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Historiographia Linguistica
Vol. 45:3 (2018) ► pp.263–288

A remarkable compilation shift

A genealogical study of Medhurst’s Chinese and English Dictionary (1842–1843)

| Aarhus University
| Aarhus University

During his work on his Chinese and English Dictionary (1842–1843) Walter Henry Medhurst (1796–1857) dramatically changed his compilation strategy by shifting from depending almost exclusively on Robert Morrison’s (1782–1834) Chinese-English dictionary, Zidian 字典 (1815–1823) to depending on multiple sources including Kangxi zidian 康熙字典 (1716), Morrison’s Wuche yunfu 五車韻府 (1819–1820), and Medhurst’s own A Dictionary of the Hok-këèn Dialect of the Chinese Language (1832). By applying Lexicographic Archaeology to four linguistic case studies, this article discusses the reasons for this unusual lexicographical phenomenon. The authors argue that changes in information in Morrison’s Zidian after the 41st radical influenced Medhurst’s choices.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The relations between Medhurst’s two main sources for his dictionary
  • 3.Case studies for examining Medhurst’s compilation shift
    • 3.1Case study 1: The anonymous reviewer’s 46th radical
    • 3.2Case study 2: Expanded samples
    • 3.3Case study 3: A boundary radical
    • 3.4Case study 4: Medhurst’s sources after the 41st radical
  • 4.Causes for the shift
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 1 February 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/hl.00027.li
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Cited by

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Li, Rui
2022. From Mandarin to Cantonese Lexicography. Historiographia Linguistica 49:2-3 ► pp. 235 ff. DOI logo

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