A Chinese Biographical Dictionary/Ch'ên Ti

by Herbert A. Giles

251 Ch'ên Ti 陳第 (T. 季立). 16th cent. A.D. A native of 連江 Lien-chiang in Fuhkien, who served as a military official beyond the Great Wall to the north of Peking, but who is chiefly known as a writer on linguistic subjects. Author of 屈宋 古音義 and of the 毛詩古音考, works on the old sounds of characters as deduced from the rhymes in ancient poetry, etc. etc. He maintained à outrance that in early ages there was no such thing as pronouncing a word in poetry not according to its ordinary sound, but in accordance with the requirements of rhyme. He named his home the 世善堂, and under that title published a catalogue of the books in his library.