Xiao Erya 小爾雅

Xiao Erya 小爾雅 is a glossary from the Han period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) imitating the classical glossary Erya 爾雅. It belongs to the genre of "lesser learning" (xiaoxue 小學), which is traditionally seen as a supplement to studies of the Confucian Classics.

From the beginning the Xiao Erya text must have been very small, as the bibliographic treatise Yiwen zhi 藝文志 in the Hanshu 漢書 says, only one chapter long. According to the bibliographic treatise Jingji zhi 經籍志 in the Suishu 隋書 there was a commentary written by Li Gui 李軌 (d. 619) or Li Guilüe 李軌略, the Xiao Erya jie 小爾雅解, which is lost.

Yet the received Xiao Erya is certainly not identical to this book. Today it is a chapter (ch. 11) of the anthology Kongcongzi 孔叢子. According to Song Xian's 宋咸 (jinshi degree 1024) commentary on the Kongcongzi from the Song period 宋 (960-1279), the Xiao Erya was written by Kong Fu 孔鮒 (264-208 BCE), to whom authorship of the Kongcongzi is attributed. The book must have been compiled during the Later Han period 後漢 (25-220).

The Xiao Erya consists of 13 chapters which serve as a supplement to the Erya. It includes many words not recorded in the classic Erya, mainly names of objects and animals. The last three chapters deal with weights and measures, items not mentioned at all in the Erya.

The Xiao Erya only attracted the attention of scholars during the 19th century, for example Song Xiangfeng 宋翔鳳 (1779-1860), who wrote Xiao Erya xunzuan 小爾雅訓纂, or Hu Chenggong 胡承珙 (1776-1832), author of Xiao Erya yizheng 小爾雅義證. There are also several less important commentaries written by Zhu Junsheng 朱駿聲 (1788-1858), namely Xiao Erya yuezhu 小爾雅約注, Ge Qiren 葛其仁 (1883), who wrote Xiao Erya shuzheng 小爾雅疏證, or Ren Zhaolin 任兆麟 (fl. 1781), who compiled the commentary Xiao Erya zhu 小爾雅注).