The Piya (; "Increased [Er]ya") was a Chinese dictionary compiled by Song Dynasty scholar Lu Dian (陸佃/陆佃, 1042–1102). He wrote this Erya supplement along with his Erya Xinyi (爾雅新義 "New Exegesis of the Erya") commentary. Although the Piya preface written by his son Lu Zai (陸宰/陆宰) is dated 1125, the dictionary was written earlier; estimates around the Yuanfeng era (元豐, 1078–1085), and Joseph Needham says around 1096.
Lu Dian arranged the Piya into 8 semantically based chapters that closely correspond with the last Erya chapters 13–19. The only exceptions are Chapter 5 ("Explaining Horses") that is contained in Erya 19 ("Explaining Domestic Animals") and Chapter 8 ("Explaining Heaven") that anomalously corresponds with the first part of the Erya. Chapter Chinese Pinyin Translation Erya Chapter 1 釋魚 Shiyu Explaining Fishes 16 2 釋獸 Shishou Explaining Beasts 18 3 釋鳥 Shiniao Explaining Birds 17 4 釋蟲 Shichong Explaining Insects 15 5 釋馬 Shima Explaining Horses (19) 6 釋木 Shimu Explaining Trees 14 7 釋草 Shicao Explaining Plants 13 8 釋天 Shitian Explaining Heaven 8
The preface explains Lu's motives for defining flora and fauna terminology. Since Song officials changed the basis for the Imperial examination from mastering poetry to jingyi (經義/经义 "expounding on a classical quotation"), literati no longer studied the lyrical names for plants and animals.
See also Xiao Erya Shiming Guangya
References Needham, Joseph, Lu Gwei-djen, and Huang Hsing-Tsung (1986). Science and Civilisation in China, Volume 6 Biology and Biological Technology, Part 1 Botany. Cambridge University Press. p. 192.
External links 1478 Korean woodblock edition Piya, Chinese University of Hong Kong Rare Book Collection (in Chinese)