Jigga

The oldest Chinese dictionary. Author unknown. It was compiled around the time of the Qin or early Han dynasty, and was already in existence during the time of Emperor Wu of the Western Han (reigned 140-87 BCE). It is a kind of semantic vocabulary and thesaurus, and explains the meaning of Chinese characters in 19 categories such as "Shakuko", "Shakshin", "Shakten", "Shaka", and "Shakamushi". It does not mention the shape or pronunciation of the characters. It is thought to be a compilation of exegesis, that is, interpretations of the meaning of words in classics. The title of the book is "Tada Shikini Chikazuku", which means that this book allows you to correctly interpret the classics. It was eventually treated as a Confucian classic, and after the Tang and Song dynasties it was considered one of the Twelve (or Thirteen) Classics, with annotations by Guo Pu (276-324). Along with dictionaries that classify characters' shapes, which originated in the 2nd century Shuowen Jiezi, and dictionaries that classify characters' sounds (rhyming dictionaries), which originated in the 3rd century Shengrui, dictionaries that classify characters' meanings, which originated in this book, form an important branch in the history of dictionaries.

[Hisao Hirayama]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国最古の字書。著者不明。秦(しん)・漢初のころに編纂(へんさん)されたらしく、前漢の武帝（在位前140～前87）の時代にはすでにあった。一種の意味別語彙(ごい)集、類義語字典であり、「釈詁(しゃくこ)」「釈親」「釈天」「釈草」「釈虫」など19の部門に分けて、漢字の意味を説明する。字形、字音には触れない。訓詁すなわち古典中の字句の意味解釈を集成したものと思われる。書名は「雅(タダ)シキニ爾(チカ)ヅク」、つまりこの書によって古典を正しく読解できる、との意味である。やがて儒学の経典に準ずる扱いを受け、唐・宋(そう)以後は十二経（十三経）の一つとされ、郭璞(かくはく)（276―324）の注釈とともに行われた。2世紀の『説文解字(せつもんかいじ)』を祖とする字形分類の字書、3世紀の『声類』を祖とする字音分類の字書（韻書）と並び、本書を祖とする字義分類の字書は字書の歴史上重要な一派をなす。

［平山久雄］

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