Clarifying Some Unsettled Questions Surrounding <i>Shuōwén jiězì</i>

Abstract The study examines three sources of cross-cultural challenges when studying classic works of indigenous languages within the general framework of modern linguistics: primary texts, translation and terminology. Specifically, it has revealed and clarified three sets of unsettled questions in the English-language scholarship of Shuōwén jiězì, the masterpiece of classical Chinese lexicography: What are the start and completion dates of Shuōwén jiězì (the historical question)? How to translate the title of Shuōwén jiězì (the translation question)? Is Shuōwén jiězì an etymological dictionary (the epistemological question)? Through mixed methods of meticulous coding and statistical calculation, the study has shown notable divergent (and conflicting) patterns regarding the chronology of Shuōwén, its title translation and the conceptualization of “etymology”. Probing into these unsettled issues not only clarifies prevailing misunderstandings in the extant scholarship, but also problematizes the current state of indigenous language studies by external scholars (of distant language backgrounds) within the general linguistic framework built mainly on the materials of Indo-European languages.