Book 3: 《八佾》 Ba Yi (Eight Rows)
《八佾》 Passage 3.17
Legge Translation (1861)
Zigong wished to do away with the offering of a sheep connected with the inauguration of the first day of each month.The Master said: "Ci, you love the sheep; I love the ceremony."
Word by word
- 子貢 zǐ gòng
Zigong, courtesy name of the disciple Duanmu Ci
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 貢 second element of the disciple Zigong's name (Duanmu Ci)
- 欲 yù
wanted to, desired to
- 去 qù
to do away with, get rid of
- 告朔之 gào shuò zhī
the New Moon Announcement, a monthly ceremony marking the start of the month
- 告 to announce, proclaim (the new month)
- 朔 the first day of the lunar month, the new moon
- 之 genitive particle linking a modifying phrase to its head noun
告 is read gù in this ritual term (經典釋文 古毒反): the ruler announced the new month in the ancestral temple and a live sheep (餼, 朱熹: 生牲也) was offered. 之 links the ceremony's name to 餼羊 and has no rendering of its own.
- 餼羊 xì yáng
sacrificial sheep, a live animal offered (but not eaten) in the ceremony
- 餼 a live animal offered as a sacrificial victim
- 羊 sheep, the animal offered in the ceremony
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 the Master, Confucius, an honorific title
- 曰 said, spoke
- 賜也 cì yě
direct address to Zigong by his personal name Ci
- 賜 Ci, Zigong's personal name, used here in direct address
- 也 pausal particle following a name in direct address
也 marks the pause after a name in direct address, a common Analects vocative pattern.
- 爾 ěr
you, second person, addressing Zigong
- 愛 ài
to begrudge, be reluctant to give up (implying stinginess)
Confucius plays on 愛's double sense: Zigong's 愛 is read by several translators as reluctance to bear a material cost, contrasted with the Master's own 愛 at 我愛其禮.
- 其羊 qí yáng
the sheep, referring back to the sacrificial animal just mentioned
- 其 that, the, referring back to the sheep just mentioned
- 羊 sheep, the same sacrificial animal mentioned above
- 我 wǒ
I, me, Confucius referring to himself
- 愛 ài
to care about, value, cherish
Contrasts with 愛 at indices [18]: the Master's 愛 here is for the immaterial rite rather than the material sheep; Ames & Rosemont elides the repeated verb.
- 其禮 qí lǐ
ritual propriety, the rite, as an abstract principle worth preserving
- 其 that, the, referring to the rite just mentioned
- 禮 ritual propriety, the rite, the ceremonial practice at stake
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