Piya
Chinese dictionary compiled by Lu Dian
title: "Piya" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["song-dynasty-literature", "chinese-dictionaries", "11th-century-chinese-books"] description: "Chinese dictionary compiled by Lu Dian" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piya" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Chinese dictionary compiled by Lu Dian ::
The Piya (; "Increased [Er]ya") was a Chinese dictionary compiled by Song Dynasty scholar Lu Dian (陸佃/陆佃, 1042–1102). He wrote this Erya supplement along with his Erya Xinyi (爾雅新義 "New Exegesis of the Erya") commentary. Although the Piya preface written by his son Lu Zai (陸宰/陆宰) is dated 1125, the dictionary was written earlier; estimates around the Yuanfeng era (元豐, 1078–1085), and Joseph Needham says around 1096.
Lu Dian arranged the Piya into 8 semantically based chapters that closely correspond with the last Erya chapters 13–19. The only exceptions are Chapter 5 ("Explaining Horses") that is contained in Erya 19 ("Explaining Domestic Animals") and Chapter 8 ("Explaining Heaven") that anomalously corresponds with the first part of the Erya. ::data[format=table]
| Chapter | Chinese | Pinyin | Translation | Erya Chapter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 釋魚 | Shiyu | Explaining Fishes | 16 |
| 2 | 釋獸 | Shishou | Explaining Beasts | 18 |
| 3 | 釋鳥 | Shiniao | Explaining Birds | 17 |
| 4 | 釋蟲 | Shichong | Explaining Insects | 15 |
| 5 | 釋馬 | Shima | Explaining Horses | (19) |
| 6 | 釋木 | Shimu | Explaining Trees | 14 |
| 7 | 釋草 | Shicao | Explaining Plants | 13 |
| 8 | 釋天 | Shitian | Explaining Heaven | 8 |
| :: |
The preface explains Lu's motives for defining flora and fauna terminology. Since Song officials changed the basis for the Imperial examination from mastering poetry to jingyi (經義/经义 "expounding on a classical quotation"), literati no longer studied the lyrical names for plants and animals.
References
References
- Liu, Yeqiu 刘叶秋. (1963). "Zhongguo gudai de zidian 中国古代的字典". Zhonghua Shuju.
- Needham, Joseph, Lu Gwei-djen, and Huang Hsing-Tsung (1986). ''Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 6 Biology and Biological Technology, Part 1 Botany''. Cambridge University Press. p. 192.
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