諸 (zhū) — Classical Chinese function word

諸

zhū

諸 has three jobs, and two of them are the same trick. Before a noun it means “the various”, as in 諸侯, the various lords, and that’s the meaning it still has today. The other two are contractions: 之於, “it to”, squeezed into one syllable between a verb and a noun, and 之乎, “it” plus a question mark, at the end of a question. Think “do not” and “don’t”.

43 occurrences across 33 passages · 4 senses

Where it came from

What 諸 first meant, how it became a function word, and where it stands today.

諸 is 言 on the left and 者 on the right, and the 者 is only there for the sound, so the character tells you nothing about what it does. Its own meaning is “the various”, and that’s the one that stayed alive. You say 諸位 to a room, “everyone here”, 諸多 for “a great many”, and the histories are full of 諸侯. The two contractions were a feature of classical grammar and went out with it. But they left fossils in formal writing. 付諸實施 is “put it into practice” and 訴諸武力 is “resort to force”, and in both of them the 之於 is still folded up inside the 諸, unnoticed by most of the people who write them. There’s also a single 其諸 in the book, in 1.10, meaning “perhaps”. That’s a set phrase on its own, so it only turns up in the count at the bottom of the page.

Across the books

Densest in Book 11 (5 occurrences).

How it works

Every job 諸 does, counted over its 43 occurrences in the Analects — commonest first. Tap a passage number to see the whole passage.

Colour-match every word

Contraction of 之於 22× · 51%
Contraction of 之乎 14× · 33%
The various (諸侯, 諸夏) 6× · 14%
The compound 其諸 (perhaps) 1× · 2%

1Contraction of 之於22× · 51%

Between a verb and a noun, 諸 is 之於 said fast. The 之 is the verb’s object, “it” or “him”, and the 於 is the preposition for the noun after it. So in 遇諸塗 the thing met is “him”, and 塗, the road, is where. When you unpack one of these, read it as two words.

Verb, 諸, then a place: 遇諸塗, met him on the road
Verb, 諸, then a person: 求諸己, seek it in yourself
Verb, 諸, then a thing: 書諸紳, wrote it on the sash

Gloss it to; him in; them onto

Look for verb + 諸 + a place or person.

Technical fuses the pronoun 之 (it, him, them) with the preposition 於, combining the object with a following at/to/from/on

5 examples

17.1

孔子時其亡也，而往拜之，遇諸塗。

On this, he sent a present of a pig to Confucius, who, having chosen a time when Huo was not at home, went to pay his respects for the gift. He met him, however, on the way. Huo said to Confucius (Legge, 1861)

遇諸塗 is 遇之於塗, met him on the road. Confucius had timed his visit to miss Yang Huo and ran into him anyway. Seven translators write “on the way” or “on the road”, and Watson writes “in the street”, but every one of them also writes the “him”, and that’s the 之 half of the syllable.

15.6

子張書諸紳。

Zizhang wrote these counsels on the end of his sash. (Legge, 1861)

書諸紳, wrote it on his sash. All eight translators write “on”. The 之 is the maxim the Master has just said, Legge’s “these counsels”, and the 於 puts it on the cloth. This is the one act of note-taking recorded in the whole book.

15.21

子曰：「君子求諸己，小人求諸人。」

The Master said, “The gentleman seeks it in himself; the petty person seeks it in others.” (Slingerland, 2003)

求諸己 is 求之於己, seek it in yourself.

Slingerland writes both halves, “it in”, both times
Legge and Lau keep the “in” and let the object go
Watson and Ni turn the verb into “make demands on”

The 之 has nothing to point back to, which is common. What you seek is whatever you seek.

5.24

或乞醯焉，乞諸其鄰而與之。

Someone asked for some vinegar from him, and he begged it from a neighbor and gave it to the person. (Ni, 2017)

乞諸其鄰 is 乞之於其鄰, begged it from his neighbour.

“it from”: Ni, Ames & Rosemont, Chin
Legge: “it of”
Lau: “it off”

Now look at the clause before it, 或乞醯焉. That 焉 is the same two words fused the other way round, 於之. So the passage shows you both contractions inside eight characters.

5.12

子貢曰：「我不欲人之加諸我也，吾亦欲無加諸人。」

Zigong said: "What I do not wish men to do to me, I also wish not to do to men." (Legge, 1861)

加諸我 and 加諸人: impose it on me, impose it on others.

“to”: Legge, Watson
“on”: Ni, Ames & Rosemont, Lau, Chin
Slingerland: “unto”

The contraction sits where the verb meets its target, and the 之 inside it is the thing imposed, which nobody names.

2Contraction of 之乎14× · 33%

At the end of a sentence, 諸 is 之乎 said fast. The 之 is the object and the 乎 turns the sentence into a question, so 有諸 is 有之乎, “is there such a thing?”. The closest modern thing is 嗎, except this one has the “it” built in. When you see a verb, then 諸, then nothing, you’ve got a question with an object you have to supply.

Standing alone as the whole question: 有諸, is that so?
After a verb with a clear object: 食諸, eat it?
Reported rather than asked outright: 聞斯行諸, whether to act on it

Gloss is there it⋯? ⋯it? (it + 嗎)

Look for sentence-final, right after the verb: 有諸, 藏諸.

Technical fuses the pronoun 之 (it, him, them) with the interrogative particle 乎, turning the clause into a question

4 examples

7.35

子曰：「有諸？」

The Master said, “Is such a thing done?” (Slingerland, 2003)

The commonest form, 有諸, “is there such a thing?”, three times in the book. 有 wants an object and gets it in the 之, and the 乎 asks. Nobody can give the syllable a single word, so the whole question stands for it.

Slingerland: “Is such a thing done?”
Lau: “Was such a thing ever done?”
Watson: “Is that done?”

Same two parts every time, just different English around them.

13.2

爾所不知，人其舍諸？

As to those whom you do not know, will others neglect them? (Legge, 1861)

舍諸, pass them over? The 之 is the worthy men Zhonggong doesn’t know yet, and the 乎 makes it a question. Legge, Slingerland, Ni, Watson and Chin all write “them” and a question mark, which is the contraction unpacked into exactly its two parts.

11.22

子路問：「聞斯行諸？」

Zilu asked, “Upon hearing what needs to be done, should I just do ” (Ni, 2017)

行諸 is 行之乎, act on it? The same four characters get asked by Zilu and by Ran Qiu, and get opposite answers. Ni’s “should I just do it?” writes both halves of the syllable: the “should” and the question mark are the 乎, and the “it” is the 之.

“it” and a direct question: Ni, Slingerland, Ames & Rosemont, Watson
The 之 spelled out as a clause, “what I have learned” or “what he heard”: Legge, Roberts, Lau
Chin: the question without the pronoun

Legge reports the question rather than asking it, so his 乎 comes out as “whether”, and that’s why he isn’t the example here.

12.11

信如君不君，臣不臣，父不父，子不子，雖有粟，吾得而食諸？

Truly, if the ruler be not a ruler, the subject not a subject, the father not a father, the son not a son, then even if there be grain, would I get to eat it? (Lau, 1979)

食諸 is 食之乎, eat it? Every translator writes the “it”, and every one of them ends with a question mark, and that question mark is the 乎 half of the syllable at work. Duke Jing of Qi is agreeing that with ruler, minister, father and son out of their places, he wouldn’t get to eat the grain he had.

3The various (諸侯, 諸夏)6× · 14%

This is the character’s own meaning, and the only one you’ll hear in speech today: “the various”, “all the”, before a noun that names a group. In the book it’s almost always 諸侯, the lords of the states, five times, and once 諸夏, the Chinese states as a set against the tribes around them.

Before a title: 諸侯, the various lords
Before a people: 諸夏, the various Xia, the Chinese states
In modern Mandarin: 諸位, 諸多, 諸如此類

Gloss the various, all the

Look for 諸 before a noun that names a class: 諸侯, 諸夏.

Technical marks the following noun as plural, the various, all the

3 examples

16.2

孔子曰：「天下有道，則禮樂征伐自天子出；天下無道，則禮樂征伐自諸侯出。」

Confucius said: "When good government prevails in the empire, ceremonies, music, and punitive military expeditions proceed from the son of Heaven. When bad government prevails in the empire, ceremonies, music, and punitive military expeditions proceed from the princes." (Legge, 1861)

The same 諸侯 twice in one sentence, as the power to make war and hold ritual passes from the Son of Heaven down to the lords and then to their officers.

Legge: “the princes”
Lau: “the feudal lords”
Chin: “the regional rulers”

Plural in every translation, and that’s the 諸 doing its oldest job.

14.16

子曰：「桓公九合諸侯，不以兵車，管仲之力也。」

The Master said: "The Duke Huan assembled all the princes together, and that not with weapons of war and chariots:— it was all through the influence of Guan Zhong." (Legge, 1861)

諸侯, the lords of the states, and the word Duke Huan’s hegemony was built on.

Legge: “the princes”
“the feudal lords”: five others
Roberts and Chin: “the regional lords”

The 諸 is the “the various” before the noun, or Legge’s “all”.

3.5

子曰：「夷狄之有君，不如諸夏之亡也。」

The Master said: "The rude tribes of the east and north have their princes, and are not like the States of our great land which are without them." (Legge, 1861)

諸夏, the various Xia, which is the Chinese states as a group, set against the 夷狄 who have rulers and are still the lesser for it.

Legge needs six words for the two characters
Lau: “Chinese states”
Ames & Rosemont: “the various Chinese states”, keeping the 諸 as “various”

Also counted in the book — rarer, and not always a function word:

4The compound 其諸 (perhaps)1× · 2%

Look for 其諸

Technical component of the fixed modal compound 其諸, meaning perhaps or presumably

1 example

1.10

夫子之求之也，其諸異乎人之求之與？

The way the Master seeks it is, perhaps, different from the way other men seek it. (Lau, 1979)

with 其, forms a modal expression: perhaps, presumably