Douglas' Dictionary with Chinese Characters?

[Aurelio]

Hi everybody!

Some time ago, somebody mentioned on this forum that he actually had a version of the Hokkien Dictionary by Reverend Douglas which included characters (not just in the appendix but in the whole dictionary). Now I can't find that posting anymore - did I just dream this or can somebody help?

Regards,
Aurelio

[Andrew Yong]

Yes, the 1899 edition of Douglas in the Chinese Studies Library in Oxford has characters in the main dictionary

I was disappointed that the Kuting reprint I ordered is of the first edition, without Chinese characters.


andrew

[Henning]

This is interesting, as in the 1873 edition Douglas writes in the Preface: "The most serious defect is the want of the Chinese character". As Douglas passed away in 1877, it seems likely that the 1899 edition is actually not his own.

Henning

[Niuc]

Hi Henning

Thanks for the info. Thanks to your posting, I checked the dictionary and indeed found the sentence there. I also became interested to know more about Rev. Carstairs Douglas. This site http://hymnal.ttcs.org.tw/douglas.htm is in Chinese. Do you know any other sites (in English/Chinese)? Please continue to share with us here.

[%sig%]

[Aurelio]

Surprise!

Douglas' 1899 edition seems to have become available last year:

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/h ... /16038.ctl

Unfortunately, it's somewhat expensive (US$ 275). Still, I'm tempted, it's an excellent book.

Regards,
Aurelio

[Aurelio]

Another interesting piece of information: Not just the 1899 edition of Douglas (with characters???) has become availabele (see previous post), but also Medhurst and Fielde (the latter one I had not heard about yet):

http://www.ganesha-publishing.com/linguist_dic2.htm

If only they were not considered rare scholarly books ... The price tag is way too hefty. I am waiting, however, for my English-Hokkien and Hokkien-English dictionaries from the Maryknoll Fathers (factor of 10 cheaper). Will give you an update as soon as I have it in my hands

Regards,
Aurelio

[%sig%]

[Henning]

Dear Aurelio,

thank you very much for this link. Are the dictionaries you are waiting for new (revised) editions? I was told that Maryknoll was working on a revised edition of the Amoy-English dictionary, but it was not clear when it would be completed.

An affordable reprint of Douglas' dictionary is available in Taiwan (SMC Publishing). The volume also contains a reprint of Barclay's supplement to Douglas' dictionary. The price was 1200 NT (35 US$). A series of 10 Southern Min dictionaries (including Medhurst, Douglas, Barclay etc. as well as excellent introductions by Ang Ui-jin) was published by the Wuling Chubanshe in Taiwan, but it's sold out now.

The prices indicated by Ganesha Publishing are actually not extremely high. A few months ago I found a tiny manuscript dictionary (Dutch - Hokkien) of 1870 or something. It was sold for 1000 Euro. Schlegel's five volume dictionary was offered for 2000 Euro by another Dutch bookseller...

Best,
Henning

[Aurelio]

Dear Henning,

From the order list the Maryknoll Language Service Center sent me, the Taiwanese-English dictionary (NT$ 1000) is the 2002 edition, the English-Amoy (NT$ 800) dictionary is the 1993 edition. Reverend Flanigan, the director of the Taipei Language Service Center, is currently in the States. I will ask him about the revision when I talk to him on the phone.

Thanks for the reference to the SMC reprint of the first edition. I bought this one a few years ago in Singapore and it has served me very well. Unfortunately, only the supplement has 漢字. What I find exciting about this new reprint is that it might have characters in the main dictionary like the 1899 edition in Oxford that Andrew mentioned. Think I will give them a call and find out.

Yes, you're right, US $200 - 300 is not unusal for books with small editions or special orders like this one. Unfortunately, it's still a lot if one buys the books for pleasure rather than business.

Henning, since you're deeply involved with the study of Hokkien/ Minnan languages, might I ask you for your favorite picks of resources for the Minnan learner or even books in Hokkien/ Taiwanese that are currently available? Any suggestions will be very much appreciated.

Best regards,
Aurelio

[%sig%]

[hong]

I think if we want to save money,just learn one school of minnan is enough.If Aurelio is learning amoy,schlegel 's 5200 pages of Tsiangtsiu or LinLianTong's Yongchun quanzhou language are not needed.Just buy Amoy books,thesises and papers will be enough without caring much about old chinese dictionary like guangyun,ect.

[Andrew Yong]

Apparently, in the 1899 version the hanzi are _hand-written_. There are a few copies for sale on www.abebooks.com for about $US800.