Book 7: 《述而》 Shu Er (Transmission)
《述而》 Passage 7.14
Legge Translation (1861)
When the Master was in Qi, he heard the Shao, and for three months did not know the taste of flesh. "I did not think," he said, "that music could have been made so excellent as this."Word by word
- 子 zǐ
the Master, Confucius
- 在 zài
to be in, at (a place)
- 齊 qí
Qi, a state in northeastern China
- 聞 wén
to hear
- 韶 sháo
the Shao, ceremonial music attributed to the sage-king Shun
- 三月 sān yuè
three months
- 三 three
- 月 month
- 不 bù
not
- 知 zhī
to know, be aware of
Roberts paraphrases the whole clause as 'did not take meat', with no discrete verb of knowing or noticing.
- 肉 ròu
meat
- 味 wèi
taste, flavor
- 曰 yuē
said, spoke
- 不 bù
not
- 圖 tú
to expect, anticipate, imagine
- 為樂 wéi yuè
to make music, the performance of music
- 為 to make, to perform
- 樂 music
樂 is read yuè, music: 王肅 in 何晏's 集解 glosses 為 as 作, the making of the Shao. Most translators fuse the verb-object phrase into the single word 'music'; Legge alone keeps an explicit passive 'made'.
- 之 zhī
subordinating particle: that
之 nominalizes '為樂至於斯' into the object clause of 不圖; every translator supplies the same structural work with the English complementizer 'that'.
- 至 zhì
to reach, arrive at (a point), achieve
- 於 yú
coverb marking the point reached: to, at
the English verbs used for 至 ('reach', 'achieve', 'come to') are transitive and take their object directly, so no separate preposition does 於's work.
- 斯 sī
this, such a degree
- 也 yě
final particle of strong assertion, exclamation
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