| Tam thiên tự | |
| Compiled By: | Ngô Thì Nhậm (吳時任) |
| Alternative Title(S): | Tự học toản yếu (字學纂要) Tam thiên tự giải âm (三千字解音) Tam thiên tự giải dịch quốc ngữ (三千字解譯國語) Tam thiên tự toản yếu (三千字纂要) |
| Language: | Vietnamese (Written in chữ Nôm) and Literary Chinese |
| First Printed Edition: | 19th century |
| Verse Form: | Four word verse (tứ tự; 四字) |
Tam thiên tự (chữ Hán: 三千字; literally 'three thousand characters') is a Vietnamese text that was used in the past to teach young children Chinese characters (chữ Hán) and chữ Nôm.[1] [2] It was written around the 19th century.[3] The original title of the text was originally Tự học toản yếu (chữ Hán: 字學纂要; literally 'Compilation of essentials for learning characters')[4] The book was believed to be complied by Ngô Thì Nhậm (chữ Hán: 吳時任; Ngô Thời Nhiệm); courtesy name, Hy Doãn (chữ Hán: 希尹).[5]
The text contains 3000 characters with no specific order with the characters being organized into four character verses (tứ tự; 四字).[6] These verses are different from other texts that were also used during that time. Books like Nhất thiên tự (chữ Hán: 一千字), Ngũ thiên tự (chữ Hán: 五千字), and Tự Đức Thánh chế Tự học Giải nghĩa ca (chữ Hán: 嗣德聖製字學解義歌) were all composed in lục bát verse unlike Tam thiên tự's four character lines.[7] Each sentence are rhymed every two syllables. The book was organized this way to make it easier for beginner learners to remember the characters. The whole text is essentially a very long rhyme. The Chinese characters are glossed with chữ Nôm in smaller print (consisting of one or two characters).
The text includes characters that cover topics such as body parts (bộ phận thân thể), family relationships (quan hệ gia đình), traditional beliefs (tín ngưỡng), colours (màu sắc), plants (cây cỏ), metals and gemstones (kim loại và đá quý), animals species (loài vật), birds (chim chóc), insects, snakes and centipedes, tailless animals (côn trùng, rắn rết, động vật không đuôi), fish and species under water (cá và loài dưới nước), grammatical words (từ ngữ pháp), numerals (số đếm), and words with reduplication (từ láy).[8]
Ngô Thì Nhậm wrote in his preface,[9]
| 天 | thiên, trời | sky | |
| 地坦 | địa, đất | earth | |
| 擧拮 | cử, cất | to raise | |
| 存群 | tồn, còn | to remain | |
| 子 | tử, con | child | |
| 孫 | tôn, cháu | grandchild | |
| 六 | lục, sáu | six | |
| 三 | tam, ba | three | |
| 家茹 | gia, nhà | house |
The text also shows several obsolete words that are no longer used in Vietnamese, having a different meaning, or is only used in compound words.
| 妓 kỹ — bợm 姂 'prostitute'[10] | đĩ, gái mại dâm (賣淫) | |
| 聞 văn — mắng 'to hear'[11] | nghe | |
| 愼 thận — ghín 謹 'cautious; careful'[12] | cẩn thận (謹慎) | |
| 笥 tứ — níp 'basket'[13] | rổ | |
| 於 ư — chưng 蒸 'at, because'[14] | ở (於), tại vì (在爲) |