本文嘗試從清代學者眼中的《說文》大家，探索「《說文》四大家」形成之脈絡，並進而論到近代，試探「《說文》四大家」的地位是如何形成、建立，乃至不可動搖而無人懷疑，是否有人不贊同「《說文》四大家」之說？筆者發現，許多清代學者所公認之《說文》大家，其人其書於今，已罕見或少見，皆不行於世。次者，又有清代當時名氣很大的《說文》學者，今卻漸為人所忽略。民國十七年（ 1928），丁福保編成《說文解字詁林》，舉「《說文》四大家」之說，影響了當時及後世許多學者，故現當代學者在編纂文字學通論著作時，紛紛以「《說文》四大家」為清代《說文》學之標目。再者，朱駿聲《說文通訓定聲》於清代學者之評價其實並不突出，自丁氏編成《說文解字詁林》後，朱書始為學者所推重，進而升至「四大家」之列，成為《說文》研究的不刊之典。

The researcher tried to discuss the forming trace of “ Four Big Sects of Shui Wen (說文)” from the “Shui Wen (說文)” of the scholars of Qing dynasty. Furthermore, the researcher discussed till current period how the position of “ Four Big Sects of Shui Wen (說文)” had been formed and established and became so unbreakable and undoubted. Is there someone disagreeing the position of “ Four Big Sects of Shui Wen (說文)”? The researcher found out that many of the authors and works of “Shui Wen (說文)” which had been recognized by the scholars of Qing have been rare and unpopular now. Besides, the famous scholars of “Shui Wen (說文)” in Qing dynasty, had been ignored regularly. The 17th year of the Republic Era (1928), Fu-Boa, Ding (丁福保) wrote “Shui Wen Jie Zi Gu Lin (說文解字詁林)” and published the theory of “ Four Big Sects of Shui Wen (說文)” which had influenced many scholars at the time and now. As a result, when current scholars write works of the general treatise of Chinese paleography, they usually took “ Four Big Sects of Shui Wen (說文)” as the model of the study of Shui Wen (說文) of Qing dynasty. Further, the evaluation of “Shui Wen Tong Xun Ding Sheng (說文通訓定聲)” of Jun-Sheng, Zhu (朱駿聲) among Qing scholars was not outstanding. After Ding had written “Shui Wen Jie Zi Gu Lin (說文解字詁林)”, the other scholars started to pay attention to Zhu’s work and then it became one of the Four Big Sects and also the paragon of the research of “Shui Wen (說文).”