Zìgǔ 字詁
Glosses on Characters by 黃生 (Huáng Shēng, 撰)
About the work
A one-juàn miscellany of philological notes on individual graphs, named after the lost Three-Kingdoms work Gǔjīn zìgǔ 古今字詁 of Zhāng Yī 張揖. Compiled by Huáng Shēng 黃生 (1622–1696), a late-Míng zhūshēng of Shèxiàn 歙縣 (Huīzhōu) who carried on as a private philological scholar after the dynastic transition. Each entry takes one graph and develops a fresh reading or correction grounded in liùshū analysis.
Tiyao
Zìgǔ in one juàn. — In our reigning dynasty composed by Huáng Shēng. Shēng’s zì was Fúmèng 扶孟; he was a man of Shèxiàn 歙縣 and a former-Míng zhūshēng. He took the title from Jìn Zhāng Yī’s Zìgǔ to name his book, often elucidating the liùshū — for every graph, fresh meaning, with broad and recondite documentation, distinct from the forced stretchings of others. There are some entries less settled — for example, “huò 靃: per Shuōwén, hūguō fǎn (the Shuōwén itself has no fǎnqiè; the fǎnqiè in current editions are added by Xú Xuàn 徐鉉 from Sūn Miǎn’s Tángyùn — the present claim that Shuōwén itself reads it hūguō fǎn is mistaken), [meaning] sound of flying” etc. — Huáng goes on to argue at length that huò 霍 derives the reading suǐ (息累 fǎn, suǐ) only by way of borrowing from 靃, etc. We checked the oldest authorities: the Yùpiān under 靃 gives “xīwěi fǎn, dew” and “hūguō fǎn, sound of flight”; the Guǎngyùn lists 靃 under both zhǐ 紙 and yào 藥 rhyme-classes; and 霍 under both rhymes — i.e., 靃 had a suǐ-class reading from the start; it does not derive that reading by simplification-borrowing from 霍. The Yùpiān gives 霍 only as hūguō fǎn (“huīhuò”); the Guǎngyùn gives 霍 only as xūguō fǎn — there is no suǐ-reading for 霍 at all in either work. The Shǐjì zhèngyì note has xīlèi fǎn, but one cannot say it has only this reading — and the Báihǔ tōng says: “the south’s Mt Huò 霍 — huò means hù 䕶 (to guard)”; hù derives from hūguō fǎn, not from xīsuǐ fǎn. Bān Gù 班固 therefore already read 霍 as hūguō fǎn — Hàn pronunciation already attests it. Huáng also said that dǎ 打 first appears in the Six Dynasties: but Hàn-period Wáng Yánshòu’s 王延壽 Mèngfù says “shāo wǎngliǎng, fú zhūqú, zhuàng zòngmù, dǎ sānlú”; the Yìlín has “kǒujī dǎshǒu” — so dǎ did not begin in the Six Dynasties. These are real lapses of source-checking. Other entries — on the dàmì qī gè 大鼏七个 with the mì phonetic from □ rather than 冂; the snake-glyph shàn 鱓 borrowing the readings túhé qiē and zhāngyǎn qiē and merging into chángyǎn qiē — are precise and have foundation. The book is worth keeping. Respectfully edited and presented in the sixth month of Qiánlóng 41 (1776).
Abstract
The Zìgǔ is one juàn of philological notes assembled by Huáng Shēng on individual graphs whose readings or meanings he found mis-handled in the dictionaries of his day. The work shows clear engagement with the Shuōwén (with awareness that the present fǎnqiè readings are Xú Xuàn’s Sòng-period addition from the Tángyùn), the Yùpiān, the Guǎngyùn, and other medieval rhyme-books. The Sìkù compilers find a few specific corrections wanting (notably his treatment of huò 靃 / 霍 and his claim about the late origin of dǎ 打), but credit the work overall as solid for liùshū analysis. Companion to his more substantial Yìfǔ 義府 (also two juàn), the Zìgǔ is one of two surviving philological monuments by Huáng Shēng. The work was preserved and disseminated through the Sìkù; Wáng Niànsūn 王念孫 and the Gāoyóu Wángshì school in the next generation drew on Huáng’s analyses regularly. Dating bracket: notBefore 1660 to notAfter 1696 (Huáng’s death) covers his post-1644 mature philological career.
Translations and research
- Lǐ Jiànguó 李建國. 2003. Hànyǔ xùngǔ-xué shǐ 漢語訓詁學史. Shanghai: Shanghai cishu — locates Huáng Shēng in the early-Qing transition from Míng xiǎoxué to Qing kǎo-zhèng.
- Endymion Wilkinson. 2022. Chinese History: A New Manual, §6.2.1.