Biéyǎ 別雅
Variant-Form Yǎ by 吳玉搢 (Wú Yùjìn, 撰)
About the work
A five-juàn arrangement-by-rhyme dictionary of jiǎjiè 假借 (loan-character) and tōngyòng 通用 (interchangeable-character) usages, with each entry citing its locus classicus and authoritative gloss. Compiled by Wú Yùjìn 吳玉搢 (1698–1773), a lǐngòng of Shānyáng 山陽 (modern Huái’ān, Jiāngsū) and an instructor at the Fèngyáng prefectural school. The work’s philological aim is to clarify which graphs in classical sources are de facto equivalents — across loans by sound, sound shifts, or alternate calligraphic forms — and to do so on the strength of textual citation rather than abstract analysis.
Tiyao
Biéyǎ in five juàn. — In our reigning dynasty composed by Wú Yùjìn. Yùjìn’s zì was Shānfū 山夫; he was a man of Shānyáng 山陽 and a lǐngòngshēng, who held the xùndǎo of Fèngyángxiàn. The book takes graphs of jiǎjiè and tōngyòng usage and arranges them by rhyme, each annotated with its source and a critical note. For source-criticism it has done deep service. — But in ancient usage some are tóngshēng (same-sound) loans, some zhuǎnyīn (sound-shift) variants, some biétǐ chóngwén (variant-graph). The same-sound and sound-shift cases properly belong here; but cases like qí 𠀇 / qí 岐, fēng 鄷 / fēng 豐 — where 𠀇 is the original form of 岐 (the Shuōwén itself says ”𠀇 also written 岐”) — are pure chóngwén, occasional alternate forms; from the Shuōwén and Yùpiān downward they multiply by the thousand: how could one sweep them all in? — to do so is to violate one’s own example. Citation, while broad, is also gappy. Even just on the dōng / dōng 東冬 rhymes (the opening of the book) one notices: Dàdàilǐ “one room with four doors and eight cōng 聰” (where cōng = chuāng 窗); Chǔcí jiǔtàn “to descend on Pánglóng” with the gloss “ancient version páng 逄 = péng 蓬”; Xúnzǐ Róngrǔ citing the Shī “the lower kingdoms jùnméng 駿蒙,” gloss: “today’s Shī reads jùnpáng 駿龎”; Zhuāngzǐ Dàozhí “the gentlemen all had péngtóu 蓬頭 with bristling whiskers,” gloss: “péng 蓬 originally fēng 鏠”; WúYuè chūnqiū “Wúwáng Shòumèng” zhuàn “the Crown Prince Gàiyú and Zhúyōng 燭傭,” gloss: “Zuǒzhuàn has yōng 庸”; Shǐjì Qín Shǐhuáng běnjì “the king of Qín had a fēngzhǔn 蜂凖 [bee-nose],” Xú Guǎng note: “fēng 蜂 sometimes written lóng 隆”; Guīcè zhuàn “Xióngqú Fēngmén 雄渠蠭門,” gloss: “the Xīnxù has Xióngqúzǐ”; Hànshū gǔrénbiǎo “Guǐsǒuqū 鬼叟區,” Yán Shīgǔ 顏師古 gloss: “i.e. Guǐróngqū 鬼容區”; Chén Fēng — Yán Shīgǔ gloss: “i.e. Chén Fēng 陳鋒”; Wèi Qīng zhuàn “Qīng arrived at Lóngchéng 籠城,” Yán Shīgǔ gloss: “lóng 籠 read as lóng 龍” — all of these are right under the eye, yet absent. By extension, his omissions in the Yílǐ 古文, the Zhōulǐ 故書, and the Hàn-period jiānzhù gloss-formula “X read as Y” are very many. — Yet what is cited is enough to clarify variants in the ancient texts and dispel the doubts of beginners; and one can still see in outline the sound-and-graph practice of the pre-Hàn-Wèi era. Hence as supply for xiǎoxué and as ferry for the literary garden it is not what the popular plagiarist’s book can approach. Respectfully edited and presented in the sixth month of Qiánlóng 42 (1777).
Abstract
The Biéyǎ is the chief Qing-period dictionary of tōngjièzì 通假字, organized by rhyme and citation-anchored. It is part of the broader QiánJiā philological project to recover Old-Chinese phonology and lexis through systematic compilation of variant-graph evidence. The Sìkù compilers find Wú’s coverage selectively gappy (their counter-examples are concentrated in the opening dōng / dōng rhyme classes) and his theoretical principle imprecise (he has not consistently distinguished phonological from purely graphic variation), but credit the work as the most reliable single tool of its genre then available. Dating bracket notBefore 1742 to notAfter 1773 covers Wú’s mature scholarly career; the work is presented in the same general philological circle as Háng Shìjùn’s Xù Fāngyán KR1j0015.
Translations and research
- Liú Yèqiū 劉葉秋. 1983. Zhōngguó zì-diǎn shǐ-lüè 中國字典史略. Beijing: Zhonghua. — Treats Biéyǎ as the standard Qing variant-graph dictionary.
- Endymion Wilkinson. 2022. Chinese History: A New Manual, §6.2.1.