The Making of the First Chinese-English Dictionary: Robert Morrison’s Dictionary of the Chinese Language in Three Parts (1815–1823)

Huiling Yang

Summary

The first printed Chinese–English dictionary was the Dictionary of the Chinese Language in Three Parts compiled by Robert Morrison (1782–1834) published between 1815 and 1823. Two hundred years later it is still in use. This paper traces the tradition of missionary bilingual lexicography in China from its origins down to Morrison. While early manuscript bilingual dictionaries solved the problems of transliteration, alphabetical arrangement of Chinese entries, definition and grammatical information, Morrison improved the transliteration system which he had inherited, invented a new index system matching alphabetically arranged transliterations with Chinese characters, and provided a large number of citations from Chinese classics and popular contemporary Chinese books. Morrison’s lexicographical legacy is reflected in the fact that his transliteration was adopted as the basis for the Wade-Giles system and that the macrostructure and microstructure of his dictionary became a model for Samuel Wells Williams’ (1812–1884) Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language 漢英韻府 (1874, re-edited until 1909) and Henry Allen Giles’ (1845–1935) Chinese-English Dictionary (1892, last ed., 1972.)

Quick links
Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price. Direct PDF access to this article can be purchased through our e-platform.

References

A.Primary sources

Brollo, Basilio
1694Han çu si ie 漢 字 西 譯 [Western Translation of Chinese Characters]. Sinicarum litterarum europea expositio. Dictionarium sinico-latinum, suis fratribus sinicae missionis tyronibus elaboratum per Fr. Basilium a Glemona Ord. Minorum strict. observ., venetae Divi Antonii provinciae alumnum, A.D. 1694. Florence: Biblioteca Mediceo-Laurenziana, Ms. Rinuccini 22.Google Scholar
1698–1700? Dictionarium sinico-latinum in quo litterae sinicae ordine alphabetica dispositae explicantur, adiuncto quoque indice ad easdem litteras inveniendas in fine, compositum a Ie Xin-fu, minorita italo, vicario apostolico, Revmo P. Basilio a Glemona Ord. Min. S.P.N. Francisci Reform., et ab alio Ie Xin-fu, Frate Io. Baptista a Serravalle, missionario apostolico in provincial Xensi scriptum. Florence: Biblioteca Mediceo-Laurenziana, Ms. S. Marco 309.Google Scholar
Chen, Jingting 陈 廷 敬 & Zhang, Yushu 张 玉 书 et al.
eds. 1716康 熙 字 典 Kangxi zidian [Kangxi Classic of Characters]. Beijing: Zhong Hua Book Company 中华书局.Google Scholar
Chen, Jinmo 陈藎謨 & Hu, Hanyi 胡含一
eds. 1708五车韵府 Wuche yunfu. [Erudition Syllabic Dictionary]. Canton: Shen Si Tang 慎思堂.Google Scholar
Giles, Herbert Allen
1892Chinese-English Dictionary. London: Bernard Quaritch.Google Scholar
1912Chinese and English Dictionary. London: Bernard Quaritch.Google Scholar
Luo, Zhufeng 罗竹风
ed. 1986–1993汉语大词典 Hanyu dacidian [Great Chinese Dictionary]. Shanghai: Hanyu dacidian chubanshe 汉语大词典出版社.Google Scholar
Medhurst, Walter Henry
1842Chinese and English Dictionary: Containing all the words in the Chinese imperial dictionary, arranged according to the radicals. Batavia: Printed at Parapattan.Google Scholar
1847–1848English and Chinese dictionary in two volumes. Shanghai: Printed at the Mission Press.Google Scholar
Morrison, Robert
1815–1823Dictionary of the Chinese Language in three parts. Macau: Printed at the Honorable East India Company’s Press.Google Scholar
Vol, I, Part 1–. 字 典 Chinese and English arranged according to the radicals (1815).Google Scholar
Vol, II, Part I–. 字典 Chinese and English arranged according to the radicals (1822).Google Scholar
Vol, III, Part I–. 字典 Chinese and English arranged according to the radicals (1823).Google Scholar
Vol, I, Part 2–. 五車韻府 [Erudition Syllabic Dictionary] Chinese and English arranged alphabetically (1819).Google Scholar
Vol, II, Part 2–. 五車韻府 [Erudition Syllabic Dictionary] Chinese and English arranged alphabetically (1820).Google Scholar
Part III. English and Chinese (1822).Google Scholar
Morrison, Robert
1828廣東省土話字彙 Vocabulary of the Canton Dialect. Macau: Printed at the Honourable East India Company’s Press.Google Scholar
Sha, Mu 沙木
1787 first edition 1807 reprint. 藝文備覽 Yiwen beilan [Literary Writings for Consultant]. Canton.Google Scholar
Williams, Samuel Wells
1874漢英韻府 Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language. Shanghai: Shanghai American Presbyterian Mission Press.Google Scholar

B.Secondary sources

Anon
1830 “Chinese Lexicography: Dr. Morrison and M. Klaproth”. Asiatic Journal, new series 3.223–231.Google Scholar
Cheng, Chin-Chuan
2000 “Frequently-used Chinese Characters and Language Cognition”. Studies in the Linguistic Sciences 30:1.107–118.Google Scholar
Coblin, W. South
2006Francisco Varo’s Glossary of the Mandarin Language. Sankt Augustin: Monumenta Serica Institute.Google Scholar
Cordier, Henri
1904–1924Bibliotheca Sinica: dictionnaire bibliographique des ouvrages relatifs a l’Empire chinois. 5 vols. 2nd ed., revised and enlarged. Paris: E. Guilmoto. [Repr., Taibei: Ch’eng-wen Publishing Co. 1966.]Google Scholar
Guo, Tingyi 郭廷以
1947中国近代史 [Modern History of China]. Taiwan: Commercial Press.Google Scholar
Feng, Fengfeng 丰逢奉
1988 “《康熙字典》编纂理论初探” [“A Preliminary Investigation into the Compilation Theory of the Kangxi Classic of Characters ”]. Cishu yanjiu 辞书研究 [Lexicography Study] 1988:2.72–80.Google Scholar
Fox, Edmund A.
1944Sources for a Biography of Fr. Basilio Brollo, O.F.M. Unpublished manuscript. Friedsam Memorial Library, St. Bonaventure University, St. Bonaventure, N.Y.Google Scholar
1946Father Basilio Brollo, O.F.M. Missionary and First Vicar Apostolic of Shensi, China. M.A. thesis, St. Bonaventure University.Google Scholar
Giles, Herbert Allen
1879On Some Translations and Mistranslations in Dr. Williams’ Syllabic Dictionary of the Chinese Language. Amoy: printed by A. A. Marçal.Google Scholar
Hall, Marie Boas
1992The Library and Archives of The Royal Society 1660–1990. London: The Royal Society.Google Scholar
Ilson, Robert
1986 “Lexicographic Archaeology: Comparing dictionaries of the same family”. The History of Lexicography ed. by R. R. K. Hartmann, 127–136. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
東方印象:錢納利繪畫展
Impressions of the East: The Art of George Chinnery 2005Hong Kong: Hong Kong Museum of History.Google Scholar
Klaproth, Julius Heinrich
1818 “Critique on Dr. Morrison’s Chinese Dictionary”. Asiatic Journal 5.572–575.Google Scholar
1819Supplément au dictionnaire Chinois-Latin du P. Basile de Glemona. Paris: Imprimerie Royale.Google Scholar
1830a 自賢征 Dernier mot sur le Dictionnaire Chinois du Dr. Robert Morrison. Paris: Lithographie Passage Dauphine.Google Scholar
1830b “Chinese Lexicography: M. Klaproth’s reply”. Asiatic Journal, new series 3.316–317.Google Scholar
Masini, Federico
2005 “Chinese Dictionaries Prepared by Western Missionaries in the Seven-teenth and Eighteenth Centuries”. Encounters and Dialogues: Changing perspectives on Chinese-Western exchanges from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries ed. by Wu Xiaoxin, 179–193. Nettetal: Steyler.Google Scholar
Morrison, Eliza
1839Memoirs of the Life and Labours of Robert Morrison, D.D., with Critical Notices of his Chinese Works, by Samuel Kidd. 2 vols. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Morrison, Robert
1819b “Notice” [addressed to the subscribers to his dictionary]. Asiatic Journal 8.274.Google Scholar
Pellin, Tommaso
2010 “Masters, Mothers and Barking Dogs: The lexical family of the words for grammar in China”. Webs of Words: New studies in historical lexicography ed. by John Considine, 94–111. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Su, Jing 蘇精
2000馬禮遜與中文印刷出版 [Robert Morrison and the Chinese Printing]. Taiwan: Student Press.Google Scholar
Uchida, Keiichi 内田庆市
2012 “白日昇漢譯聖經考 Jean Basset’s Translation of the Bible into Chinese”. 東アジア文化交涉研究 Journal of East Asian Cultural Interaction Studies. 第5号:191–198. 日本: 關西大學文化交涉學教育研究據點.Google Scholar
Vande Walle, Willy
2001 “Linguistics”. Handbook of Christianity in China ed. by Nicolas Standaert, vol. I: 635–1800, 861–878. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Vedal, Nathan
2013 “Preferring Omission over Falsity: The politics of compilation in the Kangxi Classic of Characters 康熙字典”. Historiographia Linguistica 40:1.1–38.Google Scholar
West, Andrew C.
1998Catalogue of the Morrison Collection of Chinese Books. London: University of London School of Oriental and African Studies.Google Scholar
Yang, Huiling 杨慧玲
201219世纪汉英词典传统 [Chinese-English Lexicographical Tradition in the 19th Century]. Beijing: Commercial Press.Google Scholar
Yang, Paul Fu-mien
2001 “The Portuguese‒Chinese Dictionary of Michele Ruggieri and Matteo Ricci: An historical and linguistic introduction”. Dicionário Português-Chinês 葡漢辭典 ed. by W. John Witek, 97–141. Lisbon: Biblioteca Nacional Portugal; Macau: Instituto Português do Oriente; San Francisco: Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History.Google Scholar