Book 5: 《公冶長》 Gong Ye Chang
《公冶長》 Passage 5.6
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master was wishing Qidiao Kai to enter on official employment. He replied: "I am not yet able to rest in the assurance of THIS." The Master was pleased.Word by word
- 子 zǐ
the Master, Confucius
- 使 shǐ
cause to, have (someone) do (something)
Translators range from strong causation ('was wishing', 'told') to softer urging or permission ('urged', 'recommended', 'permission', 'encouraged').
- 漆雕開 qī diāo kāi
Qidiao Kai, disciple of Confucius (personal name)
- 漆 surname element in Qidiao, a disciple of Confucius
- 雕 second syllable of the disciple's surname Qidiao
- 開 given name of the disciple Qidiao Kai
- 仕 shì
to take office, serve as a government official
- 對曰 duì yuē
replied, answered
- 對 to respond, reply (to a superior)
- 曰 to say, said (introduces direct speech)
- 吾 wú
I, me (first-person pronoun)
- 斯 sī
this, this matter (taking office)
- 之 zhī
object-fronting particle: marks the preceding word as object of the following verb
- 未能 wèi néng
not yet able to, not yet capable of
- 未 not yet
- 能 to be able to, capable of
- 信 xìn
trust, have confidence in oneself (for this responsibility)
Most translators read 信 actively, as Kai's own lack of self-confidence; Slingerland alone reads it passively, 'be trusted [by others]'.
- 子 zǐ
the Master, Confucius
- 說 yuè
pleased, delighted
Loangraph for 悅, as in 1.1; not 'to speak' here.
A text file for Anki 2.1.55 or later: File → Import. The cards go to the deck “Analects”, tagged by passage, and importing again updates them instead of adding copies.
Discussion
No one has started on this passage yet.
Start the discussion in r/analects