Fùgǔ biān 復古編
Restoring Antiquity: A Compendium of Standard Forms by 張有 (Zhāng Yǒu, 撰)
About the work
A comprehensive Sòng orthographic dictionary by Zhāng Yǒu 張有 (1053–1113), grandson of the Northern-Sòng poet Zhāng Xiān 張先. Following the Shuōwén jiězì in defining the zhèng (correct) form, with biétǐ and sútǐ (alternative and vulgar) forms appended in the gloss, on the model of Yán Yuánsūn’s 顏元孫 Gānlù zìshū KR1j0023. Internally arranged by four-tone rhyme classes, with the zhèng graph in seal-script and the biètǐ in the gloss. The lower juàn concludes with six appended biànzhèng essays: (1) liánmián zì, (2) xíngshēng xiānglèi, (3) xíngxiānglèi, (4) shēngxiānglèi, (5) bǐjì xiǎoyì, (6) shàng zhèng xià é.
Tiyao
Fùgǔ biān; composed by Zhāng Yǒu of the Sòng. Yǒu’s zì was Qiānzhōng 謙中; a man of Húzhōu 湖州; grandson of Zhāng Xiān 張先; he became a Daoist priest. The book takes the Shuōwén jiězì as ground for distinguishing sútǐ corruptions; with four-tone classes for sequencing the graphs; the zhèng given in seal-script, the biètǐ and sútǐ listed in the gloss — on the model of Yán Yuánsūn’s Gānlù zìshū’s three-form (zhèng / sú / tōng) practice. The lower juàn, after the rùshēng, has six appended sections: (1) liánmián zì, (2) xíngshēng xiānglèi, (3) xíng xiānglèi, (4) shēng xiānglèi, (5) bǐjì xiǎoyì, (6) shàng zhèng xià é — each cutting fine and precise. — He uses the Shuōwén to fix small-seal but does not use small-seal to emend clerical: where the small-seal is unintelligible in clerical, he writes “lìzuò X” (clerical written as X) — i.e., Yán Yuánsūn’s principle “if we relied solely on the Shuōwén, every brushstroke would be encumbered; we must shed extremes.” Lóu Yào’s preface notes that he once seal-cut the Yáng Shí Zhǒngxīān jì: in the Shuōwén there is no graph ān 菴, so he wrote it in clerical, knowing it could not be put into seal. — Lóu Yào further records his Lín Shū mǔ mùbēi: he wrote Wèi 魏 as wéishān 巍 — refusing to drop the upper shān — because of strict zhèng practice. Chén Zhènsūn says the same. Yet here in the book, under wéi 巍, the gloss reads “today people omit the shān to use it for Wèiguó’s Wèi” — i.e., he does not mark the shān-less form as sú. So the doctrine is “restore antiquity but not at war with current practice” — the catholic position. Distinguishes him sharply from later figures like Wèi Xiào 魏校 who pretentiously inflicted zhuànzhòu on clerical writing. — The present text is the Míng Wàn-lì-period print by Lí Mínbiǎo 黎民表; calligraphy clean. Lóu Yào’s preface is missing, but Chén Quán’s and Chéng Jù’s prefaces — both of which Lóu Yào names — are present, so the text descends from an old line. Respectfully edited and presented in [year missing in source].
Abstract
The Fùgǔ biān is the principal Northern-Sòng work of orthographic standardization for zhèngtǐ (correct-form) writing. Zhāng Yǒu — grandson of the famous cí-poet Zhāng Xiān, but himself a Daoist priest of Húzhōu — produced the work as a refinement of Yán Yuánsūn’s catholic principle (do not impose seal-script on clerical writing) within the methodological framework of the Shuōwén radical analysis. The four-tone arrangement and the six appended biànzhèng essays (especially the liánmián zì essay on binomial expressions) make the Fùgǔ biān a key Sòng-period source on word-formation as well as orthography. It is one of the founding works of the zhèngtǐ writing tradition that culminates in the early-Qing imperial orthography of the Kāngxī zìdiǎn KR1j0048. Note that the catalog meta gives the extent as “11 卷” but the tíyào and bibliographic record give “2 juàn” (= upper / lower); the apparent discrepancy is a counting convention of the WYG fascicle subdivision. Dating bracket notBefore 1100 (Yuánfú; Zhāng Yǒu’s mature philological period) to notAfter 1113 (his death). The catalog meta gives “d. 1054” — this is wrong: CBDB gives 1053–1113, and modern reference (e.g., Yú Jìquán 余嘉錫) confirms the later date.
Translations and research
- Liú Yèqiū 劉葉秋. 1983. Zhōngguó zì-diǎn shǐ-lüè. Beijing: Zhonghua.
- Endymion Wilkinson. 2022. Chinese History: A New Manual, §6.1.
Other points of interest
The Fùgǔ biān is the first Chinese dictionary to include a discrete chapter on liánmián zì 聯緜字 (binomial expressions) — anticipating the modern lexicographic category by some eight centuries.