàng, juàn-zhōng, juàn-xià). The structure follows the canonical 49-piān organisational sequence of the Lǐjì, with each piān opening with phonological glosses.
The opening preserved fragment is from Qǔlǐ shàng 曲禮上 dì-yī (first piān): “yǎn ruò sī” 儼若思 with sī glossed xī sì fǎn 息嗣反; then “shǐ cóng sú” 使從俗 etc.
The substantive content covers the full 49-piān canonical Lǐjì with comprehensive fǎn-qiè glosses, supplementary semantic explanations where required by reading-difficulty, and cross-references to alternative readings cited by Liú Chāngzōng (cf. KR1d0129) and other parallel commentators. The work is the principal Eastern-Jìn-period phonological apparatus to the Lǐjì and one of the principal sources for the reconstruction of Eastern-Jìn pronunciation of difficult-character readings.
The dating bracket (339–397) reflects Xú Miǎo’s documented lifespan.
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language secondary literature located. See:
- 王力 Wáng Lì, Zhōngguó yǔyán xué shǐ.
- 周祖謨 Zhōu Zǔmó’s studies of Eastern-Jìn phonological scholarship.
Other points of interest
The pairing of 徐邈’s KR1d0109 Zhōulǐ Xú-shì yīn and the present Lǐjì Xú-shì yīn (and his lost parallel Yílǐ Xú-shì yīn) constitutes the principal single-author Eastern-Jìn phonological apparatus to the Sānlǐ corpus, demonstrating the systematic yīn-yì programme that Xú Miǎo executed across the canonical ritual classics.
Links
- Chinese Text Project — Jīngdiǎn shìwén: https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=en&res=608648