Yùn bǔ zhèng 韻補正
Corrections to the Yùn bǔ by 顧炎武 (Gù Yánwǔ, 1613–1682), supplementary to the Yīnxué wǔshū
About the work
A 1-juàn corrective work supplementary to the Yīnxué wǔshū: Gù Yánwǔ’s systematic critique of Wú Yù’s 吳棫 Yùn bǔ KR1j0059 (5 juàn, c. 1124–1154). Where the Sòng yùnshū histories assumed that Zhū Xī’s Shī jízhuàn readings were drawn from Wú Yù’s surviving 5-juàn Yùn bǔ, the Sìkù tíyào of Wú Yù KR1j0059 had already shown — on internal evidence — that Zhū Xī’s source was actually the lost 10-juàn Máoshī xiéyùn bǔyīn; Gù’s Yùn bǔ zhèng is dedicated to documenting the substantive errors in the surviving Yùn bǔ. The Sìkù tíyào notes that Gù — though a master of Old phonology — did not always distinguish the two Wú Yù books (the 5-juàn Yùn bǔ and the lost 10-juàn Bǔyīn) and so sometimes attacks Wú Yù for a reading that comes only via Zhū Xī’s source — which is the lost work, not the surviving one. Yet substantively the work is sound: the corrections of Wú’s specific xiéyùn assignments are well-evidenced and useful for those who would extricate themselves from Wú Yù’s xiéyùn paradigm. The work is conventionally treated alongside the Yīnxué wǔshū — sometimes counted as a sixth book of the set — though Gù himself separated it.
Tiyao
The Yùn bǔ zhèng in 1 juàn. Composed by Gù Yánwǔ of the present dynasty. The Sòng treatise has Wú Yù’s Máoshī xiéyùn bǔyīn in 10 juàn and Yùn bǔ in 5 juàn; Chén Zhènsūn’s Shūlù jiětí records the same. The Xiéyùn bǔyīn glosses only the Shī sānbǎi piān; the Yùn bǔ draws widely without rule, citing 50 sources — down to Ōuyáng Xiū and Sū Zhé — taking even their usage as Old phonology — quite untenable. — That work has been criticised in detail and recorded already [in the Sìkù]. Subsequent scholars, not examining, have casually said “Zhū Xī used Wú Yù’s Yùn bǔ” — and have not dared to argue against Wú’s book. They did not know that what Zhū Xī used was the 10-juàn Xiéyùn, not the 5-juàn Yùn bǔ; nor did they know that Zhū Xī’s Yǔlù says, of Wú Yù’s Bǔyīn: “very detailed, but there are also some [readings] that cannot be moved away from.” — Yánwǔ, expert in Old phonology, has alone called out the errors. Yet he does not distinguish that Wú Yù has two books, with the world conflating one for the other and then falsely accusing Zhū Xī — that confusion he has not pursued. — Still, his evidential corrections are precise; for those who would believe Wú Yù’s book unreservedly, this is the guide back from a wrong path. Presented Qiánlóng 45 / 7 (1780). General Editors Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì; Chief Collator Lù Fèichí.
Abstract
The Yùn bǔ zhèng (date uncertain, likely produced in parallel with the Yīnxué wǔshū over Gù Yánwǔ’s mature career, 1643–1682) is the supplementary critical volume of Gù’s Old-phonology project: a systematic critique of Wú Yù’s 吳棫 surviving Yùn bǔ KR1j0059. The work documents Wú Yù’s specific xiéyùn assignments and supplies Old-phonological corrections. The Sìkù tíyào’s methodological subtlety — pointing out that Gù conflates Wú Yù’s surviving 5-juàn Yùn bǔ with his lost 10-juàn Bǔyīn (the actual source of Zhū Xī’s Shī-readings) — is a useful philological refinement. Yet the substantive corrections are sound and the work serves as a “guide back from a wrong path” for those still working in the xiéyùn paradigm. notBefore = 1643; notAfter = 1682 (Gù’s death).
Translations and research
- Wáng Lì 王力. 1985. Hàn-yǔ yǔ-yīn shǐ. — Treats the Yùn bǔ zhèng alongside the Yīn-xué wǔ-shū.
- Pulleyblank, Edwin G. 1962. The Consonantal System of Old Chinese.
Other points of interest
The Yùn bǔ zhèng is conventionally counted with the Yīnxué wǔshū as the “sixth book” of Gù Yánwǔ’s Old-phonology corpus, though Gù himself kept it separate. The Sìkù catalogues it independently in xiǎoxué, on the same ground. Together with the Yīnxué wǔshū, it constitutes the foundational corpus of Qīng historical phonology — through Lǐ Guāngdì 李光地, Jiāng Yǒng 江永, Duàn Yùcái 段玉裁, Wáng Niànsūn 王念孫, and Wáng Yǐnzhī to the modern reconstruction.