A Chinese Dictionary In The Cantonese Dialect

Eitel's Chinese Dictionary in the Cantonese Dialect (1877, 2nd ed. 1910-1) started out as an authorized revision of Williams' Tonic Dictionary, but later took on a life of its own as Eitel attempted to synthesize the Tonic with the vocabulary of James Legge's translations of the Chinese classics, as well as the imperial Kang Xi dictionary used by native scholars of Mandarin. The work is notable not least for its avowed intention to serve not merely as a glossary of the spoken language, but also as a model of 'the general written language of China'. Eitel's apparent attempt to standardize the 'reading pronunciation' of Cantonese may well have been motivated by his experience as Director of Chinese Studies, a position to which he was appointed two years before the publication of his dictionary. Originally a missionary with the Basel and Lutheran missions, he later became Inspector of Schools and Chinese Secretary in the British colonial administration.