Nèijīng nánzì yīnyì 內經難字音義
The Sound and Sense of Difficult Characters in the Inner Classic by 陸懋修 (Lù Màoxiū, 1818–1886, 清) — author
About the work
The Nèijīng nánzì yīnyì in one juan is a late-Qīng pronunciation-and-gloss list for difficult or unusual characters in the Sùwèn and Língshū, compiled by Lù Màoxiū 陸懋修 as part of his Shìbǔzhāi yīshū 世補齋醫書 (1884). The work is the most thorough late-imperial Chinese guide to the lexical difficulties of the Nèijīng — both archaic vocabulary preserved from Hàn-period usage and graphical variants peculiar to medical texts — and represents the practical-philological side of Lù’s Nèijīng program (alongside the doctrinal Yùnqì bìngshì KR3ea047 and the systematic Yùnqì biǎo KR3ea048).
Prefaces
The biànyán 弁言 (KR3ea049_000.txt) is by an anonymous early-Republican author and frames Lù’s work as a remedy for late-Qing and Republican-era physicians who “shelve [the classics] and do not read them” because the archaic vocabulary is impenetrable. The preface gives several illustrative examples of Lù’s method:
- Shèn qì dúshěn 腎氣獨沈 (Sìqì tiáoshén dà lùn): Lù shows from the Zhōulǐ “Húzhuó shì” 壺涿氏 commentary by Zhèng Sīnóng that 獨 and 濁 were ancient phonetic loans, so the correct reading is zhuó (turbid kidney qì) not dú (alone-kidney qì).
- Qián qū hòu jū 前曲後居 (Píngrén qìxiàng lùn): Lù shows from the Hànshū “Zhìdū zhuàn” commentary that 居 = 倨 (haughty / stiffened), so the correct sense is “stiff in the back” not “abiding behind”.
- Zhì tóu xū xū 至頭𠘧𠘧 (Cì yāo tòng lùn): the Shuōwén gives 𠘧 = shū (vacancy-stiffening), restoring intelligibility.
The list of Lù’s specific emendations is over 200 entries long; the biànyán praises the “thorough understanding of phonetic-loan principles” (爬梳理董於形聲通假之故).
Abstract
The Nèijīng nánzì yīnyì is one of three serious late-Qing philological works on the Nèijīng lexicon, alongside 胡澍 Hú Shù’s Sùwèn jiàoyì (KR3ea006) and 俞樾 Yú Yuè’s Nèijīng biànyán (KR3ea034). Lù’s work is the most comprehensive and the most practically organized (as a reference list), and remains a primary lookup tool for difficult Nèijīng vocabulary in modern PRC TCM university curricula.
Translations and research
- Qián Chāochén 錢超塵, Nèijīng yǔyán yánjiū 內經語言研究 (Renmin Weisheng, 1990) — engages all three late-Qing philological treatments.