《公冶長》 Passage 5.9

the Master, Confucius

said to, addressed a remark to

Watson's 'questioned' and Ames & Rosemont's 'remarked to' are more specific than the plain 'said to' most translators use.

Zigong, style 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 syllable of the disciple's name Zigong

Roberts translates the name literally as 'Young Master Gong'; Lau uses the Wade-Giles romanization 'Tzu-kung'.

said, quoth (introduces direct speech)

you (second-person pronoun)

and (joining the two persons compared)

Hui, given name of the disciple Yan Hui

topic-marking particle: marks the preceding phrase as topic

who, which one (interrogative pronoun in a comparison)

better, superior, more excellent

replied, answered

• 對 in reply, facing (the questioner)
• 曰 said (introduces the reply)

Ci, Zigong's given name, used as humble self-reference (I)

speaking of oneself by given name rather than saying 'I' is a humility convention in classical Chinese; translators simply render it as 'I'.

topic-marking particle: marks the preceding phrase as topic

how would (I) dare, how could (I) presume

• 何 how, rhetorical intensifier in 'how dare'
• 敢 dare, presume to

to look toward, measure oneself against, compare with

most translators read this as 'compare (myself) with Hui' rather than literally 'hope to reach Hui's level'; Watson and Ames & Rosemont stay closer to the literal 'hope'/'expectations'.

Hui, given name of the disciple Yan Hui

Hui, given name of the disciple Yan Hui

topic-marking particle: marks the preceding phrase as topic

hear, be told

Slingerland, Ames & Rosemont, and Chin render this as 'learn' rather than the more literal 'hear'/'told'.

one (a single point, fact, or lesson)

thereby, and so as a result

know, understand, comprehend

Chin's 'gives play to' and Roberts's 'learns' treat this as an active extension of understanding rather than passive knowing.

ten

Legge alone avoids the numeral, paraphrasing as 'all about a subject'.

Ci, Zigong's given name, used as humble self-reference (I)

topic-marking particle: marks the preceding phrase as topic

hear, be told

one (a single point, fact, or lesson)

thereby, and so as a result

only Slingerland keeps a separate word for this connective here; the others fuse it into the main verb or drop it.

know, understand, comprehend

two

Legge alone avoids the numeral, paraphrasing as 'a second'.

the Master said

• 子 the Master, Confucius (respectful title used alone)
• 曰 said, quoth (introduces direct speech)

not equal to, not as good as, inferior to

• 弗 not (emphatic negative)
• 如 be equal to, be as good as

sentence-final particle of assertion

I, me (Confucius including himself)

and, together with (joining two people as one subject)

Two readings with commentarial pedigree: 包咸 in 何晏 takes 與 as the conjunction, 'neither you nor I equal him' (Slingerland, Peimin Ni, Lau, Watson, Chin), while 朱熹 glosses 與, 許也, 'I grant you that you are not his equal' (Legge).

you (second-person pronoun, addressing Zigong)

not equal to, not as good as, inferior to

• 弗 not (emphatic negative)
• 如 be equal to, be as good as

sentence-final particle of assertion