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Article published In: The History of Chinese Linguistics in East and West
Edited by Otto Zwartjes
[Historiographia Linguistica 51:1-3] 2024
► pp. 16–36

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Misquoting the ancients

Editorial practices in the Kangxi zidian

 | Zhejiang University
Published online: 25 October 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.00154.gal
Abstract
The Kangxi zidian 康熙字典 [Kangxi Dictionary] was without doubt the most influential and widely used dictionary in China during the past three centuries, and its impact on education, scholarship, and intellectual life in general, cannot be overstated. The dictionary’s compilation was a major step in the development of Chinese lexicography, and it has been at the foundation of all large dictionary projects ever since. This paper addresses the editors’ tendency to misquote and misattribute quotations, which has been among the most commonly criticized issues. My aim here is not to identify further mistakes but to document the patterns of misquotations, as these can help understand the process of the dictionary’s compilation. One noteworthy find is that in many cases members of the editorial team quoted their sources indirectly, relying on more recent encyclopedias and miscellanea.
Résumé
Le Kangxi zidian 康熙字典 [Dictionnaire Kangxi] est sans aucun doute le dictionnaire le plus influent et le plus utilisé en Chine au cours des trois derniers siècles, et on ne saurait surestimer son impact sur l’enseignement, l’érudition et la vie intellectuelle en général. La compilation du dictionnaire a constitué une étape majeure dans le développement de la lexicographie chinoise et a été à la base de tous les grands projets de dictionnaires depuis lors. Cet article traite de la tendance des éditions à citer et à attribuer les citations de façon erronée, tendance qui a été l’un des problèmes les plus fréquemment relevés par la critique. Toutefois, mon propos n’est pas ici d’identifier d’autres erreurs, mais de documenter les types de citations erronées, car ceux-ci peuvent aider à comprendre le processus de compilation du dictionnaire. Il convient de noter que, dans de nombreux cas, les membres de l’équipe éditoriale ont cité leurs sources de manière indirecte, en exploitant des encyclopédies et des recueils produits à des dates plus récentes.
Zusammenfassung
Das Kāngxī Zìdiǎn 康熙字典 [Kangxi-Wörterbuch] war in den letzten drei Jahrhunderten zweifellos das einflussreichste und am weitesten verbreitete Wörterbuch in China. Seinen Einfluss auf Bildung, Wissenschaft und das intellektuelle Leben im Allgemeinen kann man kaum überschätzen. Die Zusammenstellung des Wörterbuchs war ein wichtiger Schritt in der Entwicklung der chinesischen Lexikographie und es bildet seither die Grundlage für alle großen Wörterbuchprojekte. Dieser Artikel befasst sich mit einem der häufigsten Kritikpunkte, nämlich der Tatsache, dass die Redakteure des Wörterbuchs Zitate oft falsch wiedergaben und falsch zuordneten. Ziel des Beitrags ist es jedoch nicht, weitere Fehler zu identifizieren, sondern die Muster von Fehlzitaten zu dokumentieren, weil solche Muster dazu beitragen können, den Prozess der Zusammenstellung des Wörterbuchs besser zu verstehen. Ein bemerkenswerter Befund ist, dass bestimmte Redakteure ihre Quellen oft indirekt zitierten, indem sie sich auf neuere Enzyklopädien und Miszellen stützten.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The dictionary
  • 3.Mistakes of attribution
  • 4.Inaccurate quoting
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
  • Primary sources
  • Secondary sources
References (38)
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