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The Shwok Wan, or Etymologicon.
APRIL,
ruler, this man lived and held high office. Like his cotemporary, the lord lieutenant, he was devoted to learning. He wrote a work called Yuen lih Pien; the precise character of this work I can not as- certain. I suppose it may have been a memoir on the language.
10. Hú Wúking ♬ . In addition to the two abovenamed officers, this man is deemed worthy of notice; he was his Majesty's “great historian ;" and wrote a philosophical treatise called Poh Hioh
Pien 博學篇·
11. Hü Shin Shuhchung I. The author of the Ety- 許慎叔重 mologicon bore this name; Hu was the designation of the family; Shin was the name he bore in the family; and Shukchung, the title or name of distinction given to him by his literary friends. The Chinese trace his descent from the ancient emperor named above; the place of his residence was Jünán; the precise time of his birth or of his death I know not. By one writer he is said to have flourished in the latter part of the Eastern Hán dynasty; but in his own writings, he apeaks of the Emperor Ngai tí 哀帝, as being then on the throne; if such was the fact, Hü Shin must have been born prior to the Advent, and have died (probably at an advanced age) before the close of the first century. His Preface (No. 6.) will speak for itself 12. Hü Chung. This is the author's son, already referred to, who presented a copy of his father's work to the emperor Ngán tỉ whose reign commenced A. D. 107. This was after the death of his father; but how long time after is not known.
13. Su Hiuen Tingchin 徐鉉鼎臣 14. Sù Kidi Tsukin 徐錯楚金
3
These are the names
of the two brothers, Sü Hiuen the elder, called also Tingchau; and Sii Kiái the younger, called also Tsúkin. They lived and wrote under the Hau Táng, or After Tang dynasty, in the early part of the tenth century, more than nine hundred years ago. From that time down to the present we hear very little of the Etymologicon, except that some editions of it were printed under the Sung dynasty. These brothers were able scholars, as their writings abundantly testify; the younger held the office of " Keeper of the Secret Archives," and enjoyed the highest literary honors. What he has done for the Etymologicon, his Programme (No. 5.) will sufficiently show.
15. Ki Tsiuntsáu It is chiefly to this distinguished scholar and statesman of Taukwáng that we are indebted for this beautiful and very valuable edition of Hii Shin's work.
His recom- mendatory preface (No. 4,) is dated in the nineteenth year of his
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