Jul 17, 2010 © Ulrich Theobald
Wenhai 文海 "Word ocean", also called Wenhai baoyun 文海寳韻, is a Chinese character dictionary from the Tangut empire of Western Xia 西夏 (1038-1227). The author is not known. The book was excavated in the ruins of Ejin Banner in Inner Mongolia, the ancient town of Heishui 黑水城 (Kara-Khoto).
The fragments of the butterfly-bound book contain three parts, the level tone rhymes (pingsheng 平聲), falling-raising tone rhymes (shangsheng 上聲), and miscellanea (zalei 雜類). More than 3,000 characters are preserved on 109 pages. The name of the book and the chapter is indicated in Tangut characters. Each page is divided into seven columns, the explanation of the characters is written in small script in double columns.
The pingsheng section has 97 homophones under which the characters are listed according to the initial consonant and the head (or middle) vowel. Homophones are included in one paragraph and separated from each other by a circle. The section of the shangsheng rhymes, which should have included 88 rhymes, is only partially preserved.
Figure 1. Example from the Wenhai 文海
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The second page of the ping rhymes section. From Shi, Bai & Huang 1983. Facsimile of the original to the left, with a modernized version to the right. |
The section "Miscellanea" is a supplement to the two other rhyme groups. Each entry is analysed in three parts, first the graphical composition of the character, secondly the meaning, and thirdly the pronunciation, indicated with the fanqie system 反切.
Sources:
Chang Fengxuan 常鳳玄, Huang Zhenhua 黃振華 (1997). "Xixia zishu Wenhai suo jian Tufan mingcheng kao 西夏字書《文海》所見吐蕃名称考", Minzu yuwen 民族語文, 1997 (2).
Chen Qingqing 陳慶英 (1993). "Cong Xixia Wenhai kan Xixiayu tong Zangyu cihui de guanxi 從西夏《文海》看西夏語同藏語詞彙的關係(一),(二)", Qinghai Minzu Xueyuan xuebao 青海民族學院學報, 1993 (10, 12).
Gao Wende 高文德, ed. (1995). Zhongguo shaoshu minzu shi da cidian 中國少數民族史大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin jiaoyu chubanshe), 386.
Кепинг, Ксения Б., Всеволод С. Колоколов, Евгений И. Кычанов & Анатолий П. Терентьев-Катанский, (1969). Море письмен: Факсимиле тангутских ксилографов / Перевод с тангутского, вступительные статьи и приложения (Москва: «Наука», ГРВЛ).
Li Fanwen 李范文 (2004). "Wenhai baoyun zai yanjiu 《文海寳韻》再研究", Xibei Di Er Minzu Xueyuan xuebao (Zhexue shehui kexue ban) 西北第二民族學院學報(哲學社會科學版), 2004 (11).
Nie Hongyin 聶鴻音 (1990). "Wenhai tanyuan “文海”探源", Guyuan Shizhuan xuebao 固原師專學報, 1990 (10).
Nie Hongyin 聶鴻音 (1998). "Wenhai yun de neibu qubie 《文海》韻的内部區別", Minzu yuwen 民族語文, 1998 (2).
Nie Hongyin 聶鴻音 (2008). "Wenhai zhong de fanyu yiyin zi 《文海》中的梵語譯音字", Ningxia Shifan Xueyuan xuebao 寧夏師範學院學報, 2008 (2).
Sang Ming'e 桑明峩 (1980). "Woguo Xixiawen cishu Wenhai ji qita 我國西夏文辭書《文海》及其他", Cishu yanjiu 辭書研究, 1980 (3).
Shi Jinbo 史金波 (1992). "Wenhai 文海", in Zhongguo da baike quanshu 中國大百科全書, Zhongguo lishi 中國歷史 (Beijing/Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe), Vol. 3, 1216.
Shi Jinbo 史金波 (1992). "Wenhai 文海", in Zhongguo da baike quanshu 中國大百科全書, Vol Yuyan wenzi 語言•文字 (Beijing/Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe), 400.
Shi Jinbo 史金波 (1986). "Wenhai 文海", in Zhongguo da baike quanshu 中國大百科全書, Minzu 民族 (Beijing/Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe), 454.
Shi Jinbo 史金波 (1999). "Xixiawen xieben Wenhai baoyun 西夏文寫本《文海寳韻》", Minzu yuwen 民族語文, 1999 (8).
Shi Jinbo 史金波 (2001). "Wenhai baoyun xuyan, tikuan yikao 《文海寳韻》序言、題款譯考", Ningxia shehui kexue 寧夏社會科學, 2001 (8).
Shi Jinbo 史金波, Bai Bin 白濱, Huang Zhenhua 黃振華 (1983). Wenhai yanjiu 文海研究 (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe).
Shi Jinbo 史金波, Nie Hongyin 聶鴻音 (1998). "E cang Xixiawen shisu wenxian mulu 俄藏西夏文世俗文獻目錄", Chuantong wenhua yu xiandaihua 傳統文化與現代化, 1998 (4).
Wang Jingru 王静如, Li Fanwen 李范文 (1997). "Xixiawen Zazi yanjiu 西夏文《雜字》研究", Xibei minzu yanjiu 西北民族研究, 1997 (12).
Wu Feng 吳楓, ed. (1987). Jianming Zhongguo guji cidian 簡明中國古籍辭典 (Changchun: Jilin wenshi chubanshe), 153.
Yang Jianqiao 楊劍橋 (1992). "Wenhai 文海", in Zhou Gucheng 周谷城, ed. Zhongguo xueshu mingzhu tiyao 中國學術名著提要, Vol. Yuyan wenzi 語言文字卷 (Shanghai: Fudan daxue chubanshe), 628.
