Book 9: 《子罕》 Zi Han (Seldom Spoke)
《子罕》 Passage 9.6
Legge Translation (1861)
A high officer asked Zigong, saying: "May we not say that your Master is a sage? How various is his ability!"Zigong said: "Certainly Heaven has endowed him unlimitedly. He is about a sage. And, moreover, his ability is various."
The Master heard of the conversation and said: "Does the high officer know me? When I was young, my condition was low, and therefore I acquired my ability in many things, but they were mean matters. Must the superior man have such variety of ability? He does not need variety of ability."
Word by word
- 大宰 tài zǎi
Grand Minister, prime minister (a high court office)
- 大 great, grand
- 宰 high minister, official
大 here is read tài; 大宰 (= 太宰) is the title of a chief minister. 孔安國 and 朱熹 leave open whether he served Wu or Song.
- 問 wèn
to ask
- 於 yú
coverb marking the person being addressed
English 'ask' takes a direct object, so the coverb's work of marking the addressee is absorbed into the verb rather than expressed by a preposition.
- 子貢 zǐ gòng
Zigong (disciple of Confucius)
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 貢 tribute (used in the personal name Zigong)
- 曰 yuē
to say, said (introduces direct speech)
- 夫子 fū zǐ
the Master (Confucius)
- 夫 that, those (demonstrative, in 'the Master')
- 子 master, honorific title for a learned man
- 聖 shèng
sage, a person of consummate wisdom and virtue
- 者與 zhě yú
interrogative tag: is he not?, is it not so?
- 者 nominalizing particle: one who is, a person who
- 與 interrogative final particle (= 歟)
者 nominalizes 聖 ('one who is a sage') while 與 (=歟) adds interrogative force; together they form the tag-question most translators render as 'is he not?'
- 何…也 hé … yě
how...!, exclamatory-interrogative frame emphasizing degree
- 何 how, why (interrogative)
- 也 exclamatory final particle
何...也 forms a rhetorical exclamation ('how...!'); English typically supplies 'how' or 'why' plus a question or exclamation mark rather than a discrete word for 也.
- 其 qí
possessive pronoun: his
- 多能 duō néng
skilled in many things, versatile
- 多 many, numerous
- 能 ability, skill; able
- 子貢 zǐ gòng
Zigong (disciple of Confucius)
- 子 prefix of a courtesy name, as in 子路 and 子貢; not the title Master
- 貢 tribute (used in the personal name Zigong)
- 曰 yuē
to say, said (introduces direct speech)
- 固 gù
certainly, surely, indeed
- 天 tiān
Heaven
- 縱 zòng
to grant freely, bestow upon
- 之 zhī
him, referring to Confucius
- 將聖 jiāng shèng
about to become a sage, destined for sagehood
- 將 about to, on the verge of
- 聖 sage, a person of consummate wisdom and virtue
將 is contested: 朱熹 reads it as 殆, 'almost' (Legge 'is about a sage'), most translators take it as prospective, 'to become a sage', and 楊伯峻 reads it as 大, 'great'.
- 又 yòu
also, in addition
- 多能 duō néng
skilled in many things, versatile
- 多 many, numerous
- 能 ability, skill; able
- 也 yě
final particle of assertion
Sentence-final 也 marks assertion.
- 子 zǐ
the Master (Confucius)
- 聞 wén
to hear, to hear of
- 之 zhī
it, this, referring to what Zigong had said
- 曰 yuē
to say, said (introduces direct speech)
- 大宰 tài zǎi
Grand Minister, prime minister (a high court office)
- 大 great, grand
- 宰 high minister, official
- 知 zhī
to know
- 我 wǒ
me
- 乎 hū
exclamatory final particle: how...!, indeed
乎 here carries exclamatory force ('how well...!'); Legge, Roberts and Peimin Ni instead read it as a plain interrogative.
- 吾 wú
I, my
- 少 shào
young, in one's youth
- 也 yě
topic-marking pause particle
也 marks a pause after the topic clause ('I being young'); English renders this with a comma rather than a discrete word.
- 賤 jiàn
low, humble in social standing
- 故 gù
therefore, for this reason
- 多能 duō néng
skilled in many things, versatile
- 多 many, numerous
- 能 ability, skill; able
- 鄙事 bǐ shì
menial matters, base practical tasks
- 鄙 base, menial, of low status
- 事 affair, task, matter
鄙事 denotes practical, low-status tasks (e.g. trades and menial labor), as opposed to refined or scholarly accomplishments.
- 君子 jūn zǐ
exemplary person, gentleman
- 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
- 多 duō
many, versatile, of many talents
- 乎哉 hū zāi
emphatic rhetorical question particle combination: is it really so?
- 乎 interrogative final particle
- 哉 exclamatory final particle, emphasizing the question
The doubled particles intensify the rhetorical question.
- 不 bù
not
- 多 duō
many, versatile
- 也 yě
final particle of assertion
Sentence-final 也 marks assertion.
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