Author(s): George Carter Stent
Format: Hardback
No. of Pages: 704
Publisher: Forgotten Books
Language: English
Date Published: 2017-10-22
Dimensions: 152 x 229 x 38mm
Publication City/Country:
Edition:
Illustrations: 1024 Illustrations; Illustrations, black and white

Excerpt from A Chinese and English Vocabulary in the Pekinese Dialect Many characters in common use will be found in this hook that are not recognised by dictionaries. I have used them, however, as I consider them indispensable, and placed them under the radicals they naturally belong to. It has also been a principle with me not to admit any characters but those actually known to my teacher without reference to books - a principle adopted on the ground that if a well informed Chinese did not know a character or word and its meaning without such reference, it could not possibly be in common use, and was therefore superfluous to my present purpose and not necessary for a foreign beginner to learn. In some places, too, meanings have been given to. Words utterly at variance with the definitions given in previous dictionaries, for I have preferred giving them as they are really used now, rather than meanings which probably were in use formerly, but which are now obsolete, though still retained in diction aries drawn chiefly from ancient writings. It may appear presumptuous in me to venture to alter meanings which have been recognised in books for so many years, but if several teachers, at different times and places, and unknown to each other, decide unanimously in giving one meaning to a character or word, and I know that meaning to be in general use, I give it in preference to an obsolete one, even though it has the sanction of a dictionary. I feel assured that persons who have studied Chinese for any length of time will endorse the Opinion, that there are numerous characters, some even with no sound or meaning, others that are obsolete; also that there are numbers of characters in general use, but with many of the meanings obsolete, or altogether different from those generally used; and that the expunging of soundless, meaningless and obsolete characters as worthless, and the alteration of disused meanings to suit the requirements of the present time, would not only condense a dictionary as regards size and usefulness, but be of material benefit in regard to its correctness and uniformity with the style of language now used, and facilitate the finding of characters and meaningsthat are really useful. This of course is simply a suggestion and the perfect working of it out involves a task worthy of some far abler hand than mine. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.