Study on Examples of Errors in Radical Shui (水) of Xu Xuan’s Shuowenjiezi (《说文解字》)

Nowadays,Shuowenjiezi(《说文解字》),emended by Xu Xuan in 986 AD,is used very frequently.In its 1000-year history of popularity,it has been revised many times,which made it a slight different from the original version.So,we must carefully emend it in using it.By using some character dictionaries and phonetic dictionaries,we can solve some problems of explanation and pronunciation of radical Shui(水) in the book.For example,Hao(浩),which was wrongly explained as Jiao(浇) in the book,actually equals to Rao(饶);Zhao’s(沼) meaning is Chi(池),not Chishui(池水),where Shui(水) is a redundant word;Yunyu(云雨) in the explanation of Yan() and Qi() should be Yuyun(雨云),which is reverse phenomenon;and Zi(子),the first character in the Fanqie of Yu(),should be the character of Yu(于).The mistakes mentioned above are mainly caused by similar Chinese character,redundancy and reverse.