Gǔyīn piánzì 古音駢字
Binomial Compounds in Ancient Sound by 楊愼 (Yáng Shèn, 撰); 續編 by Zhuāng Lǚfēng 莊履豐 and Zhuāng Dǐngxuán 莊鼎鉉
About the work
A two-juàn dictionary of jiǎjiè (loan-character) binomial pairings in the Classics, Shǐjì, Hànshū, and pre-imperial sources, organized by rhyme. Compiled by Yáng Shèn 楊愼; supplemented by a five-juàn xùbiān 續編 (continuation) by Zhuāng Lǚfēng 莊履豐 and Zhuāng Dǐngxuán 莊鼎鉉 of the early Qing. The entries gather variant graphs that are tōngyòng in classical usage and document each in turn — extending the jiǎjiè and tōngyòng line of Wú Yùjìn’s 吳玉搢 Biéyǎ KR1j0016 back into pre-Hàn material.
Tiyao
Gǔyīn piánzì in 2 juàn, composed by Yáng Shèn of the Míng; Xùbiān in 5 juàn, composed by our reigning dynasty’s Zhuāng Lǚfēng and Zhuāng Dǐngxuán. — The ancients had few graphs and broad rhymes; hence usage often borrowed. The book takes graphs that are tōngyòng in ancient usage and arranges them by rhyme, with the source citation under each. From the form-correspondence (zìtǐ zhī tōng) it works back to the sound-correspondence (zìyīn zhī tōng) — for pre-Qín–Hàn pronunciation it has substantial documentation. — But omissions are many and forced parallels are not rare. Take the dōng / dōng rhyme of the opening: Xúnzǐ Yìbīngpiān “àn jiǎolù duǒ lǒngzhǒng dōnglóng ér tuì ěr” 案角鹿埵隴種東籠而退耳 — lǒngzhǒng 隴種 is Xīnxù’s lóngzhōng 龍鍾; Lǐlùnpiān “mílóng 彌龍” with note “mí read mǐ”; Chǔcí Jiǔzhāng “sūn xiánglóng ér bùwén” with the bǔzhù: “xiáng 詳 = yáng 佯”; Jiǔtàn “dēng pánglóng 登逢龍 ér xià yǔn xī, wéi gùdū zhī mànmàn” with note: “féng 逢 = páng 逄, ancient version péng 蓬”; WúYuè chūnqiū Yuèwáng wúyú wàizhuàn “dàfū yèyōng” 曳庸 with note: “Zuǒzhuàn writes hòuyōng 后庸; Guóyǔ writes shéyōng 舌庸”; Shǐjì wǔdì běnjì “qí hòu yǒu Liú Lèi rǎo lóng 擾龍, Yīng Shào: ‘rǎo read róu 柔’”; further “rǎo ér yì” 擾而毅 with Xú Guǎng “rǎo one read róu” — i.e. rǎo / róu graph-pair; Tàicānggōng lièzhuàn “Chén Yì zhěn qí mài yuē jiǒngfēng 迥風” with note: “jiǒng 迥 read dòng 洞 — said the wind ‘penetrated his four limbs’”; Hànshū dìlǐzhì “Dūpáng 都龎” with Yīng Shào: “páng 龎 read lóng 龍”; Yán Shīgǔ: “read gōng 龔”; Yáng Xióng zhuàn “fèn liùjīng yǐ shūsòng” with Yán Shīgǔ: “sòng 頌 read róng 容”; DàDàilǐ Wèijiāngjūn Wénzǐpiān “the Shī says: shòu xiǎogōng dàgōng wéi xiàguó xúnméng 詢蒙” with note: “the present Shī writes jùnpáng 駿龎”; Wǔdìdé “niǎoshòu kūnchóng” — examining the Shuōwén, chóng 虫 = huǐ 虺; but in Hàn stelae chóng 虫 is used for chóng 蟲 — so chóng / chóng are tōng. The original and continuation neither catch this — cǎizhāi (extraction) is incomplete. — Likewise yuán Fēngmén 蠭門 — annotated as from Xúnzǐ, but Shǐjì Guīcè zhuàn also has Fēngmén, not annotated; the xùbiān under méndōng mǎndōng méndōng 虋冬滿冬門冬 cites the Ěryǎ commentary, but the Shānhǎijīng “qí cǎo duō shaóyào méndōng” is not cited. Citing the Guǎngyǎ “yīng 膺 xiōng 匈 — xiōng / xiōng 胸 are tōng” — but Guǎnzǐ Nèiyèpiān “píngzhèng zhànxiōng 平正擅匈” with note: “the harmonious vital-force exclusively occupies the bosom” — also has xiōng 匈 as ancient form, but is uncited. Other entries (yuánzhōng hánzhōng 圜鍾函鍾 are alternate names of huángzhōng and línzhōng, not tōng of those names; qíjìn lúwéi 其浸盧維 read as lúyōng 盧灉 may be Zhèng Kāngchéng’s 鄭玄 gǎizì, not pure gǔyīn tōng) — these are forced classifications. — Yet broadly the citation is comprehensive and useful for source-criticism; ancient graphs in the zhūshūzǎijí are recovered to the extent of four-or-five-tenths. A good xiǎoxué tool. Respectfully edited and presented in the sixth month of Qiánlóng 44 (1779).
Abstract
The Gǔyīn piánzì is Yáng Shèn’s principal jiǎjiè dictionary, complementing his Qízì yùn KR1j0044 within his vast Yúnnán-exile lexicographic output. The Zhuāng Xùbiān of five juàn — by the early-Qing brothers (or cousins) Zhuāng Lǚfēng and Zhuāng Dǐngxuán — substantially extends the dataset, though Sìkù compilers note many remaining omissions. Together the works document the tōngyòng zì 通用字 (interchangeable-character) tradition that the Qing scholars Wáng Niànsūn and Duàn Yùcái would build into systematic gǔyīn phonological reconstruction. Note that the catalog meta lists only Yáng Shèn — the Zhuāng xùbiān is mentioned in the body but is not in the persons frontmatter (per CLAUDE.md, the frontmatter mirrors catalog meta order). Dating bracket notBefore 1530 to notAfter 1559 (Yáng Shèn’s death) covers his exile-period production.
Translations and research
- Schorr, Adam. 1993. “The Trap of Words.” PhD diss., UCLA. — Yáng Shèn’s lexicography.
- Endymion Wilkinson. 2022. Chinese History: A New Manual, §6.2.1.