PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION
Nearly ten years ago the Second Edition of this Dictionary was exhausted. It was quite evident that a revision and the addition of new terms was needed if the third edition were to be as useful in its time as the first and second had been in theirs. The reviser began work after less than two years in China with no thought of publication, but merely as a “project” useful in his own language study. Gradually it became apparent that the work should be carried through for the benefit of other students of the Foochow Dialect as well. The preparation and revision of the manuscript and later the proof reading has absorbed most of the “marginal time” in the busy life of a missionary for nearly ten years. During that time practically all of the manuscript has been read over either three or four times, each time consulting various authorities on doubtful points. In addition practically all of it has been gone over at least once by other people familiar with the Foochow Dialect. The language itself has been continually growing and although a few new terms have even been added while proof reading, it has not been possible to bring the work as a whole entirely up to date. For example the early part of the work was printed before the Nationalist Movement with its new terminology came to Foochow. Nevertheless there are nearly twice as many phrases as in the second edition. The reviser is probably more conscious of mistakes and faults than most other readers, and can only hope that the book may be useful in spite of them.
It is impossible to mention all the persons who have assisted in this task. Such a list if inclusive would contain the names of nearly half the missionaries in the Foochow speaking area and an equal number of Chinese friends. I will only mention the Rev. D. MacGillivray, D.D., of Shanghai, who kindly gave permission to follow the arrangement of his Mandarin Dictionary, Mr. Iong Ung Gi of Foochow who did most of the clerical work of preparing the manuscript, the Rev. E. M. Norton of Foochow who gave special assistance in preparing the manuscript for the H-K section, Mr. Dūng Nguòng-cóng of Foochow, who spent one whole summer on the same section, and the Presbyterian Mission Press of Shanghai without whose efficient cooperation the publication of the work might have been impossible.
It is the sincere hope of the reviser that this work may help promote friendliness and mutual understanding between the people of East and West and bring nearer the day when “all within the four seas are brothers,” children of the same Father, working together with one another and with Him to achieve an ideal world.
Foochow, July 17, 1929.
