Japanese rendition of Tenrei bansho meigi's definition in early Japanese lexicography : An essay

要旨

This essay will address differences in orientation in early Japanese lexicography with regard to the Japanese rendering of definitions in a Chinese language dictionary. Most,if not all, premodern Japanese dictionaries took the form of rendering the headword in Chinese characters and Chinese words,while also offering a Japanese reading. This does not, however, entail that early Japanese lexicography was entirely oriented to the Chinese language:in fact,a representative portion of Japanese oriented language dictionaries were produced. Japanese readings in Japanese language dictionaries explain the Japanese use of the headword. Alternatively, Chinese-Japanese dictionaries, including Chinese character dictionaries, explain the Chinese use in the Japanese language. By virtue of this fact,they are not distinctive in their form. This essay attempts to distinguish which orientation a dictionary inclines to by focusing on its rendering of definitions of earlier Chinese dictionaries. Here,we will examine the nature of Japanese renditions in a Japanese dictionary,Ruiju myogi sho 類聚名義抄, cited from the Chinese character dictionary Tenrei bansho meigi 篆隷万象名義. Our findings suggest that Japanese renditions illustrate Chinese use rather than Japanese use, which accounts for differences in the Japanese readings and compiling strategies of the dictionaries.

主題