On the ways of lexical units semantization in the first Chinese explanatory dictionary “Erya”

Abstract

“Erya”, the most ancient explanatory dictionary in the world, was the first one in the history of lexicography in China which demonstrated in a systematic way the main approaches to interpretation and defi nition of the characters and words. Thus the “Erya” provides valuable linguistic data for studying the evolution of the Chinese linguistic tradition and lexicography.

Keywords:

the history of Chinese lexicography, the first Chinese dictionary, “Erya”, semantization, lexical units