Duan Yucai
Encyclopedia
Duan Yucai (1735–1815), courtesy name Ruoying (若膺) was a Chinese
philologist
of the Qing Dynasty
. He made great contributions to the study of Historical Chinese phonology
, and is known for his annotated edition of Shuowen Jiezi
.
, Jiangsu
, he resigned his government post at the age of 46 to concentrate on his studies. A student of Dai Zhen
, he divided the rime
s of Old Chinese
into 17 groups. He suggested that "characters sharing the same phonetic component must belong to the same rime group [as deduced from the rhyming scheme of Shijing]" (同聲必同部). He also suggested that there is no departing tone
in Old Chinese.
His monumental Shuowen Jiezi zhu (說文解字注 "Annotated Shuowen Jiezi"), which he spent 30 years to complete, was published shortly before his death (in 1815). Wang Niansun
, in his preface to the work, says that "it has been 1,700 years since a work of the same quality appeared" (蓋千七百年來無此作矣), suggesting that it is the greatest Chinese philological work since Shuowen Jiezi, which was published during the early 2nd century.
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
philologist
Philology
Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...
of the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
. He made great contributions to the study of Historical Chinese phonology
Historical Chinese phonology
Historical Chinese phonology deals with reconstructing the sounds of Chinese from the past. As Chinese is written with logographic characters, not alphabetic or syllabary, the methods employed in Historical Chinese phonology differ considerably from those employed in, for example, Indo-European...
, and is known for his annotated edition of Shuowen Jiezi
Shuowen Jiezi
The Shuōwén Jiězì was an early 2nd century CE Chinese dictionary from the Han Dynasty. Although not the first comprehensive Chinese character dictionary , it was still the first to analyze the structure of the characters and to give the rationale behind them , as well as the first to use the...
.
Biography
A native of JintanJintan
Jintan is a county-level city within Changzhou in Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China.-Location:Jintan, is located in Jiangsu province in the south, surrounded by Shanghai, Hangzhou and Nanjing. The name Jintan developed from Jinshan county, which continued to be used up to now...
, Jiangsu
Jiangsu
' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name...
, he resigned his government post at the age of 46 to concentrate on his studies. A student of Dai Zhen
Dai Zhen
Dai Zhen was a notable Chinese scholar of the Qing Dynasty from Xiuning, Anhui. A versatile scholar, he made great contributions to mathematics, geography, phonology and philosophy...
, he divided the rime
Syllable rime
In the study of phonology in linguistics, the rime or rhyme of a syllable consists of a nucleus and an optional coda. It is the part of the syllable used in poetic rhyme, and the part that is lengthened or stressed when a person elongates or stresses a word in speech.The rime is usually the...
s of Old Chinese
Old Chinese
The earliest known written records of the Chinese language were found at a site near modern Anyang identified as Yin, the last capital of the Shang dynasty, and date from about 1200 BC....
into 17 groups. He suggested that "characters sharing the same phonetic component must belong to the same rime group [as deduced from the rhyming scheme of Shijing]" (同聲必同部). He also suggested that there is no departing tone
Four tones
The four tones of Chinese phonology are four traditional tone-classes of words derived from the four phonemic tones of Middle Chinese. They are even level , rising , going departing , and entering checked .-Names:In Middle Chinese, each of the tone names carries the tone it identifies: 平 even ,...
in Old Chinese.
His monumental Shuowen Jiezi zhu (說文解字注 "Annotated Shuowen Jiezi"), which he spent 30 years to complete, was published shortly before his death (in 1815). Wang Niansun
Wang Niansun
Wang Niansun , courtesy name: Huaizu was a Chinese scholar of the Qing Dynasty.-Biography:A native of Gaoyou, Jiangsu, he worked as a government official specializing in channelization before retiring to devote himself to his studies...
, in his preface to the work, says that "it has been 1,700 years since a work of the same quality appeared" (蓋千七百年來無此作矣), suggesting that it is the greatest Chinese philological work since Shuowen Jiezi, which was published during the early 2nd century.