Book 14: 《憲問》 Xian Wen (Xian Asked)
《憲問》 Passage 14.43
Legge Translation (1861)
Yuan Rang was squatting on his heels, and so waited the approach of the Master, who said to him, "In youth not humble as befits a junior; in manhood, doing nothing worthy of being handed down; and living on to old age:— this is to be a pest." With this he hit him on the shank with his staff.Word by word
- 原壤 yuán rǎng
Yuan Rang, personal name of an old acquaintance of Confucius
- 原 Yuan, surname element in the personal name Yuan Rang
- 壤 Rang, given-name element in the personal name Yuan Rang
- 夷 yí
squatting, sitting with legs splayed (a casual, disrespectful posture)
- 俟 sì
to wait, wait for
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, i.e. Confucius
- 曰 said, spoke
- 幼 yòu
young, in one's youth (first of three life-stages named here)
- 而 ér
coordinating/contrastive conjunction: and yet, but
- 不 bù
not (negates the predicate that follows)
- 孫弟 xùn tì
humble and deferential to elders (loangraph pair for 遜悌)
- 孫 loangraph for 遜: humble, modest
- 弟 loangraph for 悌: deferential, respectful to elders
孫 stands for 遜 (modest) and 弟 for 悌 (deferential to elders), not their literal senses 'grandson' and 'younger brother'.
- 長 zhǎng
grown up, having become an adult (second life-stage)
- 而 ér
coordinating/contrastive conjunction: and yet, but
Only Watson keeps an explicit connector here.
- 無 wú
to lack, be without
- 述 shù
to be spoken of, have accomplishments worth mention
朱熹: 述，猶稱也, to be spoken of; Watson's 'no one speaks well of you' follows it, while Legge, Ames & Rosemont, Lau and Chin read 'nothing worth handing down'.
- 焉 yān
sentence-final particle (equivalent to 於是/於此: in this, thereupon)
- 老 lǎo
old, aged (third life-stage)
- 而 ér
coordinating/contrastive conjunction: and yet, but
- 不 bù
not (negates dying — refusing or failing to die)
Legge and Roberts recast the negated verb positively as 'living on' / 'still living' rather than literally 'not dying'.
- 死 sǐ
to die
- 是 shì
this, that (demonstrative pointing back to the conduct just described)
- 為 wéi
to be, to count as (copula)
- 賊 zéi
pest, scoundrel, troublemaker
朱熹: 賊者，害人之名, one who does harm; 'thief' is a later extension of the graph. Legge, Peimin Ni, Lau, Watson and Chin render 'pest', Ames & Rosemont 'thief'.
- 以 yǐ
coverb: with, by means of
- 杖 zhàng
staff, cane, walking stick
- 叩 kòu
to rap, tap lightly
Most translators read 叩 as a light rap or tap; Legge and Roberts render it more forcefully as 'hit'/'struck'.
- 其 qí
possessive/object pronoun: his, him (referring to Yuan Rang)
- 脛 jìng
shin, shank (lower leg)
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