《论语》语词琐记

Four Notes on Words of The Analects

"思无邪"的"思"仍是语助词,孔子没有将它作"思想"解,因为《论语》时代"思"还没有产生出用作名词表示"思想"的义位。"所以"表示行事的方法和途径,"所由"表示如此行事的缘由,"所安"是所赖以生存,所赖以安身立命者之意。"民无得而称"的"得而"已经虚化,故此句意为民众对泰伯无所称述。"笃志"意为"笃于其志","笃"意为厚实坚固,先秦及汉初时多特指思想品德方面诚而厚重,心意不改变。

Si( 思 ) in siwuxie( 思无邪 ) is still a particle. Confucius could not use it to refer to thinking, because at the age of Analects of Confucius, there was not a noun with a sememe of thought. Suoyi( 所以 ) is used to mean ways and approaches to act; suoyou( 所由 ) is used to mean reasons to do sth.; while suoan( 所安 ) is about the place to live in, referring to a place for one to live on. The meaning of de er( 得而 ) in the sentence Min wu de er cheng( 民无得而称 ) is redundant. So this sentence means that the people did not know much about Tai-po. Duzhi( 笃 志 ) means firm ambition since du( 笃 )means firm and solid, which is often used to express the meaning of honesty, steadiness in moral aspects in the age from pre-Qin to the early of Han dynasty, especially means never changing one’s idea.