Leipian

Leipian
Song dynasty painting of Sima Guang
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	類るい篇へん
Simplified Chinese	类篇
Literal meaning	categorized chapters
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lèipiān Wade–Giles Lei-p'ien Yue: Cantonese Jyutping Leoi6pin1 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Luiphiⁿ Middle Chinese Middle Chinese Lwijphjien  Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) [R]u[t]-spʰen
Korean name
Hangul	類るい篇へん
Hanja	류편
Transcriptions McCune–Reischauer Ryup'yŏn
Japanese name
Kanji	類るい篇へん
Hiragana	るいへん
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn Ruihen

The (1066) Leipian 類るい篇へん is a Chinese dictionary compiled by Song dynasty (960-1279) lexicographers under the supervision of chancellor Sima Guang. It contains 31,319 character head entries, more than twice as many as the 12,158 in the (c. 543) Yupian, and included many new characters created during the Tang (618-907) and Song dynasties. Leipian entries are arranged by a 544-radical system adapted from the 540 radicals of the classic (121) Shuowen Jiezi.

Text

The dictionary title combines two common Chinese words: lèi 類るい " category; kind; type; class" and piān 篇へん "piece of writing; sheet (of paper); chapter". Piān 篇へん, written with the "bamboo radical" ⺮ and biǎn 扁ひらた "flat" phonetic, originally meant "bamboo slip (for writing)", comparable with biān 編へん "weave; organize; compile" with the "silk radical" 糸いと—seen in the (1726) Pianzi leipian 駢字類るい編へん "Classified Collection of Phrases and Literary Allusions" dictionary title.

English translations include Dictionary of Character Sounds, Collection of Categorized Characters, The Classified Chapters, and The Categories Book.

The Leipian text consists of 15 books (册さつ), each subdivided into 3 parts, for a total of 45 volumes (卷まき). The 31,319 character head entries are organized by a 544-radical system. Each entry gives the character in Small Seal Script (following the Shuowen jiezi format), the pronunciation in the fanqie system, definition, and exegesis. The Leipian also notes variant characters, alternate pronunciations, and multiple meanings.

History

Emperor Renzong of Song (r. 1022-1063) commissioned the Leipian character dictionary project in 1039 and it was completed in 1066. There were four chief editors, three of whom died before completing the dictionary: Wang Zhu 王おう洙 (997-1057), Hu Xiu 胡えびす宿やど (995-1067), Zhang Cili 張ちょう次つぎ立りつ (1010-1063), and Fan Zhen 范鎮 (1007-1088).

Emperor Renzong also ordered the compilation of the (1037) Jiyun, which was a phonologically arranged rime dictionary intended to complement the Leipian character dictionary. The Leipian Preface says all phonetically related characters are included in the Jiyun while all formally related ones are included in the Leipian.

The historian and chancellor Sima Guang (1019-1086) carried out the final editing on the expanded Jiyun and the Leipian, and in 1067, he submitted the printed versions of both dictionaries to Emperor Yingzong of Song (r. 1063-1067). At that time, the Jiyun and Leipian were the most complete reference works in the history of Chinese lexicography.

References

• Yong, Heming; Peng, Jing (2008). Chinese Lexicography: A History from 1046 BC to AD 1911. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191561672.

Footnotes