Book 5: 《公冶長》 Gong Ye Chang
《公冶長》 Passage 5.3
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said of Zijian: "Of superior virtue indeed is such a man! If there were not virtuous men in Lu, how could this man have acquired this character?"Word by word
- 子 zǐ
the Master, Confucius (honorific title)
- 謂 wèi
said of, remarked about
- 子賤 zǐ jiàn
Zijian, courtesy name of the disciple Fu Buqi
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 賤 second syllable of Zijian, courtesy name of a disciple of Confucius
- 君子 jūn zǐ
gentleman, exemplary person
- 君 lord, ruler; 君子 is literally a lord's son
- 子 son; 君子 is literally a lord's son, one of the ruling class, which the Analects makes a term of character
- 哉 zāi
exclamatory final particle: how...!, indeed!
- 若人 ruò rén
such a man, this man
- 若 such, like this (demonstrative)
- 人 man, person
- 魯 lǔ
Lu, name of Confucius's home state
- 無 wú
without, lacking, there being no
- 君子 jūn zǐ
gentleman, exemplary person
- 君 lord, ruler; 君子 is literally a lord's son
- 子 son; 君子 is literally a lord's son, one of the ruling class, which the Analects makes a term of character
- 者 zhě
conditional/hypothetical marker: if, in the case that
Marks the preceding clause as the protasis of a hypothetical.
- 斯 sī
this, this one
Refers back to Zijian, subject of the rhetorical question.
- 焉 yān
whence, from where, how
- 取 qǔ
to get, obtain, acquire
- 斯 sī
this, these
Refers to Zijian's virtuous character/qualities, the thing whence obtained.
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