《论语》新诂

A New Textual Approach to Lun Yu

“哀公问社”之“社”，指社主，但不是俗解所谓置于宗庙中的木牌——宗庙主，而是指杜树、树主。“君子怀刑”之“刑”，不是“型”的假借，其字本作“井”，后作“”，油为“”、“刑”，本义即刑法义；引申为刑罚；《论语》此句之“刑”例当为法度义，指远古的法度，即原始社会的习惯法。

The word '社' in the sentence '哀公问社', indicates the master of '社', not the memorial tablet of wood in the ancestral temple. In fact, it means 社's tree and and the master of tress. The word '刑', in the sentence '君子怀刑', doesn't stand for '型'. It was witten as'井'， later as '', but some people wrongly have it written as '' or '刑'. Its original meaning is crimiral law and the extended meansing is penalty. In Lun Yu, '刑' in this sentence means moral standand, refering to the law of remote antiquity. In other words, it is the common law of primitive societies.