ABSTRACT
Origin of Chinese Characters (Shuowen Jiezi) records a large number of drug names, providing rich materials for the study of the history of pharmacy. But in the aftertime circulating process, errors were inevitable, making the ancient scholars disagree on the relationship between some drug names and their referents. This paper would give a textual research on medication names about chu, huo, huo, and hua. Relevant content was analyzed by using Shuowen Jiezi, Er Ya,Yu Pian and previous annotations of these exegesis books, as well as herbal literature. The relationship between the names and referents, as well as their lexical meanings were clarified by comparing textual content in specialized book about Chinese exegetics and previous herbal literature. Their medicinal efficacy was explained, and the value of herbalism in these exegesis books was explored.
Subject(s)
Books , Herbal Medicine , Medicine, Chinese Traditional , ResearchABSTRACT
Many medicine names were recorded in Shuowen Jiezi. The later scholars interpreted these names, but they had different standpoints on the relationship between the name and nature of some medicines. In this study, the medicine names of diao, ji, li, tiao, and di with greater different standpoints were verified by textual research. Shuowen Jiezi, Erya, Guangya and previous annotations of these exegesis books were combined with herbal literature to summarize and analyze the relevant content. The herbal content in exegesis books were compared with the records in herbal literature to hackle the relationship between name and nature of medicines, clarify the lexical meaning and illustrate the efficacy of the medicines. Meanwhile, the value of herbalism in these exegesis books was explored.