Tóngxìngmíng lù 同姓名錄
Record of Persons Sharing Surname and Given Name
by 余寅 (Yú Yín, Míng, 撰) — 12 juan; supplemented by 周應賓 (Zhōu Yīngbīn) — 1 juan.
About the work
The most fully-articulated late-Míng successor of the LiángYuándì / Lù Shànjīng / Yè Sēn Gǔjīn tóngxìngmíng lù tradition (KR3k0001), covering historical figures from the Three Sovereigns down to the end of the Yuán who share both surname and given name. Compiled by Yú Yín 余寅 (CBDB id 128361; 1519–1595) of Yín 鄞 in Níngbō 寧波 — Wànlì gēngchén (1580) jìnshì who rose to Tàicháng sì qīng; supplementary 13th juan added by his fellow-townsman Zhōu Yīngbīn 周應賓 (CBDB id 128931; Wànlì guǐwèi 1583 jìnshì, rose to Lǐbù shàngshū).
Yú’s preface explains the genesis: the Liáng Yuándì Gǔjīn tóngxìngmíng lù had been preserved only fragmentarily in the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn, with no separate Míng transmission; Yú accordingly compiled a fresh Tóngxìngmíng lù on the same plan but drawing on much broader Míng-period bibliographic resources. The original 4-juan version was printed by Wáng Shìzhēn 王世貞 (王中丞公 of Yúzhāng) in Wànlì yǐmǎo (1579); Yú later expanded to 8 more juan, completing the 12-juan form. Zhōu Yīngbīn then added a single juan of further entries.
The work organizes its material by category (sovereigns and ministers; statesmen; generals; specialists by region; women; immortals and Buddhist monks; foreign or frontier figures; etc.) and within each by approximate chronology. The book also contains substantial sections on related categories: persons sharing names with constellations, places, gods, drugs, animals, etc. The Sìkù editors flag various errors but praise the work as the most comprehensive Míng-period successor of the genre.
Tiyao (abridged)
The Tóngxìngmíng lù in 12 juan by Yú Yín of the Míng; supplement in 1 juan by Zhōu Yīngbīn. Both Yín men. Yín Wànlì gēngchén (1580) jìnshì; rose to Tàicháng sì qīng. Yīngbīn Wànlì guǐwèi (1583) jìnshì; rose to Lǐbù shàngshū.
From Liáng Yuándì first composing the Gǔjīn tóngxìngmíng lù in 1 juan — recorded in Suí jīngjí zhì — Táng Lù Shànjīng and Yuán Yè Sēn successively supplemented; gradually lost; only the Yǒnglè dàdiǎn preserved it; in the Míng-period popular world there was no separate transmitted copy. Yú accordingly went up to classics and histories, expanded into bàiguān (informal records), starting from the Hónghuāng (primordial chaos) ending in the Yuán; first completed 4 juan; Yīngbīn, judging it incomplete, expanded; later Yú added 8 more juan — anything Yīngbīn omitted, Yú gathered without missing.
Between the two there are some divergences: as for Bǐng Jí, Yín takes the surname as 邴; for the Bóshì of Chén Shè, Kǒng Jiǎ, Yín takes the writing as Kǒng Fù 孔鮒. In these cases Yín’s view is preferable. The other gatherings and kǎohé (critical determinations), corrections of errors and disambiguations of similars — broadly conversant. Only with the juan-mass great, slips are not absent. Knowing that there are two Fù Lín but the Sòng author of Xíngtǒng fù not included; knowing that there are two Zhōu Mì but the Sòng author of Qídōng yěyǔ not included. Qín Xú Shì 徐市 — shì read as wù — corrupted to fú — and so not paired with Hàn Xú Fú. Kǒngmén Zhèng Bāng — bāng tabooed to guó — and so not paired with Hán water-engineer (Zhèng Guó). Hàn dam-breaker Wáng Yánshì — shì truncated — and so on; the Sòng Shìlèi fù author Wú Shū’s surname Wú changed to Lǐ in some sources. Even same-place-name, same-god-name, same-drug-name, same-bird-beast-insect-name categories are gàilù (lumped in) as “same surname-and-name” — particularly muddled.
But Liáng Yuándì’s original book is simple; Lù Shànjīng and Yè Sēn supplements are full of errors; this book is broadly drawn and thoroughly assembled — useful for evidential research; cannot be dismissed for being late.
Respectfully revised and submitted, second month of the forty-second year of Qiánlóng [1777].
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 Tóngxìngmíng lù (full title and YúZhōu edition) is the principal late-Míng successor of the homonymic-prosopography tradition founded by Liáng Yuándì in KR3k0001. Yú Yín (CBDB id 128361, 1519–1595) and Zhōu Yīngbīn (CBDB id 128931, dates not fully recorded but jìnshì 1583) were both natives of Yínxiàn 鄞縣 in Níngbō — late-Míng senior officials and kǎojù-oriented Confucians. Composition is bracketed here from Yú’s 1579 first printing (the 4-juan form) to ca. 1595 (Yú’s death and the completion of the 12-juan form, with Zhōu’s supplementary juan).
The work is the most fully-articulated extant compendium of historical homonyms (Chinese figures sharing both surname and given name), with entries covering some 500+ such homonymic sets. For modern Chinese prosopography, the work is a primary reference — used by Cén Zhòngmiǎn, Yú Jiāxī, and most subsequent scholars working with pre-modern Chinese personal-name records. The Liú Yījiǎn 劉一燝 preface (preserved in the Sìkù recension) is a literary tribute to Yú Yín alongside Lǐ Pānlóng 李攀龍 (李于鱗) as one of the two leading mid-Míng gǔxué (ancient-learning) scholars.
Translations and research
- Hú Dào-jìng 胡道靜, Zhōngguó gǔdài de lèishū (Zhōng-huá, 1982), §Míng.
- Cén Zhòng-miǎn 岑仲勉, Yuán-hé xìng-zuǎn fù sì-jiào jì (Zhōng-huá, 1994), uses Yú Yín for cross-collation.
- Wáng Sān-qìng 王三慶, Méng-qiú yán-jiū (Wén-jīn, 1995), §IV on Míng-period prosopography.
No European-language complete translation.
Other points of interest
The Liú Yījiǎn preface — naming Lǐ Pānlóng (Lǐ Yúlín) and Yú Yín together as the two leading mid-Míng gǔxué scholars, both Wáng Shìzhēn protégés — provides an important documentation of the literary-philological circle around Wáng Shìzhēn in late-Míng Jiāngnán.
Links
- Sìkù quánshū zǒngmù tíyào, Zǐbù · Lèishū lèi, Tóngxìngmíng lù entry.
- Wikidata: Q11074722.
- Related work: KR3k0001 (Liáng Yuándì, Gǔjīn tóngxìngmíng lù).