"José Monteiro's 'Vera, et unica praxis' : a seventeenth-century Jesuit primer for the learning of Mandarin Chinese and a later version" / Cristina Costa Gomes and Isabel Murta Pina

Published in Historiographia Linguistica - Volume 51, Issue 1-3, 2024 

Also available through Boston College Libraries

Abstract:

A manuscript written by the Portuguese Jesuit José Monteiro (1646–1720) and a later one by his French confrère Jean-François Foucquet (1665–1741) shed new light on the didactic materials used in the China mission during the initial stage of learning Chinese Mandarin as a second language. These manuscripts, which are written in Portuguese and romanised Mandarin, are the only surviving copies we know of, although others have existed. This paper argues that the two documents prove the existence of an earlier common model, even though they were written independently. This model lost to history circulated at least in the Fujian Province from the late 17th century onwards. It was partly the result of the compilation of several earlier materials produced since the beginning of the China mission, which had the same purpose of training new learners in the Chinese language. José Monteiro’s document further reveals his intention to systematise the original version and disseminate his manual more widely throughout the mission, probably by printing it.

Mandarin over Manchu : court-sponsored Qing lexicography and its subversion in Korea and Japan / Mårten Söderblom Saarela 

This extract is from the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies Volume 77 Number 2.

Abstract:

The Manchu language studies of the Qing empire emerged in Beijing during the late seventeenth century and spread to Chosŏn Korea and Tokugawa Japan during the eighteenth century. The Qing court sponsored the compilation of multilingual thesauri and thereby created an imperial linguistic order with Manchu at the center and vernacular Chinese, or Mandarin, in a subordinate position. Chosŏn and Tokugawa scholars, by contrast, usually placed Mandarin—not Manchu, Korean, or Japanese—as the leading language in the new multilingual thesauri they compiled on the basis of Qing works. I show how the balance between Manchu and Mandarin changed as Korean and Japanese scholars reworked lexicographic books from Beijing. The lexicographic evidence demonstrates that the international languages of pre-twentieth-century East Asia included Manchu and vernacular Mandarin as well as literary Chinese.

"Mapping the world through lexicography : a preliminary study on toponyms in Brollo’s 'Dictionarium sinico-latinum'" / Erica Cecchetti and Gabriele Tola

Published in Historiographia Linguistica - Volume 51, Issue 1-3, 2024 

Also available through Boston College Libraries

Abstract:

This article analyses the original contribution of the Franciscan missionary Basilio Brollo (Ye Zunxiao 葉尊孝 or Ye Zongxian 葉宗賢, Gemona, 1648–Xi’an, 1704) to the description of Chinese toponyms and geographically relevant terms included in his Dictionarium sinico-latinum (1694, 1699), regarded as one of the most noteworthy earliest dictionaries compiled by foreign missionaries in China. The article first provides an overview of the list of toponyms included in the dictionary, describing their Chinese, romanised, and Latin renditions. Secondly, it compares selected terms with the corresponding toponymic occurrences in the Chinese sources Brollo used as references when compiling the manuscript. The article concludes with a discussion of the lexicographical and lexicological efforts involved in this process, as well as the intercultural dialogue involved in them, highlighting Brollo’s personal and original contribution to the description of 17th-century Chinese geographical elements, with special reference to the terms related to the Chinese geographical regions where he lived and worked.

"The case of rén 仁 in early Chinese-European dictionaries : implications for the comparative study of a specific entry" / Mattia Marconi and Emanuele Raini

Published in Historiographia Linguistica - Volume 51, Issue 1-3, 2024 

Also available through Boston College Libraries

Abstract:

When missionaries first arrived in China, they encountered important challenges in translating Chinese terms into Western languages and Christian concepts into Chinese. This complex process involved numerous contributors over time, leading to translational choices that were often revised as they proved inadequate. The journey of translation varied in complexity for different terms. Mandarin-European dictionaries compiled by missionaries provide valuable insights into these processes. These dictionaries capture the definitions of Chinese characters at specific historical moments, reflecting the authors’ intentions. This article examines the character ren 仁, central to Chinese philosophy, to illustrate how comparing entries in Chinese-European dictionaries reveals insights into both the history of the dictionaries and the translation processes. We analyze ren’s definitions in various lexicographic sources, from early Sino-Portuguese dictionaries by Jesuits to Mandarin-Spanish dictionaries by Dominicans, and finally to the Dictionarium Sinico-Latinum by Franciscan Basilio Brollo (1648–1704). This comparative analysis highlights differences and connections between dictionaries, assesses their informative value regarding authorship and dating, and explores the missionaries’ diverse translation strategies.