Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2005 10:49 am
Ordinary dictionaries, like Spahn-Hadamitzky, are of no help at all. They are just dictionaries.
So far, I use mainly Karlgren: Grammata Serica Recensa (GSR; written in English) and my lecture notes. Karlgren copied bronze and bone inscriptions in handwriting, so you often get a fair glimpse of the evolutions of the characters. There are probably Far East pirate editions to be had. Unfortunately, it is arranged by rhyme, and the index is a pain to use. Some clever and industrious people created an index by pinyin, but they give "only" pronunciations during three time periods, the meaning and a number referring to GSR, not the ancient characters or explanations. It's Tor Ulving: Dictionary of Old and Middle Chinese..., ISBN 91-7346-294-2.
If you want a beautiful, cleverly and scholarly written book with rich illustrations, on a selected 100+ of the most common characters, that's Cecilia Lindqvist: China: Empire of Living Symbols. In Swedish, it's Tecknens Rike, ISBN 91-34-50857-0. Her theories on origins generally appear more credible to me than for example a book by an Italian, the title of which I have forgotten. This guy (and probably a host of other authors) mainly echoes old opinions from times before the oracle bone inscription finds, so they had less material for their conclusions. Great fun, though.
There are books on the writing published all the time, the majority of them probably in Chinese and Japanese. I'll ask my teacher tomorrow if he has any current favourite in English.
So far, I use mainly Karlgren: Grammata Serica Recensa (GSR; written in English) and my lecture notes. Karlgren copied bronze and bone inscriptions in handwriting, so you often get a fair glimpse of the evolutions of the characters. There are probably Far East pirate editions to be had. Unfortunately, it is arranged by rhyme, and the index is a pain to use. Some clever and industrious people created an index by pinyin, but they give "only" pronunciations during three time periods, the meaning and a number referring to GSR, not the ancient characters or explanations. It's Tor Ulving: Dictionary of Old and Middle Chinese..., ISBN 91-7346-294-2.
If you want a beautiful, cleverly and scholarly written book with rich illustrations, on a selected 100+ of the most common characters, that's Cecilia Lindqvist: China: Empire of Living Symbols. In Swedish, it's Tecknens Rike, ISBN 91-34-50857-0. Her theories on origins generally appear more credible to me than for example a book by an Italian, the title of which I have forgotten. This guy (and probably a host of other authors) mainly echoes old opinions from times before the oracle bone inscription finds, so they had less material for their conclusions. Great fun, though.
There are books on the writing published all the time, the majority of them probably in Chinese and Japanese. I'll ask my teacher tomorrow if he has any current favourite in English.