Erya 爾雅

Erya 爾雅 "Approach to correct [expressions]" is a dictionary-like glossary from the Han period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE). It is one of the Thirteen Confucian Classics. The author is not known. Traditionally authorship is attributed so some of Confucius' disciples who compiled the Erya in order to elucidate the meaning of terms appearing in the classical texts. It is also claimed that the Duke of Zhou 周公 (11th cent. BCE) had begun to compile such a book which was later expanded by Confucius, his disciple Zixia 子夏 and the early Han scholar Shusun Tong 叔孫通.

In fact the Erya must have been compiled during the Former Han period 前漢 (206 BCE-8 CE) by members of the National University (taixue 太學) entrusted with the teaching of the Confucian Classics. The title signifies that the book provides the proper meaning of terms, as Confucius stressed it in his concept of rectifying names (zhengming 正名) in order to achieve a well-functioning political and social system.

Figure 1. Beginning of the Erya

Beginning of the Erya, Sibu congkan 四部叢刊 edition, reproducing a Song period print from the collection of the family Qu 瞿氏 from Changshu 常熟, Jiangsu (Tieqin Tongjian Studio 鐵琴銅劍樓). Click to enlarge.

The lexemes are arranged according to 19 semantic fields or chapters, in 3 juan. Each chapter title begins with the word shi 釋 "explaining" (lexemes of this and that field). The titles of the first three chapters are interpreted by commentators as (1) "Explaining old (meanings, 詁=古)", (2) "Explaining (elegant and ancient) words", and (3) "Explaining instructions (mostly from the Shijing 詩經, used to define proper modes of behaviour)".

The lexemes are arranged in groups of synonyms, for which reason the Erya can be called a synonymicon. Yet this only refers to part of the Erya. Other parts, mainly in the second half, contain lexicographic definitions (like the names for horses in the example below), others include ritual prescriptions (as can be seen in the use of exact terms in kinship in the example below). The Erya shows that it belongs to a group of other texts compiled during the Han period, like Cai Yong's 蔡邕 Duduan 獨斷.

The earliest commentaries on the Erya were written by the Later Han 後漢 (25-220 CE) scholars Liu Xin 劉歆, Mao Guang 樊光, Liu Xunji 劉巡幾 and the Wei period 曹魏 (220-265) scholar Sun Yan 孫炎. All of these early commentaries are lost. The earliest surviving commentary, Erya zhu 爾雅注 in 3 juan, was written by the Eastern Jin 東晉 (317-420) scholar Guo Pu 郭璞. Guo Pu had also compiled phonetic glosses, Erya yinyi 爾雅音義, which is lost. Lu Deming 陸德明, the famous Tang period 唐 (618-907) commentator, compiled a phonetic exegesis, Erya yinyi 爾雅音義. The Song period 宋 (960-1279) scholar Xing Bing 郉昺 expanded this commentary on the 10-juan long Erya shu 爾雅疏. His contemporary Zheng Qiao 鄭樵 wrote a new Erya zhu, in which he stressed that the older commentators did not get to the point directly and were too ambigous in their explanations.

Luo Yuan 羅願 wrote a kind of supplement to the Erya called Eryayi 爾雅翼 "Wings to the Erya", which focuses on plants and animals.

There were a number of commentaries in the subsequent centuries with different purposes. Some were textual-critical amendations of earlier writings, like the commentaries of Ruan Yuan 阮元 (Erya zhushu jiaokanji 爾雅注疏校勘記) and Yan Yuanzhao 嚴元照 (Erya kuangming 爾雅匡名), others were supplements, like Zhou Chun's 周春 Erya buzhu 爾雅補注, some were real commentaries, like Shao Jinhan's 邵晉涵 Erya zhengyi 爾雅正義 or Hao Yixing's 郝懿行 Erya Guozhu zhengyi 爾雅郭注正義, and some books were interpretations of the basic principles of the structure of the Erya, like Chen Yushu's 陳玉澍 Erya shili 爾雅釋例 or Wang Guowei's 王國維 explanation on the plants and animals chapters of the Erya.

The discipline of "Erya studies" (yaxue 雅學, in ancient times also called cang-ya zhi xue 倉雅之學, including the Erya and the primer Cangjiepian 倉頡篇) gained such prominence that Hu Yuanyu 胡元玉 (dates unknown, late 19th cent.) wrote a "meta-study" on this discipline, the Yaxue kao 雅學考.

The Erya and its glossary style founded a whole type of glossary dictionaries compiled with similar principles. Some of them were explicitly written as supplements to the Erya, like Zhang Yi's 張揖 Guangya 廣雅, others only took the Erya as a model, like Zhou Mouhan's 朱謀㙔 Pianya 駢雅.