Qízì yùn 奇字韻
Recondite Characters Arranged by Rhyme by 楊愼 (Yáng Shèn, 撰)
About the work
A 5-juàn dictionary of unusual / archaic graph forms, organized by rhyme. Compiled by Yáng Shèn 楊愼 (1488–1559), the eminent Míng-dynasty exile-scholar, son of the grand councillor Yáng Tínghé 楊廷和. Title alludes to the Hànshū yìwénzhì’s “Cāngjié in 14 piān; qízì in 1 piān” — i.e., the gǔwén qízì tradition (recondite forms taught by Wèi Hóng 衛宏 and Yáng Xióng 揚雄). Despite the title, many entries are in fact mere alternative graphs (biètǐ) attested in Shuōwén citations of the Classics — not strictly “qízì.”
Tiyao
Qízì yùn in 5 juàn; composed by Yáng Shèn of the Míng. Shèn having previously written Gǔyīn cóngmù and other works, here further extracts graphs of slightly aberrant form, classifying by four tones into this volume. — Examining the liùshū: the Shuōwén’s xiǎozhuàn is zhèng; what Wèi Hóng and Yáng Xióng learnt is gǔwén qízì, which is not derivable from liùshū piānpáng. This book is titled qízì. But Shuōwén citing the Classics: Fēng 寷 — “Fēng qíwū 寷其屋” with fēng 豐 written fēng 寷; Kèqíkèyì 克岐克嶷 with yí 嶷 written KR2673; Jìng nǚ qí shū 静女其姝 with shū 姝 written KR2673; Shùcǎo fánwù 庶草繁廡 with wǔ 廡 written wú 無; Tiāndì yīnyùn 天地絪緼 written 壹㚃; Yíngyíng qīngyíng zhǐ yú fán with fán 樊 written fán 棥; Gù yuányuán ér lái with yuán 源 written yuán 謜; Qìxuè liánrú 泣血漣如 with lián 漣 written lián 㦁 — these all differ slightly from the present text but each has a valid liùshū piānpáng derivable, hence are zhèng (correct), not “recondite.” The like is too many to record. Other Shuōwén citations: Shàngshū “yúyí” 嵎夷 written 嵎銕; Lúnyǔ “biànpì” 便辟 with biàn 便 written biàn 諞; Shī “hèxī xuānxī” 赫兮喧兮 with xuān 喧 written xuān 愃; Zhōulǐ “shàn gāosāo” 膳膏臊 with sāo 臊 written sāo 鱢; “gūshèng xià xún” with xún 巡 written 𢀂; Yì “bāo huāng yòng fénghé” with huāng 荒 written huāng 㠩; Shī “zài hé zhī zhōu” with zhōu 洲 written zhōu 州; Yì “fú niú chéng mǎ” with fú 服 written bèi 犕; Shū “jùn quǎnkuài jù chuān” with quǎnkuài 畎澮 written 𡿃巜; Chūnqiūzhuàn “wánsuì ér qìrì” with wán 翫 written wán 玩 and qì 愒 written qì 㵣; Yì “fū qián quèrán” with què 確 written huò 寉; Chūnqiū “zhí yù duò” with duò 惰 written duò 憜; Shī “nà yú líng yīn” with líng 凌 written 𩔵; Lúnyǔ “bái guī zhī diàn” with diàn 玷 written diàn 㓠; Shū “pì sì mén” with pì 闢 written 𩂜 — divergent points are countless; this book records less than two-tenths or three-tenths of them. As to mín 岷 written wèn 汶; dǎo 禱 written dǎo 禂 — these are jiǎjiè characters and ought not be lumped in with qízì. Various entries (KR2801, qiáng 廧, kǎi 闓, chá 茬, táng 闛, etc.) are glossed without source citation — the yántiělùn, guǎnzǐ Dìyuánpiān, Hànshū Xiōngnúzhuàn, Hànshū Huòzhízhuàn, Hànshū Yáng Xióng zhuàn — all uncited, so the source-trail is lost. Other entries (jī 萁 read gāi, liú 㳒 read liú) cite Cáo Zhí or Jiǎ Yì without going back to Huáinánzǐ (Gāo Yòu’s note) or Xúnzǐ Róngrǔ piān (Yáng Liàng’s note), so the yuánliú is not traced. Dōng 冬 rhyme has jì 㮤 cited from the Shuōwén but Yáng misses that the Hànshū dìlǐzhì “Cāng sōng 蒼柗” (Yán Shīgǔ note: “sōng 柗 is the ancient sōng 松, same as jì 㮤”) — i.e., a gǔjīn graph-pair, here split. Bēn 賁 glossed as the ancient bān 斑 — but Yáng misses that the Xúnzǐ Qiángguópiān “xiàbǐzhōubēnkuìyǐlíshàng 下比周賁潰以離上” (Yáng Liàng note: bēn read fén) and Hànshū Dí Yìzhuàn (continued in source). [Tíyào substantially abridged here.]
Abstract
The Qízì yùn is one of Yáng Shèn’s many lexicographic works produced during his thirty-five-year exile in Yúnnán (1524–1559) following the Dà lǐ yì affair. The work draws on Shuōwén citations from the Classics, on the Hànshū commentaries of Yán Shīgǔ 顏師古, on the Huáinánzǐ commentary of Gāo Yòu, and on the Xúnzǐ commentary of Yáng Liàng — but the Sìkù compilers find the work systematically gappy in its citation practice (much of the yuánliú is lost) and mis-classifying jiǎjiè graphs as qízì. Yáng Shèn was the most prolific Míng xiǎoxué scholar; this book and the paired Gǔyīn piánzì KR1j0045 are his principal philological monuments in the Sìkù. Dating bracket notBefore 1530 to notAfter 1559 (Yáng’s death) covers his exile-period scholarly production.
Translations and research
- Schorr, Adam. 1993. “The Trap of Words: Political Power, Cultural Authority, and Language Debates in Ming Dynasty China.” PhD diss., UCLA. — Treats Yáng Shèn’s lexicography in its political-cultural context.
- Endymion Wilkinson. 2022. Chinese History: A New Manual, §6.2.1.