A Study of the Natural-History Entries in Rock's "Na-Khi–English Encyclopedic Dictionary"
This article surveys the natural-history content of Joseph Rock's "Na-Khi–English Encyclopedic Dictionary" (1963/1972), based on He Jiangyu's 2004 Chinese translation of Volume One. Compiled from more than 8,000 Naxi ritual (Dongba) manuscripts Rock collected and studied over 27 years in the Lijiang region, the dictionary functions less as a simple script glossary than as an encyclopedia of Naxi material culture accessed through the Dongba pictographic script. Drawing on his earlier career as a professional botanist and naturalist, Rock annotated entries with Latin species names, habitat, altitude, and use. The article organizes the dictionary's relevant entries into ten categories — plants, animals, implements, architecture, clothing, food and medicine, religious objects, neighboring peoples, musical instruments, and things the Naxi historically lacked — arguing the dictionary preserves an invaluable, near-contemporaneous record of Naxi life a century ago.
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