Book 11: 《先進》 Xian Jin (Former Eras)
《先進》 Passage 11.15
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "What has the lute of You to do in my door?"The other disciples began not to respect Zilu. The Master said: "You has ascended to the hall, though he has not yet passed into the inner apartments."
Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 Master, honorific title for Confucius
- 曰 said, spoke
- 由 yóu
Zilu (personal name You)
- 之 zhī
possessive particle: 's, of
- 瑟 sè
zither, lute (a plucked stringed instrument)
- 奚 xī
what, why (interrogative)
- 為 wèi
to do, be doing
with the preceding 奚, forms the idiomatic rhetorical question 'what business does X have doing Y here'
- 於 yú
at, in (location)
- 丘 qiū
my (Confucius's self-reference by his given name Qiu)
Confucius refers to himself by his given name Qiu rather than a first-person pronoun; every translator renders this as the possessive 'my'
- 之 zhī
possessive particle: 's, of
fused with 丘 into the single English word 'my' by every translator
- 門 mén
gate, door
Slingerland and Watson read 門 as referring to Confucius's school rather than the literal gate
- 門人 mén rén
disciples, followers
- 門 gate, door
- 人 person, people
- 不 bù
not
- 敬 jìng
to respect, revere
- 子路 zǐ lù
Zilu, disciple of Confucius (courtesy name of Zhong You 仲由)
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 路 Lu, name element in the courtesy name Zilu
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 Master, honorific title for Confucius
- 曰 said, spoke
- 由 yóu
Zilu (personal name You)
- 也 yě
topic-marking particle: as for, as regards
Ames & Rosemont alone marks this explicitly, with 'As for'.
- 升 shēng
to ascend, go up
- 堂 táng
hall, main reception hall
- 矣 yǐ
perfective particle: marks a realized or completed state
- 未 wèi
not yet
- 入 rù
to enter
- 於 yú
into, to (endpoint of motion)
only Legge renders this separately from 入 ('passed into'); other translators fold the sense of direction into 'entered'
- 室 shì
inner room, private chamber
室 denotes the private inner chamber behind the more public 堂 hall; translators add 'inner' to convey this, though no separate character marks it
- 也 yě
final particle of assertion
English closes the sentence with a period rather than a separate particle, so 也's assertive force is carried by sentence-final punctuation alone
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