Book 9: 《子罕》 Zi Han (Seldom Spoke)
《子罕》 Passage 9.28
Legge Translation (1861)
The Master said: "When the year becomes cold, then we know how the pine and the cypress are the last to lose their leaves."Word by word
- 子曰 zǐ yuē
the Master said
- 子 Master; honorific title for Confucius
- 曰 said, spoke
- 歲寒 suì hán
the year turns cold, winter arrives
- 歲 year, the annual cycle
- 寒 cold, wintry
- 然後 rán hòu
then, after that
- 然 so, thus, in this way
- 後 after, afterward, subsequently
Most translators carry the emphatic force of 然後 with 'only', attached to the clause that follows; Legge and Watson use the plainer 'then'.
- 知 zhī
to know, realize, come to understand
- 松柏 sōng bǎi
pine and cypress
- 松 pine tree
- 柏 cypress tree
Evergreens that keep their needles through winter, a classical emblem of steadfastness under hardship.
- 之 zhī
subordinating particle marking the subject of the following clause
English folds this directly into the clause ('are the last to wither') rather than marking the subordination with a separate word.
- 後彫 hòu diāo
last to wither, slowest to lose its leaves
- 後 behind, last, later than others
- 彫 wither, fade, lose leaves — Loangraph for 凋 (diāo), 'to wither'; the literal sense 'to carve' is not used here.
Roberts recasts the image positively, as staying green while other trees have already lost their leaves, rather than as being 'last to wither'.
- 也 yě
final particle of assertion
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