Ěryǎ Gù-shì yīn 爾雅顧氏音
Master Gù’s Phonological Commentary on the Ěryǎ by 顧野王 (撰)
About the work
A modern reconstruction of 顧野王 Gù Yěwáng’s lost Ěryǎ yīn 爾雅音, the principal Liáng-period phonological apparatus to the Ěryǎ 爾雅 (KR1j0002). Gù Yěwáng — better known as the compiler of the Yùpiān 玉篇 KR1j0022 — also produced this companion yīn (phonological gloss) for the Ěryǎ corpus. The original is recorded in the Suí shū jīngjí zhì 隋書‧經籍志 (xiǎoxué) and was lost between the late Táng and Sòng; the CHANT reconstruction (CH2f1204) collates citations from Lù Démíng’s Jīngdiǎn shìwén 經典釋文 and the Ěryǎ shū 爾雅疏 of 邢昺 Xíng Bǐng (KR1j0003).
Abstract
The Gù-shì yīn belongs to a small cluster of Liáng-period Ěryǎ phonological commentaries — KR1j0094 (Gù Yěwáng), KR1j0095 (Shī Qián 施乾), and KR1j0096 (Xiè Qiáo 謝嶠) — that together represent the late southern xiǎoxué engagement with the Ěryǎ before the Suí Qièyùn synthesis. They are routinely cited together by Lù Démíng (frequently as Gù, Shī, Xiè 顧、施、謝, or in pairs).
Representative surviving fragment: at Ěryǎ 〈Shìgǔ 釋詁〉 first chapter, jiǎn-zhào bǎn-zhì 簡箌昄晊 — Gù reads zhào as dū-jué qiè 都角切 with the gloss “Shuōwén says cǎo dà yě 草大也; Hán-shī says zhào bǐ fǔ-tián 箌彼甫田” (cited via Xíng Bǐng’s shū; Lù Démíng’s shìwén parallel reads “切” as “反”, reflecting the historical spelling-shift from qiè to fǎn). Other entries: zhì 晊 read yīn-bǎn 音板 or fǎn-qiè pǔ-jiān/pǔ-liàn 普姦、普練二反.
The reading-method shows Gù Yěwáng’s Yùpiān-trained phonological apparatus applied directly to the Ěryǎ corpus — fǎn-qiè spellings often with multiple alternative readings and with explicit citation of Shuōwén 說文 and Hán-shī wài-zhuàn 韓詩外傳 attestations.
Dating: the bracket reflects Gù Yěwáng’s whole career (519–581); the work is conventionally dated to the period immediately following his completion of the Yùpiān (543), but no firm internal date is preserved.
Translations and research
No substantial dedicated Western-language secondary literature located. The standard treatments are:
- Rén Dàchūn 任大椿, Xiǎoxué gōuchén 小學鉤沈.
- Mǎ Guóhàn 馬國翰, Yùhánshānfáng jíyìshū 玉函山房輯佚書.
Other points of interest
The clustering of three Liáng-period Ěryǎ yīn in this CHANT trio (Gù, Shī, Xiè) — all preserved chiefly through Lù Démíng — confirms that the Ěryǎ received a coordinated phonological re-reading by the southern Liáng xiǎoxué milieu, of which Gù Yěwáng’s Yùpiān was the principal monument.
Links
- Suí shū jīngjí zhì — xiǎoxué: https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=en&res=613103
- Jīngdiǎn shìwén — Ěryǎ yīnyì: https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=en&res=608648