Book 10: 《鄉黨》 Xiang Dang (In the Village)
《鄉黨》 Passage 10.8
Legge Translation (1861)
He did not dislike to have his rice finely cleaned, nor to have his minced meat cut quite small.He did not eat rice which had been injured by heat or damp and turned sour, nor fish or flesh which was gone. He did not eat what was discoloured, or what was of a bad flavour, nor anything which was ill-cooked, or was not in season.
He did not eat meat which was not cut properly, nor what was served without its proper sauce.
Though there might be a large quantity of meat, he would not allow what he took to exceed the due proportion for the rice. It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it.
He did not partake of wine and dried meat bought in the market.
He was never without ginger when he ate.
He did not eat much.
Word by word
- 食 shí
cooked rice, grain (the staple meal)
- 不厭 bù yàn
did not mind, was not averse to
- 不 not
- 厭 to mind, be averse to — Alternatively read as 'to be sated with, eat to excess' — a minority interpretation among translators.
Translators split on 厭: Legge, Peimin Ni, Roberts, Ames & Rosemont and Watson read it as 'be averse to' (he did not mind however finely milled); Slingerland, Lau and Chin read it as 'be sated with' (he did not overeat even fine food).
- 精 jīng
finely milled, polished (of grain)
- 膾 kuài
minced meat or raw fish, meat cut fine
- 不厭 bù yàn
did not mind, was not averse to
- 不 not
- 厭 to mind, be averse to — Alternatively read as 'to be sated with, eat to excess' — a minority interpretation among translators.
Translators split on 厭: Legge, Peimin Ni, Roberts, Ames & Rosemont and Watson read it as 'be averse to' (he did not mind however finely cut); Slingerland, Lau and Chin read it as 'be sated with' (he did not overeat even fine food).
- 細 xì
finely cut, minced small
- 食 shí
cooked rice, grain (the staple meal)
- 饐 yì
spoiled by damp and heat, musty
- 而 ér
coordinating conjunction: and, or
- 餲 ài
gone stale, rancid with age
- 魚 yú
fish
- 餒 něi
spoiled, gone rotten (of fish)
- 而 ér
coordinating conjunction: and, or
- 肉 ròu
meat
- 敗 bài
spoiled, gone bad (of meat)
- 不食 bù shí
did not eat, would not eat it
- 不 not
- 食 to eat
- 色 sè
color, appearance (of food)
- 惡 è
bad, off, unpleasant
- 不食 bù shí
did not eat, would not eat it
- 不 not
- 食 to eat
- 臭 xiù
smell, odor (of food)
- 惡 è
bad, foul (of smell)
- 不食 bù shí
did not eat, would not eat it
- 不 not
- 食 to eat
- 失 shī
to fail at, mishandle (in cooking)
- 飪 rèn
cooking, the proper preparation of food
- 不食 bù shí
did not eat, would not eat it
- 不 not
- 食 to eat
- 不時 bù shí
not in season, untimely
- 不 not
- 時 the proper season for food — Alternatively read as 'the proper hour for a meal' — translators split roughly evenly between the two readings.
朱熹 reads 不時 of grain not yet ripe and fruit out of season (五穀不成，果實未熟之類), followed by Legge, Slingerland, Roberts and Watson; Peimin Ni, Ames & Rosemont and Lau take it as eating outside the proper mealtimes, and Chin renders both ('not in season' and 'except at mealtimes').
- 不食 bù shí
did not eat, would not eat it
- 不 not
- 食 to eat
- 割 gē
to cut, carve (meat)
- 不正 bù zhèng
not properly, incorrectly (cut)
- 不 not
- 正 correct, proper (manner of cutting)
- 不食 bù shí
did not eat, would not eat it
- 不 not
- 食 to eat
- 不得 bù dé
to lack, not have
- 不 not
- 得 to get, obtain, have
- 其 qí
possessive pronoun: its, their
- 醬 jiàng
sauce, condiment
- 不食 bù shí
did not eat, would not eat it
- 不 not
- 食 to eat
- 肉 ròu
meat
- 雖 suī
although, even when
- 多 duō
plentiful, in great quantity
- 不使 bù shǐ
did not let, did not allow
- 不 not
- 使 to cause, let, allow
- 勝 shèng
to exceed, outweigh, overcome
- 食氣 shí qì
the staple grain and its nourishing value
- 食 the staple grain food (as distinct from meat)
- 氣 vital nourishing quality, sustaining energy (of food)
- 惟 wéi
only, solely
- 酒 jiǔ
wine, alcoholic drink
- 無量 wú liàng
without a fixed limit, boundless
- 無 without, lacking
- 量 measure, fixed limit
- 不及 bù jí
did not reach the point of, never went so far as
- 不 not
- 及 to reach, get to the point of
- 亂 luàn
disorder, being drunk and unruly
- 沽 gū
bought, purchased (from a shop)
Chin alone follows the alternate traditional gloss of 沽 as wine left standing overnight rather than 'bought'.
- 酒 jiǔ
wine, alcoholic drink
- 市 shì
market, marketplace
- 脯 fǔ
dried meat
- 不食 bù shí
did not eat or drink it, avoided it
- 不 not
- 食 to eat
- 不撤 bù chè
did not remove, did not clear away
- 不 not
- 撤 to remove, clear away
- 薑 jiāng
ginger
- 食 shí
a meal, the act of eating
- 不 bù
not
- 多 duō
much, in excess
- 食 shí
to eat
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