Book 13: 《子路》 Zi Lu
《子路》 Passage 13.28
Legge Translation (1861)
Zilu asked, saying: "What qualities must a man possess to entitle him to be called a scholar?" The Master said: "He must be thus, — earnest, urgent, and bland: — among his friends, earnest and urgent; among his brethren, bland."Word by word
- 子路 zǐ lù
Zilu, a disciple of Confucius
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 路 syllable in the disciple's courtesy name Zilu (子路)
- 問曰 wèn yuē
asked, said (speech frame introducing a question)
- 問 to ask
- 曰 said (verb introducing direct speech)
- 何如 hé rú
what must (one) be like, how
- 何 what, what kind of (interrogative)
- 如 to be like, to resemble
- 斯 sī
then, so as to (marks the consequence of the preceding condition)
- 可 kě
can, may, be worthy to
- 謂 wèi
to be called, to be termed
- 之 zhī
object pronoun: him, it, referring to the person in question
English states the naming as a passive construction ('to be called X'), which needs no separate object pronoun, so the pronoun's work goes undone by any single word.
- 士 shì
scholar-official, man qualified for government service
Translators split between an office-holding sense (scholar-official, government servant) and a broader moral-exemplar sense (Gentleman, man of station).
- 矣 yǐ
final particle of assertion
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, Confucius
- 曰 said (verb introducing direct speech)
- 切切 qiè qiè
earnest, sincere
- 切 earnest, sincere
- 切 earnest, sincere
- 偲偲 sī sī
mutually exacting, critical
- 偲 mutually exacting, holding others to a high standard
- 偲 mutually exacting, holding others to a high standard
- 怡怡 yí yí
harmonious, affable, genial
- 怡 harmonious, affable
- 怡 harmonious, affable
- 如 rú
predicative suffix: appearing so, in that manner
- 也 yě
final particle marking a descriptive predication
- 可 kě
can, may, be worthy to
- 謂 wèi
to be called, to be termed
- 士 shì
scholar-official, man qualified for government service
- 矣 yǐ
final particle of assertion
- 朋友 péng yǒu
friends
- 朋 friend, companion
- 友 friend, companion
- 切切 qiè qiè
earnest, sincere
- 切 earnest, sincere
- 切 earnest, sincere
- 偲偲 sī sī
mutually exacting, critical
- 偲 mutually exacting, holding others to a high standard
- 偲 mutually exacting, holding others to a high standard
- 兄弟 xiōng dì
brothers
- 兄 elder brother
- 弟 younger brother
- 怡怡 yí yí
harmonious, affable, genial
- 怡 harmonious, affable
- 怡 harmonious, affable
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