Míngyí 名疑
Doubtful Names
by 陳士元 (Chén Shìyuán, Míng, 撰).
About the work
A 4-juan Míng-period reference catalog of historical name-variants and homonyms, gathered from the Three Sovereigns down to the Yuán. Compiled by Chén Shìyuán 陳士元 (1516–1597 by external evidence; not in CBDB), a Húběi jìnshì of Jiājìng 1538 and a leading mid-Míng kǎojù scholar. The work was completed in 1544 (the catalog meta gives this date) and revised, with the surviving preface dated Lóngqìng jǐsì (1569 / 1 / 15). It gathers four types of name-discrepancy: (a) yìzì (variant characters in the same name); (b) gēngmíng gēngzì (subsequent name-changes); (c) homonyms; (d) names commonly misread. For each entry, Chén cites the Shǐ jì, Hàn shū, or other primary source and offers a biànzhèng (critical determination).
The work is one of the more rigorous Míng evidential-philological lèishū. The Sìkù editors note its successes — e.g. correctly identifying Hóng Rú 閎孺’s variant transcription as Hóng Jírú 閎籍孺 in the Shǐ jì · Nìngxìng zhuàn; correctly identifying Táo Yuānmíng’s 陶淵明 original name and zì via Yán Yánzhī’s 顏延之 lěi (elegy) — but also fault some over-stretches: identifying Sīmǎ Tán 司馬談’s name as readable tóng on the basis of bìhuì alone; identifying Tóng Wū 童烏 as Yáng Xióng’s 揚雄 childhood name, including the further claim that Yáng’s surname was originally 楊 with 揚 a copyist’s error. The work also incorporates many shénxiān guǐguài (immortals and ghosts) names — Wú Gāng 吳剛, Héngé 姮娥, Fēnglóng 豐隆, Píngyì 屏翳, Shéntú Yùlěi 神荼欝壘 — without source citation, weakening the work’s evidential discipline.
Tiyao (abridged)
The Míngyí in 4 juan by Chén Shìyuán of the Míng. Up from the Three Sovereigns, down to the Yuán, the work broadly gathers from histories and various schools all ancient figures whose names have variants, whose given names or zì have been changed, or who are homonymous with others. The citations are more thorough than other surname books.
Some entries correctly point out errors: e.g. the Dòngshén bù recording the names of the Three Sovereigns; the Lièxiān zhuàn’s claim that Jiè Zǐtuī’s surname was Wáng and given name Guāng. The work draws on the Shǐ jì · Nìngxìng zhuàn to show that Zhū Jiàn’s biography wrongly transcribes Hóng Rú 閎孺 as Hóng Jírú 閎籍孺; and on Yán Yánzhī’s elegy to show that Táo zhēngshì (i.e. zhēngshì, Recluse-named) was originally named Yuānmíng, zì Yuánliàng — all firmly established. But to take Sīmǎ Qiān’s taboo-name Tán as meaning tóng (same) by phonetic reading is wrong; or to take Tóng Wū as Yáng Xióng’s xiǎozì and further say his surname was originally 楊 with 揚 a corruption — there are also not a few errors.
The names of shénxiān and guǐguài — Wú Gāng, Héngé, Fēnglóng, Píngyì, Shéntú, Yùlěi — are all carefully recorded; the tǐlì is rather muddled and the sources are not given — not fully credible. But the gathering is rich, with some material useful for cross-reference; preserve for evidential consultation.
Respectfully revised and submitted, intercalary fifth month of the forty-sixth year of Qiánlóng [1781].
General Compilers: Jǐ Yún 紀昀, Lù Xīxióng 陸錫熊, Sūn Shìyì 孫士毅. General Reviser: Lù Fèichí 陸費墀.
Abstract
The Míngyí is one of the more methodologically interesting Míng-period prosopographical works. Chén Shìyuán 陳士元 (1516–1597) was a Húběi jìnshì of Jiājìng 17 (1538), a senior provincial official who retired to teach. He produced a substantial body of mid-Míng kǎojù writings, particularly on the Yì jīng, on dreams (Mèng zhàn yì zhǐ 夢占逸旨), and on naming conventions (this work and a Xìnghuì 姓觽). Compositional date is bracketed here from the Jiājìng jiǎchén 1544 date in the catalog metadata to the 1569 Lóngqìng preface — i.e. the work was compiled and then revised over a 25-year period.
The work’s evidential approach — citing primary historical sources, weighing variants, offering critical determinations — anticipates the more rigorous Qīng kǎojù tradition. For modern Chinese prosopography and xìngshū studies, the work is one of the principal pre-Qīng catalogs of name-variants and homonyms.
Translations and research
- Hú Dào-jìng 胡道靜, Zhōngguó gǔdài de lèishū (Zhōng-huá, 1982), §Míng.
- Hé Bēng-níng 何朋寧 (ed.), Chén Shì-yuán jí (Hú-běi rén-mín, 2003), critical edition of Chén’s works.
No European-language translation.
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Lèishū lèi, Míngyí entry.
- Wikidata: Q11074597.