Page:Elementary Chinese - San Tzu Ching (1900).djvu/137

. It means the second in order of birth, but is here joined with ni as the style or literary name of Confucius.

Ni is composed of 尸 shih corpse as radical, and 匕 an obsolete word meaning spoon, as phonetic. It was the name of a hill at which the mother of Confucius prayed before her son was born.

Shih see.

Hsiang is composed of 頁 yeh head as radical, and 工 kung labour as phonetic. It means the back of the head, sort, kind, a sum of money, but is here the surname of a precocious lad who is said to have been qualified at the age of seven to be the instructor of Confucius.

T'o means a sack, but is here the personal name of Hsiang as above. It is commonly written 槖. [Eitel has "took for his model a young scholar called Hiang T'o," and even Père Zottoli has "imitabatur Hiang t'ouo," though in his note he has "septenuis jam docebat Confucium."]

Ku see.

Shêng see.

Hsien is composed of 貝 pei pearl-oyster as radical, and an obsolete word as phonetic. It means much talent, and is applied to sages on a lower level than the shêng, that is, to men who are wise but not actually inspired. Thus the 經 ching (see title) canonical books are regarded as the work of shêng holy men, whereas the 傳 chuan were the work of hsien wise men.