The name of the first dictionary is Shuo Wen Jie Zi, written by Xu Shen. Shuowen Jiezi is the first dictionary in China that systematically analyzes the Chinese characters' forms and studies their origins, and it is also one of the earliest dictionaries in the world. At the time of editing, the "six books" were explained in detail for the first time.
Introduction to Shuowen Jiezi
Shuowen Jiezi is called Shuowen for short. Shuowen Jiezi is the first Chinese dictionary arranged by radicals. The original book was written in the 12th year of Emperor Yong Yuan of Han Dynasty (1 years) to the first year of Jian Guang of An Di (121 years), but it was lost because of its age. In the third year of Emperor Yongxi of Song Taizong, Song Taizong ordered Xu Xuan, Zhu Zhongzheng, Ge Tuan, Wang Weigong and other schools to publish Shuowen Jiezi, which was divided into 3 volumes, and was distributed by engraving. Later generations studied Shuowen based on this edition. For example, Duan Yucai's annotated edition in Qing Dynasty was annotated with this edition as the manuscript.
The original text of Shuo Wen Jie Zi is written in Xiao Zhuan, which explains the source of the font word by word. The book is divided into 54 radicals. Received 9353 words. There are also 1163 "heavy texts" (that is, variant characters). ***1516 words. Shuowen Jiezi is the foundation work of scientific philology and document linguistics, and it has an extremely important position in the history of linguistics in China.
Many scholars have studied Shuo Wen Jie Zi in past dynasties, and the study was the most prosperous in Qing Dynasty. Duan Yucai's Notes on Explaining Chinese Characters, Zhu Junsheng's Notes on Explaining Chinese Characters, and Gui Fu's Evidence of Explaining Chinese Characters; Wang Yun's Shuowen Interpretation and Shuowen Sentence Reading are especially praised, and the four of them are also honored as "the four masters of Shuowen". The influence of Shuowen Jiezi
Shuowen Jiezi is the first dictionary in the history of linguistics in China to analyze glyphs, explain the meaning of words and identify pronunciation. At the same time, it founded the Chinese-style linguistics-philology, and Shuowen Jiezi is the masterpiece of philology. Shuowenjiezi has a great influence on the formation and development of traditional linguistics. The words of writing, phonology and exegesis mentioned in later generations are generally beyond the scope of Shuowenjiezi, but Shuowenjiezi itself forms a special discipline.
Shuo Wen Jie Zi has completely and systematically preserved Xiao Zhuan and part of the essays, which is a bridge for Chinese people to know more ancient Chinese characters-Oracle Bone Inscriptions and inscriptions on bronze. The explanation of Shuo Wen Jie Zi is an important basis for Chinese people to annotate and sort out ancient books today. Therefore, Shuo Wen Jie Zi still has great academic value and application value today.