緯書

Chinese

		weft	book; letter
trad. (緯書)		緯	書
simp. (纬书)		纬	书

Etymology

So-called because of their relation with the 經書 (“canon; classic”): whereas the canons were like the warp (經) in the fabrics of classical literature, the 緯書／纬书 (wěishū) were purported to be based on them and complement them like the weft.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): wěishū

  (Zhuyin): ㄨㄟˇ ㄕㄨ

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: wěishū
    • Zhuyin: ㄨㄟˇ ㄕㄨ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: wěishu
    • Wade–Giles: wei³-shu¹
    • Yale: wěi-shū
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: woeishu
    • Palladius: вэйшу (vɛjšu)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /weɪ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʂu⁵⁵/

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• Middle Chinese: hjw+jH syo

Rime
Character	緯	書
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	云 (35)	書 (26)
Final (韻)	微 (21)	魚 (22)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Closed	Open
Division (等)	III	III
Fanqie	于貴切	傷魚切
Baxter	hjw+jH	syo
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/ɦʉiH/	/ɕɨʌ/
Pan Wuyun	/ɦʷɨiH/	/ɕiɔ/
Shao Rongfen	/ɣiuəiH/	/ɕiɔ/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/ɦujH/	/ɕɨə̆/
Li Rong	/ɣiuəiH/	/ɕiɔ/
Wang Li	/ɣĭwəiH/	/ɕĭo/
Bernard Karlgren	/we̯iH/	/ɕi̯wo/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	wèi	shū
Expected Cantonese Reflex	wai6	syu1

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*ɢʷɯls  hlja/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	書
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	shū
Middle Chinese	‹ syo ›
Old Chinese	/*s-ta/
English	write
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	緯	書
Reading #	1/1	1/1
No.	12833	17013
Phonetic component	韋	者
Rime group	微	魚
Rime subdivision	2	0
Corresponding MC rime	胃	書
Old Chinese	/*ɢʷɯls/	/*hlja/

Noun

緯書

1. (historical) Confucian esoteric literature (occult writings based on the body of Confucian classics)

   • 世稱緯書，仲尼之作也，臣悅叔父故司空爽辨之，蓋發其偽也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     世称纬书，仲尼之作也，臣悦叔父故司空爽辨之，盖发其伪也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: c. 2nd century, Xun Yue (荀悅), Shenjian (《申鑒》)

     Shì chēng wěishū, Zhòngní zhī zuò yě, chén Yuè shūfù gù sīkōng Shuǎng biànzhī, gài fā qí wěi yě. [Pinyin]

     People believe that the occult literature were authored by Confucius. My uncle Shuang, the former sikong, has written critically about them in the hope that their falsehood may be laid bare.