Mèngzǐ yīnyì 孟子音義
Pronunciations and Glosses on the Mencius
孫奭 (Sūn Shì, 962–1033)
About the work
A two-juàn phonological-philological glossary on Zhào Qí’s 趙岐 Mèngzǐ zhāngjù commentary, the only Mèngzǐ commentary that Sūn Shì securely composed (the zhèngyì of KR1h0003 is, as the Sìkù tíyào at KR1h0003 argues, a Sòng-period forgery falsely ascribed to him). The yīnyì both fixes pronunciations of difficult graphs in Zhào Qí’s text and silently corrects two earlier Táng-period Mèngzǐ phonological works — Zhāng Yì’s 張鎰 Mèngzǐ yīnyì and Dīng Gōngzhù’s 丁公著 Mèngzǐ pingyīn 平音 — while supplementing both from Lù Shànjīng’s 陸善經 Mèngzǐ zhù (also lost). It is therefore a uniquely important early-Sòng witness to the HànTáng phonological tradition on the Mèngzǐ.
Tiyao
We respectfully submit: Mèngzǐ yīnyì in 2 juàn — by Sūn Shì 孫奭 of the Sòng. Sūn, zì Zōnggǔ 宗古, native of Bópíng, ranked first in the Jiǔjīng examination, rose to Lóngtúgé xuéshì 龍圖閣學士, and retired as Tàizǐ shǎofù 太子少傅, posthumous title Xuān 宣. The Táng Jīngdiǎn shìwén 經典釋文 of Lù Démíng 陸德明 covers yīnyì on every Classic, but lacks one for the Mèngzǐ. Sūn Shì, by imperial command, fixed the text of Zhào Qí’s 趙岐 commentary, and accordingly emended Zhāng Yì’s Mèngzǐ yīnyì and Dīng Gōngzhù’s Mèngzǐ pingyīn — drawing also on Lù Shànjīng’s Mèngzǐ zhù — to make this yīnyì in two juàn.
The present Shísānjīng zhùshū Mèngzǐ zhèngyì [i.e. KR1h0003] is also signed “by Sūn Shì.” Yet Zhū Xī’s Yǔlù and Wáng Yìnglín’s 王應麟 Kùnxué jìwén both say it was forged by a Shàowǔ 邵武 scholar — that Sūn never made a zhèngyì beyond this yīnyì. On examination, the preface of the zhèngyì — its first half is identical to the preface of this yīnyì, the second half merely a slight reworking of the wording. We know therefore that the zhèngyì simply borrowed this book and assumed Sūn’s name.
The text claims to follow Zhào Qí’s commentary throughout, yet collation against the present text [the zhùshū] shows many discrepancies. For instance: in Liáng Huì wáng shàng the yīnyì glosses jímù 集穆, tàipíng 太平, jué 譎; in Liáng Huì wáng xià it glosses xún 恂, wú duò 無墮, fū jiāng 夫將; in Gōngsūn Chǒu shàng it glosses jiè zhě 介者; in Gōngsūn Chǒu xià it glosses sù cān 素餐, jí dào 藉道, wēi xíng 危行, shí gōng 食功; in Téng Wéngōng shàng it glosses jǐngxíng 景行, Lúnyǔ yuē “lì xíng jìn rén” 論語曰力行近仁, shī zhī 師知; in Téng Wéngōng xià it glosses sù cān 素餐, niè 涅, pián zhì 駢躓, Zhōugōng áng sī 周公卬思; in Lí Lóu shàng it glosses bó 踣, kǒng sù 恐粟, sān xǐng 三省, ér cuò 而錯, tóng zǐ 桐子; in Lí Lóu xià it glosses bù bǐ 不比, yóu tiān 由天, fēng yù 風諭, jiàn jǐ 見幾, hào yán 好言, zhì 忮, zhī xíng 之行, xíng qí 行其, wǔ bà 五伯, bì hài 辟害, diē 跌, wū 汙; in Wàn Zhāng shàng it glosses bǎi xíng 百行, shě xiǎo 舍小; in Wàn Zhāng xià it glosses Jǔ Nì 沮溺, jǐngxíng 景行, Yī Yǐn yǒu Shēn 伊發有莘; in Gàozǐ shàng it glosses zhǎng yì 長義, hào xià 好下; in Gàozǐ xià it glosses jǐ chéng 幾成, yǔ xuě 雨雪, biāobiāo 瀌瀌, jiàn xiàn 見晛, huò zhé 或折; in Jìnxīn shàng it glosses yuǎn zhī 遠之, xià jiàn 下賤, xié pì 邪辟, pì ruò 辟若, pán pì 蟠辟, lùn zhī 論之, mào 瞀, yóu zǐ 柚梓, hé guǎ 和寡; in Jìnxīn xià it glosses yuǎn huò 遠禍, wù shā 惡殺, shě shēng 舍生, wèi zhī 為之, zào 造, zāng pǐ 臧否, zì wèi 自遺, zǐ shuài 子率, pōu 剖; and at the close, in the Mèngzǐ piānxù 孟子篇叙, it glosses qí xíng 其行, dāng qī 當期, kuò 括 — sixty-nine entries in all that have no corresponding text in the present commentary.
The Mèngzǐ zhù in single-circulation form — i.e. without the zhèngyì — survives in transmitted Sòng manuscript copies that can still be checked against this yīnyì; the forged zhèngyì deleted and altered Zhào Qí’s wording, and so no longer matches what Sūn Shì was glossing. Hence Sūn Shì’s yīnyì both confirms the original Zhào Qí commentary and convicts the forged “Sūn Shì shū”. Its service to the Classics is thus not small. — Respectfully revised, third month of the 41st year of Qiánlóng [1776].
General Compilers: Jǐ Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. General Reviser: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
The Mèngzǐ yīnyì was prepared, on imperial command, in the early Northern Sòng — almost certainly between Sūn Shì’s accession to Lóngtúgé xuéshì in the Tiānxǐ era (1017–21) and his death in Míngdào 2 (1033). It was composed as the yīnyì counterpart for the Mèngzǐ — completing the imperial-court programme of furnishing every Classic with both zhùshū and yīnyì, on the model of the Wǔjīng zhèngyì and Lù Démíng’s Jīngdiǎn shìwén (which lacked an entry for the Mèngzǐ).
Its sources, named in the original preface, are three: Zhāng Yì’s 張鎰 (mid-Táng) Mèngzǐ yīnyì, Dīng Gōngzhù’s 丁公著 (Dàzhōng era) Mèngzǐ píngyīn, and Lù Shànjīng’s 陸善經 Mèngzǐ zhù. All three are now lost; the Mèngzǐ yīnyì preserves substantial fragments. The Sìkù tíyào emphasises its critical importance: it both restores the contours of Zhào Qí’s original commentary (against the corrupt zhùshū text) and serves as primary internal evidence for the forgery of the zhèngyì attributed to Sūn Shì himself.
The text was a foundational source for Qing critical philology on the Mèngzǐ — Jiāo Xún’s Mèngzǐ zhèngyì (1810s) cites it on virtually every page. The Sìkù editors note Sūn Shì’s posthumous title as 宣 — Xuān gōng 宣公 — though some sources give 文 — Wén gōng 文公; this Sìkù attestation is preferred.
Translations and research
No standalone English translation; the work is highly philological-technical (line-by-line phonological glosses) and not a primary candidate for translation. Modern critical edition: contained in Jiāo Xún 焦循, Mèngzǐ zhèngyì 孟子正義 (Zhōnghuá repr. 1987), where each yīnyì gloss is collated against the canonical Mèngzǐ and Zhào Qí’s commentary. The standard study of Sòng yīnyì literature is Cuī Lěng 崔玲, Sòng-dài yīnyì xué shū-mù tí-yào; for Sūn Shì’s Mèngzǐ yīnyì specifically, see Wāng Yáo-mín 汪耀民, Sūn Shì zhū-zuò kǎo 孫奭著作考. Western: brief notice in Bernhard Karlgren, Grammata Serica Recensa; no monograph.
Other points of interest
The 69-entry diagnostic list compiled by the Sìkù editors in the tíyào — words glossed in Sūn Shì’s yīnyì but absent from the zhùshū commentary text — is the principal evidence-base for the textual corruption of Zhào Qí’s commentary in transmission, and remains a working tool for editors of the Mèngzǐ.
Links
- Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §28.7.2.
- Sòngshǐ 431 (Sūn Shì 孫奭 biography).