The simplest locative in the book: verb, 於, place name. 子畏於匡. Eight translators, eight “in”s. The same four characters open 11.23, where Yan Hui falls behind.

Eight ranks of dancers, the king’s number, in the Ji family’s own courtyard: 舞於庭. Seven translators write “in”, and Ni writes “performing for their courtyard”.

The place is the whole scandal. The dance is legal; the courtyard is not. And 於 is what puts it there.

The locative stretched to time: 於是日 is “on that day”, and all eight translators write “on”. When I did this passage on the podcast, that’s where my “On” came from too. Since the topic is a day, 於 comes out as “on” instead of “at”. Notice the 於 phrase comes before its verb here rather than after it, as time expressions generally do.

於 before the verb, setting the scene: 孔子於鄉黨, in his home village, Confucius seemed almost unable to speak. Seven translators write “in”, and Watson writes “among the people of the community”.

The next clause sets the contrast, at court, and the same 於 is understood there without being repeated.

宿於石門. Whether a gate is a place you’re “at” or “in” is English’s problem, not the particle’s. Seven of the eight write “at”, and Legge writes “in Shimen”.

於 covers both, which is why the two prepositions trade places from translator to translator all through this usage.

獲罪於天 is “incur guilt toward Heaven”:

• “offends against Heaven”: Legge, Ni, Ames & Rosemont, Lau
• “incur blame with Heaven”: Watson
• Slingerland paraphrases, “incurred the wrath of Heaven”, and the 於 has become “of”

The saying about the stove and the corner, which Confucius is rejecting, uses the same particle twice: 媚於奧, 媚於竈.

讓於師 is “yield to one’s teacher”, and six of the eight give the 於 a “to”, Watson’s “do not defer even to your teacher” among them. Slingerland writes “defer to no one, not even your teacher”, putting the “to” on “no one” and the teacher in the following phrase. When I covered this one in episode 10, I said I’d stop being such a nerd about it: 不讓於師 just means “do not yield to your teacher”.

旅 is the sacrifice a ruler offers to the mountains of his own state, and the 於 in 旅於泰山 names the mountain it’s offered to. Seven translators write “to Mount Tai”, and Ames & Rosemont write “on Mount Tai”.

The corpus files this under direction rather than place because the rite is addressed to the mountain, not just performed there.

The golden rule in its negative form, and the 於 in 勿施於人 marks the people it protects:

• “on”: Lau, Ni, Ames & Rosemont, Chin
• “upon”: Slingerland
• “to”: Legge, Watson
• “toward”: Roberts

The same eight characters stand at 12.2.

於我, “to me”: the preposition marks the person for whom the judgment holds.

• “to me”: six translators
• Lau: “have as much to do with me as passing clouds”
• Slingerland: “concern me no more than the floating clouds”

The floating cloud has stayed in the language as an idiom for what doesn’t matter.

Adjective, 於, standard of comparison: 富於周公. Seven of the eight write “richer than”, and Chin recasts it as a verb: “exceeded that of the Duke of Zhou”.

Modern Chinese would say 比周公富, with the standard first. Classical Chinese puts it after, which is why the 於 reads as “than” only once the adjective has been read.

賢於仲尼. Zigong answers the compliment with the parable of the wall too high to see over. Six translators write “worthier than”, and Legge and Lau write “superior to”, where the “to” is the same 於 wearing a different English adjective.

After 異, “different”, the standard of comparison takes “from” in English, and six of the eight write it: 異於是, “different from all of them”. It’s the same construction as 富於周公, adjective, then 於, then what is measured against, with a different English preposition forced by the adjective.

Two 於 in one line, and only the second is comparative. 甚於水火, “more than water and fire”, draws eight “than”s. The first, 民之於仁, is the directional use, the people’s relation to 仁, and Legge’s “to man” answers it. One sentence, two of the particle’s jobs, told apart by what comes before them.

Shun 選於眾, chose from the crowd:

• “from among”: Watson, Ames & Rosemont, Chin
• “from”: Ni, Lau
• “among”: Legge, Slingerland

The line is said twice in the passage, once for Shun and once for Tang, and the 於 does the same work both times.

取於吳 is “took (a wife) from Wu”. Watson, Slingerland, Ames & Rosemont, and Chin write “from the state of Wu”. Legge, Ni, Roberts, and Lau write “a daughter of the house of Wu”, where the 於 has slid into the noun phrase. Either way the source is what the particle marks, and the source is the scandal: Wu shared the duke’s surname.

出於柙, “come out from the cage”: the 於 names where the movement starts. Six translators write “from”, and Watson writes “out of its cage”.

The same sentence then uses 於 for a place, 毀於櫝中, “ruined in its case”, and the verb alone tells the two apart.

聽於冢宰, “take orders from the chief minister”:

• “from”: Legge, Watson
• “under the direction of”, “under the command of”: Slingerland, Ni, Ames & Rosemont; Lau “under”
• Chin: “look to the prime minister for guidance”

The 於 marks where the orders originate, which is why the ruler in mourning could stay silent for three years.