The Piya (Chinese: 埤雅; pinyin: Píyǎ; Wade–Giles: P'i-ya; "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; Liu (1963:87) estimates around the Yuanfeng era (元豐, 1078–1085), and Joseph Needham (1986: 192) 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.
| 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
- Liu Yeqiu 刘叶秋 (1963). Zhongguo gudai de zidian 中国古代的字典 [Dictionaries of Ancient China] . Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju. (in Chinese)
- 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.
