Erya is not only the originator of dictionaries, but also the earliest monograph to explain the meaning of words in China, and the first dictionary compiled according to the system of word meaning and the classification of things.
Erya contains more than 4,300 ancient Chinese words, which is an important reference book to dredge ancient words and ancient prose in ancient literature, including the Five Classics. It is regarded as the pioneering work of China's exegetics, which has great influence on exegetics, phonology, etymology, dialectology and ancient philology.
Completion time:
Er Ya was written between the Warring States Period or the Han Dynasty, and the upper limit should not be earlier than that of the Warring States Period, because some materials used in the book came from books such as Chu Ci, Zhuangzi and Lv Chunqiu, all of which were works after the Warring States Period. Some animals mentioned in the book, such as lynx (suān ní, one of the nine sons of the dragon, shaped like a lion).
According to textual research, it has not been seen before in the Warring States period. Some people think that the writing limit of Er Ya will not be later than that of the Western Han Dynasty, because Dr Er Ya was already set up in Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty, and Er Ya Zhu, regarded as literature, appeared in Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty.