Is here anyone who knows some classical Chinese and could help me?

For a class about the developement of Chinese characters we have to analyse some entries in the Shuo Wen Jie Zi which mostly simple and uses the same structure in mos entries, but in the entry about 而 there are to quotes that I just can't make sense of.

《周禮》曰：“作其鱗之而。”

臣鉉等曰：今俗別作髵，非是。

《周禮》曰：“作其鱗之而。”

A comment made by 康熙字典 http://www.kangxizidian.com/kangxi/0961.gif :
《周禮•冬官考工記•梓人》作其鱗之而。《註》之而，頰𩑔也。Hence, 之而 is a word, and its meaning is 頰𩑔 which is cheekbone.

So 说文解字 is saying that 而 can also means “cheekbone” by giving an example of how it is used in that way in the book 《周禮》.


臣鉉等曰：今俗別作髵，非是。
People like 臣鉉 are saying, “Now commonly written differently as 髵, not correct.”


If you are really curious, here is some more about that sentence 作其鱗之而. It comes from 《周禮•冬官考工記•梓人》. It describes how an animal poses in order to seize and kill another animal.
作 – raise - 《說文解字》起也。
其 – its -《韻會》指物之辭。
鱗 – scale
之而 – cheekbone
作其鱗之而 – raise its scale and cheekbone

The following is that passage
凡攫殺、援噬之類，必深其爪，出其目，作其鱗之而。深其爪，出其目，作其鱗之而，則於視必撥爾而怒。茍撥爾而怒，則於任重宜，且其匪色必似鳴矣！爪不深，目不出，鱗之而不作，則必頹爾如委矣！

Thank you very much!

You answer has been really helpful to me. I can't really check out the passage you attached because my knowledge of classical Chinese is practically null which makes this assignment so much harder...

I'm a little bit confused about "作其鱗之而 – raise its scale and cheekbone". I'm trying to imagine what "raising its cheekbone" could mean, but I can't.
Are you sure it couldn't just refer to raising its whiskers or bristles?

Could you maybe also tell me if I translated this correctly?
颊侧上出者曰之，下垂者曰而。 -- What's sticking out of the cheeks is called "zhi", what's hanging down is called "er".

Again I'm really grateful for you help.

Yes, it’s quite logical to interpret 之而 as whiskers or bristles. At least, it agrees with the original meaning of 而 which means 頰毛. Thus, may be you are correct. That interpretation originates from 戴震。戴震補注：“頰側上出者曰之，下垂者曰而.” You translation of it is correct.

Then, there is a slightly different explanation from 王引之。王引之《經義述聞，周官下》： "而，頰毛也; 之，猶與也。作其鳞之而，謂起其鱗與頰毛也……然則之為語詞，非實義所在矣。" Here 之 is interpreted as 與 and 而 as 頰毛. 作其鳞之而 becomes 起其鱗與頰毛.

I interpret it according to the kangxi zidian which say it means 頰𩑔. 頰 is cheek. 𩑔 ( http://www.kangxizidian.com/kangxi/1399.gif ) means either 秃 (bald) or 頰旁骨(cheekbone). If 𩑔 means 秃, then it’s a bald cheek and still there is no whisker or bristle. This entry also has a back reference to 之而 with this sentence 之而頰𩑔也.

Another reference is from 清代段玉裁『說文解字注』 http://www.longwiki.net/𩑔 考工記：作其鱗之而。注曰：之而，頰𩑔也。按頰謂鱗屬之面旁。𩑔，謂鱗屬之頤𩔞。圓潤光滑故謂之秃。古語如是。魚游泳，必動其頰與顄(chin)。所謂作其之而也。Here, 作其之而 is used to describe how a fish swims by moving its cheek and chin (or gill).

Anyway, I’m only a novice in Chinese and studying all by myself. I obtain my answers by lots and lots of googling. I’m never certain whether my answers are correct. You’ve to make your own judgments in choosing your answer.

@pts "Anyway, I’m only a novice in Chinese" HAHAHAHAHA