Jingdian Shiwen

Jingdian Shiwen (simplified Chinese: 经典释文; traditional Chinese: 經典釋文; pinyin: Jīngdiǎn shìwén; Wade–Giles: Ching-tien shih-wen; lit. 'Textual explanations of classics and canons'), often abbreviated as Shiwen in Chinese philological literature, was a c. 583 exegetical dictionary or glossary, edited by the Tang dynasty classical scholar Lu Deming. Based on the works of 230 scholars during the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties periods, this Chinese dictionary analyzes the pronunciations (given in historically invaluable fanqie annotations) and meanings of terms in the Confucian Thirteen Classics and the Daoist Daodejing and Zhuang Zi.[1] It also cites some ancient books that are no longer extant, and are only known through Jingdian Shiwen.

Jingdian Shiwen
Jingdian Shiwen scrolls in the Chinese Dictionary Museum, Jincheng, Shanxi
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	經典釋文
Simplified Chinese	经典释文
Literal meaning	"Textual explanations of classics and canons"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Jīngdiǎn shìwén Bopomofo ㄐㄧㄥ ㄉㄧㄢˇ ㄕˋ ㄨㄣ Wade–Giles Ching¹-tien³ shih⁴-wên² Wu Suzhounese Cin1tie3 seq7ven2 Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Gīngdín sīkmàhn Jyutping Ging1din2 sik1man4 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Keng-tián siak-bûn Middle Chinese Middle Chinese keng tenX syek mjun Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) *k-lˤeŋ tˤə[r]ʔ l̥Ak mə[n]
Korean name
Hangul	경전석문
Hanja	經典釋文
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Gyeongjeon seongmun McCune–Reischauer Kyŏngjŏn sŏngmun
Japanese name
Kanji	経典釈文
Hiragana	けいてんしゃくもん
Transcriptions Romanization Keiten shakumon

Jingdian Shiwen scrolls in the Chinese Dictionary Museum, Jincheng, Shanxi

Bernhard Karlgren considered Jingdian Shiwen and the 601 Qieyun rime dictionary as the two primary sources for reconstructing Middle Chinese. Many studies in Chinese historical linguistics (for instance, see References) use the important Jingdian Shiwen data.