Book contents
- The Cambridge World History of Lexicography
- The Cambridge World History of Lexicography
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Editor’s Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I The Ancient World
- 1 Ancient Mesopotamia
- 2 Ancient and Coptic Egypt
- 3 Ancient China
- 4 Ancient India
- 5 The Greco-Roman World
- Part II The Pre-Modern World
- Part III The Modern World: Continuing Traditions
- Part IV The Modern World: Missionary and Subsequent Traditions
- Appendix 1 The Language Varieties
- Appendix 2 The Lexicographers
- Primary Sources
- Secondary Sources
- Index
3 - Ancient China
from Part I - The Ancient World
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 September 2019
- The Cambridge World History of Lexicography
- The Cambridge World History of Lexicography
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Editor’s Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Part I The Ancient World
- 1 Ancient Mesopotamia
- 2 Ancient and Coptic Egypt
- 3 Ancient China
- 4 Ancient India
- 5 The Greco-Roman World
- Part II The Pre-Modern World
- Part III The Modern World: Continuing Traditions
- Part IV The Modern World: Missionary and Subsequent Traditions
- Appendix 1 The Language Varieties
- Appendix 2 The Lexicographers
- Primary Sources
- Secondary Sources
- Index
Summary
As in many other cultures, the beginning of Chinese lexicography is rooted in the philogical heritage. Interest in classical texts whose meaning had become difficult to understand engendered a significant number of explanations. Following or inserted into the texts, these explanations were subsequently collected to form the first glossaries and collections of synonyms. Later scholars would draw deep from within this rich exegetic tradition to create the first dictionaries.
The practice of writing requires methods and then perhaps even manuals to learn how to write. In the case of ancient China, there was also the need to manipulate different styles of writing, depending on the type of documents to be produced. Nothing is known about how the earliest Chinese scribes were educated or what kind of documents they may have used to learn and practise.
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- Information
- The Cambridge World History of Lexicography , pp. 51 - 66Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019