Book 11: 《先進》 Xian Jin (Former Eras)
《先進》 Passage 11.5
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "Filial indeed is Min Ziqian! Other people say nothing of him different from the report of his parents and brothers."Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 honorific title: the Master, i.e. Confucius
- 曰 said, spoke (introduces a quotation)
- 孝 xiào
filial, devoted to one's parents
- 哉 zāi
exclamatory final particle: how...!, indeed
- 閔子騫 mǐn zǐ qiān
Min Ziqian, disciple of Confucius noted for filial piety
- 閔 surname Min (the disciple's family name)
- 子 element of a courtesy name (here, part of 'Ziqian')
- 騫 Qian, courtesy-name element in 閔子騫, the courtesy name of Min Sun (閔損); his given name is 損
- 人 rén
other people, people in general
Roberts glosses 人 contextually as 'outsider', emphasizing non-family observers
- 不 bù
not, negates the following verb
- 間 jiàn
to find fault with, to criticize, to take exception to
Read jiàn, to find a gap in and so to fault or contradict, not jiān 'interval'. 陳群 (in 何晏) paraphrases 人不得有非間之言, and 朱熹 cites 胡氏: everyone believed the family's praise and had no differing word.
- 於 yú
preposition marking the object of criticism: about, in regard to
- 其 qí
his, their (possessive pronoun)
- 父母 fù mǔ
parents
- 父 father
- 母 mother
- 昆弟 kūn dì
brothers (elder and younger)
- 昆 elder brother
- 弟 younger brother
- 之 zhī
possessive/modifying particle: 's, of
most translators recast the possessive phrase as a relative clause ('what X have to say'), so English syntax does 之's job instead of a word; Legge alone keeps the literal genitive 'of'
- 言 yán
words, what is said
Slingerland renders as 'praise', interpreting the content of the family's report as favorable
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