Title

Chinese scholars interpret the first title character ěr (lang=zh爾; "you, your; adverbial suffix") as a phonetic loan character for the homophonous ěr (lang=zh邇; "near; close; approach"), and believe the second yǎ (lang=zh雅; "proper; correct; refined; elegant") refers to words or language. According to W. South Coblin: "The interpretation of the title as something like 'approaching what is correct, proper, refined' is now widely accepted" (1993:94). It has been translated as "The Literary Expositor" or "The Ready Rectifier" (both by Legge), "Progress Towards Correctness" (von Rosthorn), "Near Correct" (Xue), "The Semantic Approximator" (Needham), and "Approaching Elegance" (Mair).

History

The book's author is unknown. Although it is traditionally attributed to the Duke of Zhou, Confucius, or his disciples, scholarship suggests that someone compiled and edited diverse glosses from commentaries to pre-Qin texts, especially the Shijing. Joseph Needham et al. (1986:191) place the Erya's compilation between the late 4th and early 2nd centuries BCE, with the possible existence of some core text material dating back to the 6th century BCE, and the continued additions to the text as late as the 1st century BCE.

The first attempts to date the different parts of the Erya separately began when the Tang scholar Lu Deming (556-627) suggested that the Duke of Zhou only compiled the Shigu (釋詁 Shígǔ) chapter (1), while the rest of the text dated from later . The Japanese historian and sinologist Naitō Torajirō analyzed the Erya text and concluded it originated in the early Warring States period, with the Jixia Academy having a considerable hand in it from c. 325 BCE onwards, and the text was enlarged and stabilized during the Qin and Western Han dynasty. Naitō connects the Shigu chapter (1) with the first generations of the Confucian School (450-400 BCE), places the family relationships, astronomy, and meteorology chapters (4-8) in the time of Xun Ching 荀卿 (300-230 BCE) with additions as late as 90 BCE, allocates the geographical chapters (9-12) to the late Warring States, Qin, and beginning of Han (300-200 BCE), puts the natural history chapters (13-18) between 300 and 160 BCE, and ascribes the last chapter (19) on domestic animals to the time of Emperor Wen or Emperor Jing of Han (180 to 140 BCE).

The Erya was considered the authoritative lexicographic guide to Chinese classic texts during the Han Dynasty, and Song dynasty Confucians officially categorized it as one of the Thirteen Classics, "making it one of the more revered works in the history of Chinese literature, not to mention lexicography" . Although the only ancient Erya commentary that has come down to us is the (c. 310) Erya zhu (爾雅注, "Erya Commentary") by Guo Pu (276–324), there were a number of others, including the (early 1st century) Erya Fanshi zhu (爾雅樊氏注, "Mr. Fan's Erya Commentary") by Liu Xin, and the (late 3rd century) Erya Yinyi (爾雅音義, "Sounds and Meanings of Erya") by Sun Yan, which popularized the fanqie system of pronunciation glosses .

Most of these texts about the Erya were still extant in the Tang dynasty (618-907) but had disappeared by the Song dynasty (960-1279), when there was a revival of interest in the Erya . The Northern Song dynasty scholar Xing Bing (邢昺) wrote the (c. 1000) Erya shu (爾雅疏, "Erya Subcommentary"), which quoted many descriptions from both ordinary literature and medicinal bencao (本草, "pharmacopoeia; herbal") texts. A century later, Lu Dian (陸佃) wrote the (1096) Piya ("Increased Erya") and the (1099) Erya Xinyi (爾雅新義 "New Interpretations of the Erya") commentary. The Southern Song dynasty scholar Luo Yuan (羅願) subsequently wrote the (1174) Eryayi (爾雅翼, "Wings to the Erya") interpretation. During the Qing Dynasty, Shao Jinhan (邵晋涵, 1743–1796) published the Erya Zhengyi (爾雅正義, "Correct Meanings of the Erya") and the naturalist Hao Yixing (郝懿行) wrote the (1808-1822) Erya yishu (爾雅義疏, "Subcommentary on Meanings of the Erya").

In the history of Chinese lexicography, nearly all dictionaries were collated by graphic systems of character radicals, first introduced in the Shuowen Jiezi. However, a few notable exceptions, called yashu 雅書 "Erya-type books", adopted collation by semantic categories such as Heaven and Earth. The Ming Dynasty scholar Lang Kuijin (郎奎金) categorized and published the Wuya (五雅 "Five Eryas"): Erya, (c. 150 BCE) Xiao Erya ("Little Erya"), (c. 200) Yiya ("Lost Erya" or the Shiming), (c. 230) Guangya ("Expanded Erya"), and (1125) Piya ("Increased Erya"). The more important Erya-type books of the subsequent period are the 1579 Tongya (通雅, Analogous to Erya) compiled by Fang Yizhi (方以智), 1587 Pianya (駢雅, A Book of Two-Syllable Words) by Zhu Mouwei (朱謀㙔), c. 1745 Bieya (別雅, Another Erya) by Wu Yujin (吴玉搢), and 1864 Dieya (疊雅, A Book of Double-Syllable Words) by Shi Menglan (史夢蘭) . Chinese leishu encyclopedias, such as the (1408) Yongle Encyclopedia, were also semantically arranged. takes the Erya's derivative literature as the main line of descent for the encyclopedia in China.

Content

The Erya has been described as a dictionary, glossary, synonymicon, thesaurus, and encyclopaedia. explains that the book "is not a dictionary in abstracto, it is a collection of direct glosses to concrete passages in ancient texts." The received text contains 2094 entries, covering about 4300 words, and a total of 13,113 characters. It is divided into nineteen sections, the first of which is subdivided into two parts. The title of each chapter combines shi ("explain; elucidate") with a term describing the words under definition. Seven chapters (4, 8, 9, 10, 12, 18, and 19) are organized into taxonomies. For instance, chapter 4 defines terms for: paternal clan (宗族), maternal relatives (母黨), wife's relatives (妻黨), and marriage (婚姻). The text is divided between the first three heterogeneous chapters defining abstract words and the last sixteen semantically-arranged chapters defining concrete words. The last seven – concerning grasses, trees, insects and reptiles, fish, birds, wild animals, and domestic animals – describe more than 590 kinds of flora and fauna. It is a notable document of natural history and historical biogeography.

The format of Erya definitions varies between the first section treating common terms (chapters 1–3) and the second treating specialized terms (4-19). Entries for common terms are defined by grouping synonyms or near-synonyms and explaining them in terms of a more commonly used word, and additional explanations if one of the words had multiple meanings. For instance, "Qiáo (喬), sōng (嵩), and chóng (崇) all mean 'high' (高). Chóng also means 'to fill' (充)." (ch. 1). Entries for specialized terms are defined by grouping related words and giving them a description, explanation, classification, or comparison. For example: "A woman calls her husband's father jiù (舅), and her husband's mother gū (姑). While alive they are called jūnjiù (君舅) and jūngū (君姑). After their death they are called xiānjiù (先舅) and xiāngū (先姑) (ch. 4, ).

Owing to its laconic lexicographical style, the Erya is one of a few Chinese classics that have not been fully translated into English.

書名考

傳統認為《爾雅》書名中「爾」通「邇」，是「近」的意思；「雅」為「正」之義，為官方語言，即「雅言」。「讀音爾雅」就是正確的、接近于故訓的語言。

辛德勇認為「爾雅」不宜理解為述賓短語「近正」，其中「爾」通「薾」，是「美盛」的意思。援引《史記·儒林列傳》「文章爾雅，訓辭深厚，恩施甚美」與《史記·三王世家》「稱引古今通義，國家大禮，文章爾雅」，認定「爾雅」實為漢代習語，意即「美麗典雅」。以此為名，表明全書記載的是各類華辭雅言及其訓釋。

「爾」「雅」二字上古聲紐也相近，亦有可能為一雙聲聯綿詞，與「咿呀／咿啞」「裊娜／嫋娜」類似。

歷史

它的作者歷來說法不一。相傳《爾雅》為周公、孔子或其弟子所撰。《漢書》只記錄《爾雅》三卷二十篇，未有姓名；張輯《上廣雅表》中指出了幾種猜測：「周公著爾雅一篇⋯⋯今俗所傳三篇爾雅，或言仲尼（即孔子）所增，或言子夏所益，或言叔孫通所補，或言𨙶郡梁文所考，皆解家所說⋯⋯疑莫能名也。」

也就是說，《爾雅》大可能是一種故訓彙編。但唯周公所作之說是完全無根據的，以其中文字考慮，最有可能是周秦之際，漢武帝之前（即公元前二世紀之前），因為漢武時代已見《爾雅注》。學者們認為，《爾雅》應是摘自對先秦文本，特別是《詩經》的註疏。李約瑟等(1986:191)將《爾雅》的成書年代置于公元前4世紀晚期到公元前2世紀早期之間，核心部分可能有部分可以追溯回公元前6世紀，後續補充可能持續到公元前1世紀。

首先試圖對《爾雅》不同部分分別定年的嘗試始于初唐經學家陸德明(556-627)，他認為周公只參與編寫了《爾雅·釋詁》，剩餘部分的年代要更晚些。日本史學家、漢學家內藤湖南分析《爾雅》文本，推斷其可能源自戰國初期，稷下學宮自約325 BC開始掌握了大量資料，文本在秦漢年間被進一步擴充並穩定化。內藤湖南將《釋詁》與儒家學派的第一代(450-400 BC)相關聯，《釋親》至《釋天》是荀卿時代(300-230 BC)的產物，也有晚至90 BC的增補，地理內容《釋地》至《釋水》則是戰國晚期至漢初的(300-200 BC)，博物學內容《釋草》至《釋獸》則延續到文帝末年（300-160 BC）最後一章《釋畜》是漢文帝或漢景帝(180-140 BC)時期的。

《爾雅》是漢代中國古代經典中最有權威的詞典學指南，宋代儒學家們將其歸入十三經。目前唯一傳世的早期註疏是郭璞(276–324)所作《爾雅注》(c. 310)，其他已散佚註疏主要有劉歆《爾雅樊氏注》(1世紀初)、三國經學家孫炎作《爾雅音義》(3世紀晚期)，其中用反切注音。

上述《爾雅》註疏在唐朝大多還有保留，但到宋朝大都亡佚了，于是人們重振了對《爾雅》的興趣。北宋初學者邢昺著有《爾雅疏》(c. 1000)，其被普通文學作品和醫學本草經大量引用。一個世紀後，陸佃著《埤雅》(1096)和《爾雅新義》(1099)。南宋學者羅願著有(1174)《爾雅翼》。清朝學者邵晉涵（1743–1796）著有《爾雅正義》，博物學家郝懿行著有《爾雅義疏》(1808-1822)。

在漢語辭書學史上，幾乎所有詞典都以部首排序，此方法最早見于《說文解字》。以《爾雅》為首的「雅書」則是以語義類別來排序。明朝學者郎奎金分類並編篡了《五雅》：《爾雅》(c. 150 BC)、《小爾雅》(c. 200)、《佚雅》、《廣雅》(c. 230)和《埤雅》(1125)。後期更重要的雅書是明代思想家方以智所編《通雅》（1579）、朱謀㙔《駢雅》(1587)、吳玉搢《別雅》（c. 1745）和史夢蘭《疊雅》（1864）。《永樂大典》(1408)等《類書》實際上也用的是語義排序法。

目錄構成

班固在《漢書·藝文志》著錄有《爾雅》3卷20篇。唐朝以後《爾雅》被列入「經部」，成為了儒家經典之一。現存《爾雅》為19篇，與班固所說的20篇不同。有人認為這主要是分篇的方法不同，而清朝的宋翔鳳則認為原來有一篇「序」失落造成的。

現存十九篇為：

• 《釋詁》——對古代同義詞的解釋

• 《釋言》——對動詞和形容詞等常用詞的解釋

• 《釋訓》——對聯綿詞和詞組及形容詞和副詞等情貌描述詞的解釋

• 《釋親》——對親屬的稱呼的解釋

• 《釋宮》——對宮室建築的解釋

• 《釋器》——對日常用具、飲食、衣服的解釋

• 《釋樂》——對樂器的解釋

• 《釋天》——對天文曆法的解釋

• 《釋地》——對行政區劃的解釋

• 《釋丘》——對丘陵、高地的解釋

• 《釋山》——對山脈的解釋

• 《釋水》——對河流的解釋

• 《釋草》——對花草的解釋

• 《釋木》——對樹木的解釋

• 《釋蟲》——對昆蟲的解釋

• 《釋魚》——對魚類的解釋

• 《釋鳥》——對鳥類的解釋

• 《釋獸》——對動物的解釋

• 《釋畜》——對動物的解釋

由于對古人的詞語分類原則並不是很清楚，因此對前3篇詁、言、訓之間的界限，現在並沒有明確的認識，這3篇的解釋也很模糊。13-19篇是對于生物的一些解釋。但是其分類與現在很多地方差異很大，這主要是由于不同時代的觀點有別之故。例如「鼯鼠」由于會飛行，便將它歸到釋鳥中。

注疏

因爾雅解釋甚簡，其所涉及之許多語言知識不易為人理解，故之後出現許多注釋、考證爾雅之著作，如：

• 《爾雅註疏》——晉郭璞注《爾雅注》；北宋邢昺疏《爾雅疏》。十三經註疏之一。

• 《爾雅古注》——清馬國翰。

• 《爾雅正義》——清邵晉涵。

• 《爾雅義疏》——清郝懿行。

• 《爾雅匡名》——清嚴元照。

• 《爾雅草木蟲魚鳥獸釋例》——清王國維。

評價與影響

批評略覽

《爾雅》雖然於古代，是一本文人必讀經典，且是通往仕途之路上的必修課。但是如果從當代文字學之角度來評論，爾雅還是有缺點的，對於此點，歷代小學家皆有批評，在此引用王力之論點，為學者之參考：

• 不明確多義，易誤解。比如《釋言》中有：「貽，遺也」，而《說文》中又有：「遺，亡也。」假使以貽字解釋亡，就將造成錯誤等。

• 不明確用處，易誤傳。比如恪、欽二字皆是「敬也」，而此詞性則不同，卻被一同羅列。諸如此類，還有同字多義也會造成誤會。

• 不明確定義，多訛合。

故而後人作書時，常常注意到這些點，進而有了改進，見朱駿聲之《說雅》、陳奐之《毛詩傳義類》等書。

《爾雅》被視為中國名物的不祧之祖。而其對「名物訓釋方式和分類方式影響了後世訓詁學著作的編纂，從而形成了中國古代以爾雅及其嫡傳諸書為中心，旁及《方言》《釋名》及其各種專業書、類書等的名物研究系統。」

對周邊國家之影響

在律令制下的日本（公元7世紀至10世紀），大學寮制度中將其作為與《昭明文選》和正史並列的文章道（紀伝道）之教科書。平安朝中期源順還受其影響編撰了和名類聚抄一書，至今仍是研究和訓和古漢語的重要材料。而到了江戶時代，又有仿者貝原好古作《和爾雅》（1694年）和新井白石作《東雅》（1719年，「東瀛爾雅」之意）。

群雅之象

後世還出了許多依假《爾雅》而寫的著作，其謂「群雅」。大有：

• 託名孔鮒之《小爾雅》（抽自偽書《孔叢子》第十一篇）

• 三國魏張揖《廣雅》

• 宋朝陸佃《埤雅》

• 宋朝羅願《爾雅翼》，共三十二卷。

• 明朝萬歷年間朱謀《駢雅》

• 明朝方以智《通雅》

• 清朝孔鮒《小爾雅義証》

• 清朝王煦《小爾雅疏》

• 清朝吳玉搢《別雅》

• 清朝洪亮吉《比雅》

• 清朝史夢蘭《疊雅》

• 清朝葛其仁《小爾雅疏證》

• 清朝光緒十六年（1890年）宋翔鳳《小爾雅訓纂》

• 清朝《小爾雅校証》

相關論著

以下是相關參考論著資料書目（更多後世參考文獻見中國哲學書電子化計劃：《爾雅》 ）：

• 晉郭璞注北宋邢昺疏：《爾雅註疏》

• 清邵晉涵：《爾雅正義》

• 清郝懿行：《爾雅義疏》

• 清嚴元照：《爾雅匡名》

• 馮漢驥：《中國親屬稱謂指南》

相關

• 許慎《說文解字》

註釋