Qieyun: Difference between revisions

The '''''Qieyun''''' ({{zh|t=切韻}}) is a [[Chinese language|Chinese]] [[rime dictionary]], that was published in 601 CE during the [[Sui dynasty]]. The book was a guide to proper reading of classical texts, using the ''[[fanqie]]'' method to indicate the pronunciation of [[Chinese charactercharacters]]s.

The book was created by Lu Fayan (Lu Fa-yen; {{lang|zh|陸法言;}}) 581–618in CE)601. The preface of the ''Qieyun'' describes how the plan of the book originated from a discussion with eight of his friends 20 years earlier at his home in [[Chang'an]], the capital of [[Sui dynasty|Sui China]].

The ''Qieyun'' reflected the enhanced phonological awareness that developed in China after the advent of Buddhism, which introduced the sophisticated [[History of linguistics#India|Indian linguistics]].{{sfnp|Mair|1998|p=168}} The Buddhist [[Kingdom of Qocho|Uyghur Kingdom of Qocho]] used a version of the ''Qieyun''.{{sfnp|Takata|2004|p=337}}

Particularly prized were copies of Wáng Rénxū's edition made in the early 9th century by Wú Cǎiluán (呉{{lang|zh|吳彩鸞}}), a woman famed for her calligraphy.{{sfnp|Takata|2004|p=333}}

One of these copies was acquired by [[Emperor Huizong of Song|Emperor Huizong]] (1100–10261100–1126), himself a keen calligrapher. It remained in the palace library until 1926, when part of the library followed the deposed emperor [[Puyi]] to [[Tianjin]] and then to [[Changchun]], capital of the puppet state of [[Manchukuo]]. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, it passed to a book dealer in Changchun, and in 1947 two scholars discovered it in a book market in [[Liulichang]], Beijing.{{sfnp|Malmqvist|2010|pp=299–300}}

These were divided into five volumes, two for the many words of the "level" [[four tones (Middle Chinese)|tone]], and one volume for each of the other [[fourthree tones]].

For example, the first entry in the ''Qieyun'', shown at right, describes the character 東 ''dōng'' "east". The three characters on the right are a ''fanqie'' pronunciation key, marked by the character 反 ''fǎn'' "turn back". This indicates that the word is pronounced with the initial of 德 [tək] and the final of 紅 [ɣuŋ], i.e. [tuŋ]. The word is glossed as 木方 ''mù fāng'', i.e. the direction of wood (one of the [[WuWuxing Xing(Chinese philosophy)|Five Elements]]), while the numeral 二 "two" indicates that this is the first of two entries in a homophone group.

The ''Qieyun'' did not directly record [[Middle Chinese]] as a spoken language, but rather how characters ''should'' be pronounced when reading the classics. Since this rime dictionary's spellings are the primary source for reconstructing Middle Chinese, linguists have disagreed over what variety of Chinese it recorded. "Much ink has been spilled concerning the nature of the language underlying the ''Qieyun''," says Norman (1988: 24), who lists three points of view. Some scholars, like [[Bernhard Karlgren]], "held to the view that the ''Qieyun'' represented the language of Chang'an"; some "others have supposed that it represented an amalgam of regional pronunciations," technically known as a [[diasystem]]. "At the present time most people in the field accept the views of the Chinese scholar Zhou Zumo" (周祖謨; 1914–1995) that ''Qieyun'' spellings were a north-southnorth–south regional compromise between literary pronunciations from the [[Northern and Southern dynasties]].

== References ==

{{Reflist|colwidth=20em}}

'''=== Works cited''' ===

| chapterurlchapter-url = http://www.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~takata/BerlinQieyun.pdf

| postscriptpublisher = .Reimer

*''Qieyun'' fragments brought from Dunhuang by [[Aurel Stein]], now in the [[British Library]] (only S.2071, S.5980 hasand S.6156 have been scanned):

[[Category:7th-century Chinese books]]