《公冶長》 Passage 5.4

Zigong, disciple of Confucius (courtesy name)

• 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
• 貢 tribute (literal sense); here the second syllable of the name Zigong

asked, said (introduces a question)

• 問 to ask, inquire
• 曰 said (introduces direct speech)

me (first-person self-reference via one's own given name)

Most translators render this simply as 'me'; only Legge preserves the actual name 'Ci'. Self-reference by given name when addressing a superior was conventional humility.

topic-marking particle: as for...

what is he like?, what do you think (of him)?

• 何 what, interrogative pronoun
• 如 to be like, resemble

the Master said

• 子 the Master; honorific title for Confucius
• 曰 said (introduces direct speech)

you, second-person pronoun

女 functions here as a loangraph for 汝 'you', not its literal sense 'woman'.

vessel, receptacle (metaphor for a person of one specific use)

Echoes 君子不器 in 2.12 ('the exemplary person is not a vessel'): calling Zigong a vessel says he is good for a specific function, not yet all-around excellence.

final particle of assertion

English states the judgment with a plain declarative sentence and full stop, so no word carries this particle's work.

said, asked (speech-introducing verb, speaker implied)

Only Roberts, Ames & Rosemont, and Watson supply an explicit attribution here; the others leave this second question unattributed, following the terse original.

what, which (interrogative pronoun)

vessel, receptacle (metaphor for a person of one specific use)

final particle marking a question following an interrogative word

Classical Chinese can form a question with 何...也 without 乎.

said, replied (speech-introducing verb)

Only Roberts, Ames & Rosemont, and Watson supply an explicit attribution to Confucius's final answer; the others leave it as an unattributed quotation.

a fine ceremonial vessel used to hold grain offerings in the ancestral temple

• 瑚 half of 瑚璉, a precious ritual vessel used for grain offerings
• 璉 second half of 瑚璉, the same precious grain-offering vessel

瑚 and 璉 name specific ritual grain-vessels; being called one is high praise, but Confucius still calls Zigong 'a vessel', short of the vessel-transcending ideal in 2.12 (君子不器).

final particle of assertion

English states the answer as a plain declarative sentence, so no word carries this particle's work.