1. Mullie, Jos. L.M., Grondbeginselen van de Chinese Letterkundige Taal, 3 vols. (Leuven: Druk H. Dewallens, 1946, 1947, 1949)Google Scholar.

2. Vissering, W., On Chinese Currency (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1877), xii, passim.Google Scholar; von der Gabelentz, Georg, Chinesische Grammatik (Leipzig: T.O. Weigel, 1881), 318ff.Google Scholar; Schlegel, Gustav, “Problèmes géographiques, II,” T'oung pao 1893, 9, n. 1Google Scholar.

3. von Zach, Erwin, Sinologische Beitrage, I (Batavia: Druckerei Tong Ah, 1930), 5, no. 339Google Scholar.

4. Simon, Walter, “Die Bedeutung der Finalpartikel 矣,” Mitteilungen des Seminars für Orientalischen Sprachen 1934Google Scholar.

5. Brandt, J.J., Wen Li Particles (1890; rpt. Sien-hsien: Impr. de Ia Mission catholique, 1930), 97 noteGoogle Scholar.

6. Couvreur, Séraphin, Dictionnaire classique de la langue chinoise (1911; rpt. Taipei: Book World Co., 1963), 200bGoogle Scholar.

7. Mullie, , Grondbeginselen, 276–77Google Scholar.

8. Mullie, , Grondbeginselen, 276Google Scholar.

9. Kennedy, G.A., “Wordclasses in Classical Chinese,” in Selected Works of G.A. Kennedy (New Haven: Yale U. Press, 1964), 379–81Google Scholar. Kennedy considers yi 已 and yi 矣 to be very closely related variants, if not identical words, save for the small but important distinction that yi Β is a phrase initial variant and yi 矣is a phrase final variant. The often recurring combination yi yi 已矣 in the phrase erh yi yi 而已矣 (sixty percent of the occurrences in Meng-tzu), “constitutes a reduplication for emphasis of the type very familiar in modern dialects, for example, in the interjection aya! or iya! Starting as a reduplication, the syllable 矣 has become specialized as an ending … to show completion of action.” Nowhere does Kennedy attempt to prove that yi 已 and yi 矣 are merely variants of the same word depending on whether it is final or initial. Such cases do indeed exist, as for instance yen 焉, at the beginning or end of a sentence, chu 諸 before a noun and che 者 after a nominal or nominalized term, etc. But the yi/yi 已/矣 case is different, for 已 is also quite regularly found at the end of a phrase (verb phrase + 已, or the reverse: 已 + verb); moreover, the frequent structure erh yi yi cannot be a case of reduplication but, once the true function and meaning or erh 而 is understood, it should in strict analysis be understood as erh + verb yi 已 + final yi 矣. Indeed, erh yi 而已 can be contracted to erh 耳 followed by yi 矣. Kennedy further states that “Apart from these, the appearance of 矣 always marks the verbal nature of the preceding construction.” This is, strictly speaking, not correct, for if the final yi were missing the preceding sentence would still preserve its nature of verbal predication. The most one can say is that in some cases final yi may be regularly attached to such a predication. The problem is to determine what yi does to this predication when it is added. It might also be noted that Kennedy's comparison to Greek and Latin is not quite convincing, since such verbs are not the regular majority but only a limited number (Odi profanum vulgus et arced), while in classical Chinese the addition of yi is not limited to any kind of clauses. Kennedy states “there are only three passages in Mencius where the expression to which yi is added contains simply nouns.” This would be exceptional but unfortunately he does not indicate which three cases those are; I would presume 是二天子矣 (5A/4),多術矣 (6B/16) and大哉矣 (1B/3).

10. Shadick, Harold, A First Course in Literary Chinese, vol. 3 (Ithaca: Cornell U. Press, 1968), 849Google Scholar. The examples given by Shadick are 1) for past tense, 牛山之木害美矣, “The trees on Ox Mountain had at one time become a beautiful forest” (Mencius 6A/8); 2) for present tense, 臣之爵祿已復 (not 負) 矣, “My rank and salary have already been restored” (Chuang-tzu 28), and 甚矣人之好怪, “How great has become man's fondness for the bizarre” (Han Yü); and 3) for future tense, 吾生矣, “I am going to be alive” (Mencius 4B/24). These translations show how a preestablished grammatical rule can force an English rendering by no means faithful to the original. In the first example, the text obviously means simply “The trees of the Ox Mountain once were beautiful + yi,” and the full context of the story does not imply or need at all a specific statement that “they had become a beautiful forest.” In the Han Yü quote, yi does not per se indicate that a certain condition “has become extreme,” and 吾生矣 in the context of the story is opposed to 吾死矣夫, the meaning obviously being that the speaker is predicting that given certain circumstances “I will live/yi” or “I shall die/yi.” According to the majority if not unanimous opinion of Chinese scholars, yi here adds a tone of “certitude” in the speaker's statement or prediction.

It should also be noted that the term “adverb of aspect” seems misleading. There are no adverbs that would make up a specific class with “aspectual function” as against others that have no such role. For a discussion of this point, see Serruys, Paul L-M, “Remarks on the Nature, Functions and Meanings of the Grammatical Particle in Literary Chinese,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 96.4 (1976), 546CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11. As a final particle of imperative or prohibitive sentences, Mullie compares this yi to the French “Mais faites-le donc!,” but he does admit that the connotation of impatience and spitefulness of the French expression is not present in the Chinese sentences with yi. Nevertheless, the comparison leads him to translate yi in almost every case with a word that is somehow equivalent to the French final done.

12. Unger, Ulrich, “Zur Deutung der Formel x 貝 y 矣,” in Sino-Japonica: Festschrift André Wedemeyer zum 80 Geburtstag (Bern: Peter Lang, 1936), 203–212Google Scholar.

13. Fa-kao, Chou 周法高, Chung-kuo ku-tai yü-fa 中國古代語法 (Syntox 造句編) (Taiwan: Academia Sinica, 1961), 246Google Scholar.

14. Not mentioned in this survey, for instance, is the work of Dobson, W.A.C.H.. In his Late Archaic Chinese: A Grammatical Study (Toronto: U. of Toronto Press, 1959)Google Scholar, Dobson expounds a theory, first, that yi creates a “continuative form” and, second, that “in a series of verbal sentences in narrative sequence, penultimate stress with yi marks narrative incomplete.” For a discussion of these points, see my review of this book in Monumenta Serica 22.1 (1963), 281ffGoogle Scholar. Strangely, when dealing with the Shih ching language (in his The Language of the Book of Songs [Toronto: U. of Toronto Press, 1966], 129, sec. 3.9.1.Google Scholar), Dobson ignores everything said about yi in his Late Archaic Chinese. Instead, following the hint of Karlgren's recurrent translation “Oh, the grief of the heart!, ” he simply calls it a metrical particle: “… a class of words occurs, the purpose of which is to enhance the lyrical character of the line by providing, for example, what in English song writing is provided by O! These metrical particles are 矣 、 兮 、 斯 、 思. Such words do not occur in this usage outside of rhymed verse.” No proof is given for this sweeping and utterly simplistic solution, a solution which results merely in multiplying “O!” ad nauseam. Finally, in his work A Dictionary of the Chinese Particles (Toronto: U. of Toronto Press, 1974, 841)Google Scholar, a work that includes a prolegomenon in which the problems of the particles are considered and classified by their grammatical functions, the same grammatical description is repeated, but to which he adds a notion of blunted usage in which yi is seen as used as a substitute for yeh. On this notion of “blunting,” see my review of this work; Serruys, , “Remarks on the Particle in Literary Chinese,” 549Google Scholar.

15. Tien, Cheng and Mei-ch'iao, Mai, Ku-Han-yü yü-fa hsüeh tzu-liao hui-pien 古漢語語法學資料彙編 (Peking: Chung-hua shu-chü, 1964)Google Scholar. Tokuji, Ushijima 牛島德次， Kango bumpōron 漢語文法論 (Tokyo: Daishūkan shoten, 1966)Google Scholar.

16. I have consulted the following works of Chinese scholars: Ch'i, Liu 劉洪, Chu-tzu pien-lüeh 助字辨略 (1711)Google Scholar; Yin-chih, Wang 王引之, Chingchuan shih-tz'u 經傳釋詞 (1798)Google Scholar; Chien-chung, Ma 馬É忠 Ma shih wen-t'ung 氏文通 (1898; ed. Hsi-t'an, Chang 章錫琛 [Peking: 1954])Google Scholar; Ch'ang-ying, Wu 吳長瑩, Ching-tz'u yenshih 經詞衍釋 (1873)Google Scholar; Shu-ta, Yang 楊樹達, Tz'u ch'üan 詞詮 (1927)Google Scholar and his Chung-kuo wen-fa 中國文法 (1930)Google Scholar, both of which have practically the same examples and illustrative texts concerning the grammatical particles; Hsüeh-hai, P'ei 裴學翁, Ku-shu hsü-tzu chi-shih 古書虛字集釋 (1931)Google Scholar; Po-chün, Yang 楊伯俊, Wen-yen yü-fa 文言語法 (1956)Google Scholar; Shu-hsiang, Lü 呂叔湘, Wen-yen hsü-tzu 文言虛字 (1954)Google Scholar; Ching-nung, Liu 劉景農, Han-yü wen-yen yü-fa 漢語文言語法 (1958)Google Scholar, and Ku-tai Han-yü tu-pen 古代漢語讀本, ed. Nan-k'ai ta-hsüeh (Peking: Jen-min chiao-yü ch'u-pan-she, 1960)Google Scholar. Among Japanese works, I have consulted Tatsuo, Ota 大田辰夫, Koten Chugokugo bumpō 古典中È語文法 (Tokyo: 1964)Google Scholar, though this work is really limited to a study of the grammar of Lun yü 論語,Meng-tzu 孟子 and the “T'an kung” 植弓 chapter of Li-chi ; Toru, Ono 大野 Kambunpo no sakugenteki kenkyu 漢文法の溯源的硏究 (Tokyo: 1968)Google Scholar; and Ushijima Tokuji's Kango bumpōron. In spite of the general title of Ushijima's grammar, all of the material is limited to Shih chi 史記 and Han shu 漢書. The author seems not to be aware of or does not want to take into consideration the fact that the Shih chi style and language differs considerably depending on the sources or documents from which the historian compiled his information. In some parts, in spite of his efforts to simplify the style and replace words and particles in the original document that were too difficult or had become obsolescent or obscure for the Han time reader, Ssu-ma Ch'ien remained strongly influenced in his language by the documents that he used. It is only where contemporary events are treated that we can safely expect him to have kept his own style; even then, of course, we can expect serious differences depending on the nature of the topics, such as astronomy, etc. compared to biographies of famous personalities. For a discussion of this point, see Karlgren, Bernhard, “On Ssu-ma Ts'ien's Language,” Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 42 (1970), 297 and 306Google Scholar.

17. The fact that yeh and yi are not the same appears from a rapid survey of their usages in, for instance, the Chuang-tzu. Final predications such as to yi 多矣 are not contrasted by to yeh, but simply by to in the sense of “are many” as against “are many, for sure,” “should be many indeed.” To yeh is not “are man,” but rather a predicate with final yeh added for different functions, such as indicating subordinate clauses of various nature. With numerals we find clear cases, such as 吾與夫子遊十九年矣, “I have roamed around with you, my master, for nineteen years for sure” (lit. it should be nineteen years; Chuang-tzu 5.23), 黃帝立爲天子十九牟, “The Yellow Emperor was set up as Son of Heaven for nineteen years” (11.29), 今臣之刀十九年矣, “Now, my knife is nineteen years (in use), for sure” (lit. it should be nineteen years; 3.8), and 是以十九年而刀刃若新發於硎, “Because of that, though being nineteen years (in use), the cutting edge of (my) knife is like it were recently issued from a whetstone” (3.9).

18. For both of these quotations, see Shuo-wen chieh-tzu ku-lin 說文解字話林, ed. Fu-pao, Ting 丁福寶 (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1930), 2263Google Scholar.

19. This analysis of yi as having shih, “arrow,” as its signifying element suggests that the “arrow” was already connected with oaths and solemn declarations early in Chinese culture.

20. In this study the translations quoted are from: Karigren, B., The Book of Odes (Stockholm: Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 1950)Google Scholar, which is the result of the more extensive Glosses on the Shih Ching (rpt. Stockholm: Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, 1964)Google Scholar; Waley, A., The Book of Songs (London: Allen & Unwin, 1937)Google Scholar, in which fifteen odes are omitted, but they are discussed in general (not translated) in “The Eclipse Poem and Its Group,” T'ien Hsia Monthly 3 (10 1936), 245–248Google Scholar; Legge, J., The Chinese Classics, vol. IV, The She King (rpt. Hong Kong: Hong Kong U. Press, 1960)Google Scholar; Couvreur, , Cheu King. Texte chinois avec double traduction en français et en latin, Deuxième édition (Sien Hsien: Impr. de la mission catholique, 1926)Google Scholar; Ichirō, Kobayashi, in Keisho taikō vols. 6–8 (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1938–1940)Google Scholar, and Shinji, Takada 高田眞治, Shikyo 詩經 (Tokyo: 1966)Google Scholar.

It is interesting to compare these translations and their different approaches. Waley strives in his translations to catch the general poetic tenor of the Odes rather than a strict rendering which reflects the actual sentence patterns and grammatical structures or roles of words in this kind of text. His rendering presupposes that the kind of problems dealt with in this study has been sufficiently solved or is irrelevant. His short (eleven pages) Textual Notes (Supplement London 1937)Google ScholarPubMed offers some glimpses into the preliminary study he made. Unfortunately, the notes are sparse and often merely suggest probable or possible solutions, based on phonological considerations (loan graphs) or graphical aspects (confusion of graphs, variant writings, etc.). Karlgren in his introduction to the Glosses explains the respective value of the earliest commentaries, sub-commentaries and later works including Chu Hsi and others down to the Ch'ing era. He considers the main tasks to be, first, “to determine the meaning of difficult words and phrases,” and then “to read off the ode as a whole and construe its general sense,” “The glosses concern the fundamental interpretation of difficult words and phrases.” It is clear that the problems of grammar, if touched upon at all, are not pursued in any detail. The exact meaning of most of the grammatical particles and the contrast observable between various grammatical words is not considered. The translations of Legge and Couvreur are regularly found to reflect in different degree the same kind of historical understanding of the poems and analysis of separate lines according to the traditionally accepted Chu Hsi interpretation, sometimes bent or blended with other solutions. The same can be said of the Japanese works, which, in general (except on occasion by Takada), follow the traditional Chinese schools. In general, all translations and comments of any length concentrate on “vocabulary and word” items or “general topic and context” problems in the poems or their separate stanzas and lines. Grammar, though not expressed as such, nevertheless was present unconsciously: it was left to the translator to determine the gram-matmical structure of each line and its relationship with other lines. This they did by supplying grammatical words in the translation (when, if, though, then, so, and, still, etc.). More often than not, these words, though necessary to connect the lines in a meaningful way, are absent in the original, while other grammatical particles that are present in the original, not being clearly understood, were ignored or subsumed in the general context of the sentences. Since there has existed no extensive grammatical investigation of the Shih ching, contextual considerations, general impressions and interpretations of poetic intent have played a great role. When these interpretations followed the Chinese authorities, they retained a definitive value. Though the translations of Legge and Couvreur, for instance, could be judged “antiquated already at the time of publication,” and are sometimes naive and over-credulous in following the moralistic explanations, they still preserve some kernel of accuracy in as much as they present ways in which each line fits contextually with the others, and each stanza fits in relation with the whole. These views based on early Chinese commentaries were more than context reading; they also show certain grammatical constructions that these commentaries saw in the text, since any interpretation, no matter how far-fetched, still had to agree with the strictly limited possibilities of grammar and syntax.

21. The two last lines in each stanza read 朝我乎桑中要我乎上宮 。 送我乎淇之上矣, “Set me a rendezvous in the Mulberry grounds, seek me at the Upper Palace, escort me to the upper stream of the Ch'i.” The three successive clauses are all put into the imperative mood by one final yi, each of them implying a kind of crescendo in meaning: rendezvous > official guest at the Palace > marriage.

22. Reconstructed according to Karlgren's and Li Fang-kuei's systems of Archaic Chinese, chao 朝 would read like or *trjagw, and ch'o 掉 like * or *drjagw/thrjakəw. In bronze script the graph for chao is or , while that for ch'o 掉 is . Since the place of the radical or signifying part was not invariably determined, confusion between the two could have been quite easy.

23. The term fu 婦, “woman,” for what seems to be meant as “wife,” ch'i 妻, is not due to requirements of rhyme, since this line does not rhyme with any other word in the stanza. The context of the ode seems to indicate that this was an elopement without the benefit of go-between or of official ritualized contractual ceremonies. According to Shuo wen, fu means fu , “to submit, be submissive,” a definition repeated in Po hu t'ung 白虎通, where it is further elaborated as 服于家事, 事人者也, “It is the one who, taking charge of the household affairs, serves the other,” The choice of the word fu in this ode may well reflect this, so that fu, “woman,” is to be understood, as in the Yi ching, not as “wife” but rather as p'ei 配, “mate.” The line “I ought not to have …” is then to be understood as “I was not supposed to have …”

24. On the identification of ch'iu 求 with ch'iu 逑 or 仇, in the sense “to meet, match,” see Yi-to, Wen 聞一多, Ku-tien hsin-yi 古典新義 (Peking: Ku-chi ch'u-pan-she, 1956), 69Google Scholar.

25. On the meaning of tai 追, see Serruys, Paul L-M, ”The Function and Meaning of Yün in Shih Ching: Its Cognates and Variants,” Monumenta Serica 29 (1970–1971), 290CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

26. Yü 于 has a well established usage as a verb in Chou bronze inscriptions, one also found in the Shih ching, as, for instance, 遠于將之, “Far I go and accompany her” (28.2); 黃鳥于飛, “The yellow birds go flying” (2.1); 君子于役, “The lord has gone on an expedition” (66.1); and 叔于田, “Shu goes hunting” (77.1). The verb yü quickly came by extension to serve as an auxiliary verb, as in 王于出征, “The king was going to send out a war expedition” (177.1). Some of the cases where yü is followed by yi are understood by Karlgren also as “to go”; e.g., 于以采3§, “She goes to gather the fan plants” (13.1). However, Yang Shu-ta understands yi as an archaic pronoun “what,” reading this line, for instance, as “At what > where does she gather the fan plants.” For reasons why this latter opinion seems preferable, see Serruys, , “Remarks on the Nature, Functions and Meanings of the Grammatical Particle in Literary Chinese,” JAOS 96.4 (1976), 556, n. 28Google Scholar.

27. Since p'u 僕 is used by itself in Shih ching in the sense of “groom,” it seems preferable to take the following fu 夫 as separate “grooms and other men.” On the other hand, mu 牧, “pasture grounds,” and chiao 郊, “suburbs,” though indeed not the same, are still considered within the same field of meaning. The chariots are driven into the pasture grounds and the suburbs. Commentaries have suggested that the armies stretched from the suburbs to the outer pasture grounds. This interpretation is not necessary, the image more probably referring to maneuvers held in the open fields outside the city (mu) and to the army parades that were held in the city's suburbs. Such parades are described in several passages of the Tso chuan.

28. The reduplicative yu yu 幽幽 is found only in 189.1, but this is equivalent to the structure yu 有 + adjective characteristic of the Shih ching language as, for instance, in 其葉有幽, “their leaves are dark” (228.3). See Fa-kao, Chou, Chung-kuo ku-tai yü-fa, 215–218Google Scholar.

29. This poem is unique for having the word kan 干, “river,” as a dialect variant of chien 潤. Elsewhere (112.1), kan is once used as “river bank.”

30. The words pao 苟 and mao 茂, translated differently by the authors quoted, are taken by Couvreur and Legge (on the authority of Chinese commentaries) as applying to the palace building, pao for the walls (Couvreur) or the foundations (Legge), and mao for the frame (Couvreur) or roof (Legge). Yet, in all texts and parallel passages in the Shih ching, pao is used for “roots, clumps; bushy thicket or underbrush,” while mao is applied to “flourishing branches and flowers. Though the image refers to the building and thence to the family that dwells in it, it is drawn from the mountain trees that surround it.

31. On ch'ou 醻 with the sense of the binom lü-ch'ou 旅醻, aptly translated by Couvreur as “boire à la ronde,” there are many examples and commentaries, such as Cheng Hsüan's commentary to the Shu ching: 謂衆賓以爵交錯相醻, “It means that the whole group of guests mutually pass on the cup to pledge it each other,” or the commentary to the Chung Yung , “Lü means ‘as a whole group.’ Ch'ou means ‘to lead on the drinking’ … each gives the cup to his superior (in rank) and all pledge to each other.” Yet, both lü and ch'ou are also used with different meanings: chü ch'ou 舉餓, “lift up the cup (for pledging),” and hsing lü 行旅, “perform the all-around pledging ceremony.”

32. There is a number of cases where hui 惠, “to be kind, considerate,” functions as a copulative verb, but it may be difficult to decide where either of these meanings is to be applied. It is possible that both meanings could be related in some way.

33. Han 燥 is explained by Kobayashi as hanahada tsukitare 筋力. This sense, which is based on Chu Hsi, was misunderstood by Legge as “to be exhausted.”

34. There are two cases where wen 問 and wen 聞 are said to be interchangeable. In the present ode, Cheng Hsüan takes wen 問 as wen 聞, and in 宣昭義問 of 235.7, Karlgren translates “Display and make bright your good fame. The phonetic reconstructions of both words are *miw鉙n (Karlgren, but 聞 has both p'ing and ch'ü tones) or *miwən, -mjənh (Li Fang-kuei). The assumption that the two words would be so carelessly used for each other is not based on any solid argument. In 235.7, Cheng Hsüan takes wen in its proper sense of “to ask”: “All around shine forth (your light; i.e., display your virtue), with proper care ask (advice).”

35. This ode has been the object of an extensive study by Ts'e-tsung, Chow, “The dating of ‘Chüan o’ — A significant poem in the Book of Poetry,” The Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies, 7.2 (1969), 176–205Google Scholar.

36. The fu lu 弗祿 is explained by Cheng Hsüan as fu lu 福綠, but Mao glosses fu as hsiao , “little.” This contradiction has led translators to follow Cheng Hsüan's simpler solution without asking why in the whole Shih ching only here would fu lu 福祿 be written 弗祿. In Shuo wen, fu is defined as 道多草不可行也, “The road hasmuch grass so that it can not be walked in.” In ode 57.3 it is used in the sense of “covering layer, screening mat”; in 105.1 it is combined with fan 簞 in the sense “bamboo mat” and is glossed as 蔽 “covered, cover.” Reduplicated, fu-fu appears in ode 241.8 (臨衝薛溥, “The approachers and knockers were huge” [Karlgren], “Thesiege assault engines were shaking” [Waley (243)]), where it describes war engines forattacking gates and defense walls and is defined as “large.” When compared with thebasic meaning of fu 弗, “abundant, thickly layered,” the reduplicative fu-fu probably means “high-tiered.” Compare Yi ching 婦喪其雜, where fu is said to be used fu 髴: “The woman has lost her high piled (head dress).”

37. Serruys, , “The Function and Meaning of Yün in Shih Ching,” 280–1Google Scholar.

38. In a note to his translation, Karlgren says: “I take 華如 = 華而 = 華然, see Ode 37.4 and 94.2. ” The use of ju 如 as a suffix to adverbs or adjectives (which Demiéville calls “impressifs”) can also be seen, besides the 褎如充耳, “Smilingly they stop their ears” (37.4) and 有美一人 。 婉如淸揚 “The one, single beautiful person (Ht. having beauty, the one person); how beautiful is the clear forehead!” (94.2) mentioned by Karlgren, in the following poems:

乃如之人兮, “But a man like that!” (29.1,2,3)

展如之人兮, “So faithful a person!” (473)

, “Those noble ladies, how thick and long is the hair,” (225.2)

穆如淸風, “Stately is the pure sounding air!” (260.8)

In addition to the use of ju we also find jo 若, but in more limited context and frequency:

, “Its leaves, how glossy they are!” (58.3)

抑若揚兮, “How fine is the forehead!” (106.1)

六轡沃若, “The six reins (lit. are glossy-like) look so glossy!” (163.4, 214.3)

However, Karlgren's suggestion of a free substitution between ju and erh is less certain. Thus, he translates 塞帶而厲 (225.4) as, “They train their sashes as if having sash trains,” and refers to 胡然而天也, “How is she so like Heaven” (47.2) and is she so like God” (47.3). Yet, here erh is an emphatic resumptive: lit, “why is it, that like that she is Heaven (God).” In 突而弁兮 (102.3), which Karlgren translates, “All of a sudden, he will be wearing the cap of manhood,” erh is not a suffix of the adverb t'u, but rather is an emphatic: “Suddenly, thus, he is capped.” Conversely, Karlgren seems to have taken ju as erh in 舍矢如破 (179.6), which he translates as, “When the archers let off the arrows, they pierce (:split) [the game],” Aside from the controversy concerning the meaning of p'o 破, this line can be translated without resorting to an equation of ju with erh: “Sending off the arrows, they are like (i.e., almost, nearly [ju, “to come near to”]) splitting (the target?).” In (192.7), which Karlgren translates, “Heaven shakes me, but it does not crush me,” and 彼求我則如不我得, which he translates, “They try to emulate me, but they do not attain to me,” that ju would be used for erh and mean “but” is improbable. Taking ju as “to be like, nearly,” it is possible to translate: “Though heaven shakes me, it nearly will not overcome me,” and “Those ones, though they seek me to conform (to their rules), they nearly will not attain me.” In (201.2), which Karlgren translates, “When there is to be peace and joy, you cast me off and (ju = erh) throw me away,” ju yi 如遺 could be simply “like abandoned (things: like trash, refuse).” In Karlgren's later study, “Loan Characters in Pre-Han Texts,” Karlgren argues against the identification of erh with either ju or jo 若; Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 35 (1963), #238Google Scholar. Though the identification of erh with ju should be rejected (as well as the reverse; i.e., of ju with erh), the function of ju can well be compared with jan 然, as for instance in the following cases: 宛然, “courteously” (107.2), 添然, “in great numbers” (171.1,2,4), 賁然, “ornately” (186.3), and 居然, “tranquilly” (245.2). It should be observed that none of these occurrences overlaps with any of the occurrences of ju or jo in this function. Further comparison can be made with the particle yen 言 in the expressions 薄言 (8.1,13.3,168.6, 26.2,178.1,2, 226.1,4, 273, 284, 297.1,2,3,4), 永言 (283, 235.6, 243.3,4) and (26.4,5, 58.5), and the particle yen 焉 in the phrase 潸焉, “flowing?” (203.1, co-occurring however with 啳言, “longingly”) and , “hungrily” (197.2).

39. See Sheng-shu, Ting 丁聲樹, “Lun Shih-ching chung ti ho, ho, hu” 論詩經中的何 、 曷 、 胡, Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology 10 (1948), 349–70Google Scholar.

40. I am uncertain as to whether P'ing wang 平王 and Ch'i hou 齊侯 should be taken as ‘King P'ing’ and ‘Marquis of Ch'i.

41. Serruys, , “The Function and Meaning of Yün” 282Google Scholar.

42. In this interpretation of wei 謂, I follow Wen Yi-to's suggestion; Ku-tien hsin-yi, 91. This meaning applies also to 追其謂之 (20.3), “The knight who seeks me, may I soon go to many him” (lit. “… may it come to it that I…”). On the basis of the Shuo wen gloss 謂報也 and noting that pao 報 sometimes has the meaning of fu 赴, “to rush to,” Wen argues that wei 謂 is to be identified with kuei 歸. Further, wei is found in the Han shu (“Wang Sun lieh-chuan” ), explained as chih-ch'ü 指趣, “to be tending toward,” In terms of pronunciation, the Shih ming lists kuei 貴 as a Ju Ying 汝顆 dialect word for kuei 歸. K'uei 喟 is often written 噴, and k'uei 潰 for 棄 or 蜻. Probably wei 謂 simply stands for wei 渭.

Also in this line, the phrase hsia pu 遐不, “why not,” also found in 還不眉専, “Why should he not have a vigorous old age?” (172.4) and 適不黄寄 “… a high old age?” (238.4), and 疆不作人 (239.3) which Karlgren translates “Is he not a man, indeed?,” is clearly to be distinguished from the pu hsia 不適 in the following lines:

不還有佐 (243.6), “it is not far from …” (Karlgren: There surely will be helpers);

不遐有衍(256.7), “There is risk that you will be at fault”;

廢徹不遐 (209.5), “They clear away (dishes) without delay” (lit. it is not deferred);

彌月不遐 (300.1), “Fulfilling her months, she was not late”,

湯降不遍 (304.3), which Karlgren translates, “T'ang came down (not late =) in good time.”

43. This line can be understood as “It is the shame of the amphora,” but from context this genitive still would mean “a humiliation to”; i.e., “it redounds into shame for the amphora.” I would suggest here that chih 之 is to be considered a preverbal pronoun with ch'ih 恥 as verb. See other cases, for instance in the next line (#28) and passim. See, too, note 48.

44. Yi 諮 in the Shih-ching functions as a type of copulative verb, “to be,” with the sense of “to be something contrary to wishes or expectations, or in contrast of a copula clause that precedes or follows. Tzu yi 自諮, “self bequeathed,” means literally, “what contrary [to wishes, expectations] is the trouble, is self bequeathed; i.e., self caused.” The clause is an example of the often reversed sequence of subject and predication.

45. Ying/*eng 嚶 is explained by the commentaries as an onomatopoeic word for “sadness, fear”; this would explain the concessive: “though it is a sound of fear and sadness, yet it is used to seek their friends' voices.”

46. The particle shen “how much more,” occurs elsewhere in the Shih-ching only in 别可多思 (220.5), “How much more if they dare have many (much) …” and in (256.7). In classical texts this role is performed by k'uang 況, which appears in the Shih-ching in the line 況也永歎 (164.3) parallel with (164.4), which Karlgren translates, “Even if they are distressed, they (only) heave long-drawn sighs” and “Even if they are many, there is no aid.” However, the Mao commentary explains k'uang as tzu, “to increase” or, adverbially, “at the most”; thus, “at the most, they draw long sighs.” In the parallel line, cheng is explained as t'ien 塡 (Mao) and chiu 久 (Cheng): “It is for a long whiie, that they have no help.” Two other occurrences are 僕夫況捧 (168.2), “Grooms and men are distressed and exhausted,” and (257.5), “If the disorder increases, it will destroy you.

47. This pattern of preverbal pronoun, object of the verb that follows (shih 是 or chih 之 + verb), is used for emphasis; the pronoun itself resumes a noun immediately preceding. Sometimes the exposed noun (preceding the pronoun) is understood, or mentioned in a previous line, as in , “After all (one) greatly laments it” (195.2). The more regular pattern is, for instance, 先君之思, “Of former rulers I think” (28.4). It is remarkable that in the distribution of shih 是 and chih 之 as preverbal objects they hardly ever co-occur in the same poem. As the following list comparing their uses in poems shows: they are found together in only six poems: 189, 192, 203, 255,257, and 305.

Shih 2.2, 29.2, 30.1, 115.1,2, 172.4, 177.1, 189.9, 191.3, 192.2,10,13, 194.5, 195.2,3,4,5, 198.3, 203.4, 207.4,5, 209.2,3, 210.6,4(?), 212.1, 214.1,2,4, 222.4,5, 223.8, 241.8, 245.6, 254.1, 255.2, 257.11, 259.2,4,5,7, 260.2,3,262.4, 293,300.3,4,5,6,8,9,303, 304.1,2,3,4,5,305.6

Chih 28.4, 383, 39.4, 42.3, 43.1,2,3, 51.1, 120.1,2, 178.1,3, 180.2, 188.1,2(?), 189.7, 192.5,11, 197.1,5, 199.1 203.7, 204.6, 215.2,3, 236.2, 243.3, 249.3,4, 252.3, 255.1,8, 256.9, 257.6, 290, 292, 296, 299.4(?), 301, 302, 305.1

Assuming that shih and chih differ only slightly in this pattern, it is not clear what determines the choice between them. However, it may be significant that shih is not very frequent until Ode 161 (roughly the Kuofeng section; with the exception of Odes 1–30), but is dominant in the older odes.

48. Tsai yü occurs also in Odes 184.1,2 and 256.3. In 184, the meaning is uncertain because the general purport of the poem is unclear; several images and figures of speech follow each other and each of them is explained differently by Chu Hsi. The poem is traditionally understood to “exhort the kings to make use of wise ministers or advisers,” and Cheng Hsüan tries to explain each image in terms of this general interpretation. The whole first stanza as explained by Cheng Hsüan may be translated as follows:

鶴鳴干九皋聲聞于野樂彼之園爰有樹檀其下維蘀他山石可以爲錯

The crane cries in the Nine Swamps [where it is hiding: (image of the worthy)], but its voice is heard in the wilds (all people know him). The [good] fish plunging down, stay in the deep, there are [only] some who are made to stay by the islet. Pleasant is that one's garden: there one has T'an trees, but under them, it is all but fallen leaves. The stones of other mountains [worthy men of other states] can be used as grinding tools.

In this same vein, stanza 2 would read: “If the fish is made to stay at the islet, (still) there are some who plunging stay in the deep.”

49. Waley's “turmoil and trouble” for luan-li/*lwan-liad 亂離 seems better than Karlgren's “disorder and dispersion,” which though more literal does not reflect the binomial nature of the reduplicative structure with slight variation in vocalism and final. In yuan ch'i 爰其, the ch'i 其 could also be taken as an enclitic particle; then yuan ch'i would have the sense of yuan yuan 爰爰, “slowly,” and by extension “gradually, in the long run.” Shih 適 is taken as an auxiliary verb meaning “to happen to, to have a chance to” when used with the modal particle ch'i 其, “perhaps.”

50. Serruys, , “The Function and Meaning of Yün,” 279–80Google Scholar.

51. Takada explains 不我我躬 as “this will not only harm me, but also affect the emperor”; I would instead simply read pu 不 as p'i as seen in several other cases.

52. Note that this line reads 岐有夷之行 and not 岐有夷行; thus, “Ch'i obtained level roads.” In this reading there would be no reason for the insertion of chih 之. On the other hand, if we take you yi 有夷 as a pattern equivalent to a reduplicative descriptive adjective (see n. 36), then the regular use of chih between a bisyllabic phrase and its qualified noun would explain this line as “Ch'i mountain's paths which (have evenness=) are (most even) nice and even.

53. On this particular structure, see Mullie, J.L.M., “Note sur ‘lin-tchon’ 林中 et ‘tchong-lin’ ,” Acta Orientalia 21.4 (1953), 280–87Google Scholar. This line has been translated as a nominal unit, subject of the predication in the next line. This is a structure that seems to occur often, for instance in Ode 141.1 below and others. There might be objection to such treatment on the basis that each line in the Shih ching is expected to form in itself at least a full clause and that “enjambement” did not exist in early Chinese versification. This objection can be removed by noting that for Chinese versification, it is sufficient that a pause be admitted between lines without there necessarily being a grammatical clause distinction.

54. In the line 嘆其乾矣 and in several other cases, the particle ch'i 其 is used as a suffix added to adjectives and adverbs in the same way as jan 然, being used for descriptive, impressive effect. Other such cases are, for instance, yin ch'i 殷其 (95.2), ying ch'i 嚶其 (165.1), etc. For a discussion of this use, see Fa-kao, Chou, Chung-kuo ku-tai yü-fa, 296–99Google Scholar.

55. In the general structure of the poem, the image of plants getting burned or scorched “in the middle of the valley” is associated with the distress and sufferings of women (or a woman, a girl?) in certain, only vaguely indicated, conditions.

56. In addition to the regular and classical use of tse 貝 in the Shih ching as a “particle” in the pattern “(if, when). … then” (30.1, 34.1, 106.1,3, 127.2, 191.4, 260.5), and the clear cases where tse appears as a “full word,” either as as noun meaning “norm, pattern, rule” (158.2, 177.2, 260.1,2, 243.3, 252.5) or as verb meaning “to take as norm, to impose a norm, to conform to a norm” (241.7, 161.2, 192.7), there are other cases that are more difficult to account for and that are often ignored in translations. The reason seems to be that it is hard to make a sharp distinction between its uses as full word, the various functions it can assume as adverb, and the empty auxiliary particle function “then.” Its presence must be accounted for in terms of its grammatical role and its specific semantic significance. If it is to be viewed as a mere syllabic filler or for euphonic role, one would still have to explain why it is this particle that is used and not any other. Note the following special cases where tse functions as the main verb: 鴻則離之, “a wild goose is expected to get caught in it (i.e. the net)” (43.3), 淇則有岸, which Karlgren translates “The K'i at least it has its banks” (58.6), “the swamp, as expected, has shores (58.6), “His house may be assumed to be near, but its man (lit. the man of it, i.e., who lives in it) keeps far away” (89.1). This is the pattern to which the line of 96.1 here belongs. Note too, 聽言則答。譜言貝(1退,” (Hearable words=) Words worth hearing are assumed to be heard; slanderous words are assumed to be (pushed back =) rejected” (194.4; compare 257.13 with tui 對 instead of ta 答); , “The hair is assumed (by ritual rule) to have an upswing curl. … The sashes are assumed to have a trailing end” (225.5,6); , “Their plumb lines (lit. were according to norm:) made sure to be straight” (237.5); , “Following his heart's disposition, (he took as norm:) made sure to be friendly; making sure to be friendly to his brothers, he …” (241.3); “Since it was (found) completely suitable, then having made his proclamation, there were no long drawn sighs, but ascending, they (lit. made sure:) wanted to be at the hill tops, and descending again (they wanted to) be in the plains (i.e., they occupied every spot in the region)” (250.2); , “Since the drought is already far too excessive, it is assumed it cannot be (pushed:) corrected” (258.3); 昊天上帝 。 則不我遺 。 胡不相畏 。 先祖于摧, “Great Heaven, God on High (makes sure not to let us:) obviously does not want to have us survive; why not by divining and exorcism, make supplications to the ancestors?” (258.3); note that wei 畏 is also used in this sense in stanza 6: , “The drought already is far too excessive, with all efforts we made exorcisms to remove (it).”); , “The many Princes former rulers (make sure to >) obviously do not (want) to help us“ (258.4); compare 瞻卬昊天 。 則不我惠,” (Though) looking up with hope to Great Heaven, it (makes sure:) obviously does not want to treat us kindly” [264.1]); and , “Great Heaven, God on High made sure not to have us take measures in advance” (258.6). Among the cases of tse taken as an adverb but not in the sense of “then,” we should quote the recurrent phrase sui tse in the following cases: , “Though, as expected, it is as if burning … (10.3); , “Though, as expected, (of course, naturally) he carries at the girdle a knot horn” (60.1); , “Though as expected (as usual, of course) they are tike a cloud” (93.1); 雖則劬勞, “Though of course they toil in labor” (181.2); , “When I am, on the other hand, to meet him, my heart of course calms down” (14.1, 168.5); , “While wishing (for you) naturally I am chagrined” (30.3); 三十維物 。 爾性則具, “Thirty heads (of cattle) making up a set (of same type), your sacrificial victims, as expected, (as should be) are complete” (190.2); 彼月而À貝維其常, “That that moon there is eclipsed, of course, is but its constant rule” (193.2); , “(Not being early:) far from being early, as expected, he is too late” (100.3); 如彼行邁 。 則靡所臻, “They are like those people, who walking are turning around, and as expected (of course) (have not what they reach at all:) get nowhere” (194.3); 王心則寧, “The king's heart, of course, was at rest” (227.5); 則百斯男, “And, as expected (quite naturally) a hundred were the male (descendants)” (240.1); , “And, as expected, he made firm his felicity” (241.3); , “The people are now just groaning (in pain and despair), and of course there is none who dare (take me as norm:) follow me” (254.5), to which compare , “And, naturally, there was none who dared to meet us” (304.5).

57. The third stanza is probably put in the mouth of one person, the woman. When the man awakes suddenly and anxiously from the dream, he is assured by her: “There is no sound but the buzzing of the flies and no light but the light of the moon.” She then continues to speak of “sharing dreams with him.”

58. The miscopied line might have been 月出月出之光 or 月出明之光. The latter is found in Huai nan tzu: 日登于扶桑爰始將行是謂肶明, “The sun climbs on the Fu-sang tree, there it begins and will proceed to go; this is called fei ming, ‘Moon light’ (before dawn).”

59. Literally: “It is not the cock, what you assume to be sounding, the sound of the green flies.” This is an inversion for “What you assume to be sounding, the noise of the green flies, is not the cock.”

60. Hung 藉 is glossed as “many; sounds of many.” Waley's translation, “drowsily,” is not supported by any commentary; yet it seems most appropriate. Hung 薨 may form a graphic pun with meng 夢. Karlgren compares it with hsiung 雄 and hung 弘 as cognates, but this is doubted by Fa-kao, Chou, Chung-kuo ku-tai yü-fa, 107–8Google Scholar.

61. For shu 庶 as an adverb meaning “hopefully,” see Serruys, , “The Function and Meaning of Yün,” 301, n. 35Google Scholar.

62. See Coblin, W. South, “An Introductory Study of Textual and Linguistic Problems in Erh-Ya” (Ph.D. diss.: University of Washington, 1972)Google Scholar.

63. On the adverb with “comparative” meaning, see Gabelentz, von der, Zur Lehre von vergleichenden Adverbialis im Altchinesischen. Sitzungsberichte der Königlichen Preussisehen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin (1899)Google Scholar. On wei 維, see Mullie, , Grondbeginselen, vol. III, 45ffGoogle Scholar. There are several passages where Karlgren translates wei as yu 有:維筐及莒, “There are baskets square and round” (15.2); 維錡及釜, “There are cauldrons and pans” (21.2); 維參與昂, “There are (only) the Shen and the Mao” (201.1); 維予與女, “ There are only you and I” (92.1); 維予二人, “There are only we two” (92.2); 維牛維羊, “There are sheep, there are oxen” (272.2). In all of these cases, wei means “to be only, nothing but.” Thus, “There are but sheep, they are but oxen (nothing but sheep …); “It is but you and me”; “It is but we two”; “They are all baskets round and square,” etc.

64. These two lines, fei 匪 … wei 維, are to be taken together as contrasted: “it is not that + ־ clause, but it is that + clause.” in 舌是出, shih 是 is a preverbal resumptive pronoun, resuming and at the same time emphasizing she 舌; lit. the tongue / that / one sticks out.

65. Fang yen 方言 defines yen 掩as 取也. Relevant to this would be the “Chu-shu” 主術 chapter of Huai-nan-tzu phrase, 收不掩群, “when hunting one does not gather them (i.e., game) in herds,” and the “Ch'ü li” 曲禮 chpater of Li-chi 禮記 phrase 大夫不掩群, “a great man does not gather (them) in throngs.”

66. The proper and most common meaning of hsien 鮮 is shao 少, “rare, few,” but it also means kua 寡, “lonely,” and by extension “solitary, isolated,” This latter sense is attested in Erh Ya (11.10): 小山別 。 大山鮮, which Kuo P'u 郭璞 explains in the concrete sense of 不相連, “not to be connected with others; i.e., separate, isolated.” Hao Yi-hsing 郝懿行, in his Erh-ya yi-shu 爾雅義疏, quotes Sun Yen 孫炎 to the effect that the Shih ching ode “Huang yi” 皇矣 (241) has this sense in the line ), “he measured its separate, isolated highlands,” as does “Kung liu” 250) ״) for the word hsien , “isolated mountain.”

67. Karlgren reconstructs ch'u 除 and shu 暑 as and respectively, but in Li Fang-kuei's system they are *drjag and *sthjag. Ch'u 除, “to remove, to expel, to renew, etc.” is taken in a passive sense “to be expelled, to be let to pass by.”

68. On the meaning and distribution of hsi 兮 in the Shih ching, see P'ei P'u-hsien 裴普賢, “Shih-ching hsi tzu yen-chiu” 詩經兮字硏究, Ta-lu tsa-chih 大陸雜誌 28.3–4 (1964), 16. P'ei found that the Kuo feng odes show the most frequent use of hsi, the highest frequency coming in the Cheng feng, Ch'i feng and Hui feng, while the Chou nan, Shao nan, and Ch'en feng are low, and the Pin feng and Ch'in feng the lowest. It would seem that hsi is characteristic of the Kuan-tung areas along the Ho river, from Wei, Hui and Cheng to Ch'i (where it is most abundant). Its meaning and usage is mostly exclamatory, but it also marks caesuras and pauses within lines. Other meanings P'ei attributes to hsi 兮: yeh 也, chih 之, and hou 侯, are less well established and doubtful in many cases.

69. The phrase yu chang 有章 can be explained as yu (verb) + noun: “to have elegance,” or as a case comparable to numerous other phrases, characteristic of the Shih ching, you + adjective (used as noun), in the sense of a superlative: “to be all elegance.” 裳裳者華 is not to be translated as identical with a structure such as .. .. chih 之 .., where a noun is qualified by a bi-syllabic phrase and connected to it by chih; for this, see Serruys, , “On the Nature of Grammatical Particles in Literary Chinese,” 546–47Google Scholar. In a paper presented at the Western Branch of the American Oriental Society, 21st meeting, (Santa Barbara, California, March 26–27, 1971), “Note on the Grammatical Particle Che 者 in Classical and Pre-Classical Chinese Written Language,” I dealt with the following Shih-ching lines (quoted together with Karlgren's translations): 彼妹者子, “That handsome man … (53.2, 99.2); 彼蒼者天, “That blue Heaven …” (131); 蜎蜎者蝎, “Those crawling caterpillars … (156); 翩翩者雕載飛載下, “Flying are the chui birds, now they fly now they sink down” (162), and others. Che 者, of course, cannot mean “that, those” or even “the,” for it comes after the adjectives and before the noun. It is used together with pi 彼 or tz'u 此, which would make it tautological and superfluous. I suggested that this che is the same as chu 諸, found for instance in Tso chuan (Hsi 9), where it functions in the same way as the quasi-suffix of descriptive, impressive adjectives,jan 然: 是親薪諸孤, “That weak-tiny looking orphan child (of mine),” and where it is sometimes added to adverbs: hu chu 忽諸, “suddenly”; (Tso, Wen 5). The above listed examples mean: “That handsome looking man”; “that blueish Heaven”; “The crawling-crawling-like caterpillars”; “the soaring-like chui-birds.” This solution also easily explains che in 維妨及缺 ° 薄言觀者 (226), which Karlgren translates, “It is bream, and it is tench, it is a sight!” and which Waley translates, “Aye, bream and tench; on a line I strung them” (reading kuan 觀 for kuan 貫). According to Fang Yen (1.21), kuan 観 means “many,” and occurs in this sense in Ode 244: 通觀厥成, “To the point of making manifold his achievements. Therefore, in 226, “It is all bream and tench, extremely proliferous they are.”

70. In 亦是戾矣, shih 是 is treated as a pre-verbal pronoun, the object of lei 艮 “to arrive.” With the same structure, another translation would be possible, in which lei is causative and the subject is “the Son of Heaven”; i.e., “after all, them he makes arrive.”

71. As in n. 22 above, chao 朝 is taken as a loan for cho 掉.

72. Aside from other details of interpretation, there is in this poem the difficult passage about the “swine” in stanza three. In this respect, the interpretation of Yen-fung, Cheng 鄭衍通 (“Astronomical Poems from Shih Ching” 詩經中的天文詩, Nan-yang University Journal 3 [1969], 29–38)Google Scholar deserves expert astronomical comments. Cheng has commented in some detail on the Odes “Ta tung” 大東 (203), “Yuan liou” 莞柳 (224), “Chien-chien chih shih” 漸漸之石 (232), “T'iao chih hua” 苕之華 (233), and “Ch'ou mou” 綢緣 (118). He shows how the traditional commentaries fail to explain the “pigs with white feet,” for pigs neither swim nor like to wade through rivers. The four feet of the swine are four bright stars called pai hu 白虎. But this star is also named “sheep” and “swine.” Cheng refers to several Yi ching passages where the same stars are mentioned and also associated with the position of the moon within Pi constellation, “the net,” and taken as a sign of long continuous rains. Cheng's astronomical interpretations of the Yi ching are explained in his book Chou-yi t'an-yüan 周易探源 (Singapore: Nan-yang ta hsueh, 1972), 219, 410–11Google Scholar.

In each stanza we have the verb huang 遑, followed by another verb: 1) chao 朝 (= cho 綽), “to relax”; 2) ch'u 出, “get out, take leave”; and 3) t'a 他, which for parallelism should be a verb too, probably yi , “to turn aside, turn away”: “… they have no leisure to avoid it.” According to the Mao gloss, cheng 森 means chin 進, with Cheng Hsüan glossing it as chung 衆, “numerous, in great number.” In this context, the “wading of the rivers” is not associated with the “swine” but with the soldiers, and cheng may be understood as “numerous times.” P'ang t'o 榜论 (also written in Kuang yün 廣韻) is said to describe “excessive, prolonged rains.” It is also found in Ode 145: 涕泗傍论, “tears and snivel flow in streams,” and in Ch'u tz'u; 涕流傍花, “tears are flowing down in streams.” The Han shu mentions the moon's position as a sign of coming excessive rain: 月失中道移而西入畢則多雨 。 故詩云月離于畢 。 俾傍祀矣 。 言多雨也, “When the moon deflects from its central road, and moving away, westward enters the Pi (Net) constellation, then there will be excessive rains. Therefore the Odes say: ‘The moon is caught in the Pi constellation, it will indeed cause overflowing floods,’ It means there will be excessive rains.”

73. Karlgren (Gl. 888) notes that yu 攸 is “a common mark of the passive.” No further explanation is given, yet the examples quoted (247.4, 209.3, 211.1), which simply show yu's regular and common function as a relative pronoun (object of the verb it precedes, an earlier form later completely superseded by the classical so 所), seem totally unconvincing. The use of yu for passive structures, as presumed in these few Shih ching cases, has nowhere been proposed in classical Chinese grammars, whether traditional or modern. Obviously these cases should in some way be explained in light of the majority of cases, if not in identical fashion. Thus, for (247.4), Karlgren translates, “What is his announcement? The pien and tou vessels are pure and fine; the guests are assisted (i.e. encouraged to eat and drink); they are assisted with a dignified demeanour,” but I would translate, “What he announces is what? Baskets and dishes are pure and fine; companions and friends, whatever they assist in, in assisting they apply (:display) a dignified de-meanor.” For 神保是格 。 報以介福 。 萬寿攸酢 (209.3), Karlgren translates, “The divine protectors arrive, they will requite us with increased felicity; by a longevity of a myriad (years) we are awarded,” while I would translate, “The divine protectors, them we cause to come, giving (us) in requital the great felicities; thousand (year's) longevity, which they return as reward.” In this last line, wan shou 萬專 is the predicate, put ahead for emphasis; yu tso is the subject: “What they return is ten-thousand year's longevity.” This is reversed perhaps also for the sake of rhyme. And for (211.1)and (245.1), Karlgren translates, “We are increased we are blessed, we offer gifts to our fine officers,” and “She trod on the big toe of God's footprint, she became elated, she was enriched, she was blessed,” whereas I would translate, “What we have as increment, what we have as blessings, we offer as gifts to our fine officers,” and “Treading in the big toe of God's footsteps she became elated at what she received as increment and blessings.”

74. In the context of the sacrificial terms that appear in each stanza, I have interpreted liao 燈 as “holocaust, burning sacrifice.” The Mao and Cheng commentaries speak of “burning wood for clearing wooded areas,” yet this does not necessarily contradict the assumption that certain kinds of wood were used for liao-holocaust fires.

75. Cheng Hsüan clearly understands fei 腓 as “leg”: 故姜嫄置之於牛羊之徑, 亦所以異之, “Therefore Chiang Yüan put him at the legs of the oxen and sheep, whereby after all she treated him as an extraordinary (being?),” but he adds 牛羊而辟人者理也, “It means that oxen and sheep even they, pi 辟 (avoid, protect?) a man.” This pi, which is Mao's definition of fei, is understood by some as pi 避, “to avoid,” or pi , “to protect.” Karlgren rejects this in order to avoid a series of doubtful loan usages. In Li Fang-kuei's system, feil/*pjəd is a quite probable loan for pi/*pjidx 庇 (or pi but not torpid.

76. P'ing lin 平林, “dense forest,” does not have much support as a translation, except that “forest of the plain,” though literally correct, seems not to make sense in the natural context of the ode. P'ing 平 could stand for p'ing 苹, which in reduplicated form at least means “dense, rich growing”; compare Shuo wen: 草聚生, “grasses growing in thick clusters.” Tsai 載 is to be understood as “to load, to add,” and, as an adverb, “increasingly,” rather than “then.”

77. See Ts'e-tsung, Chow, “The Dating of ‘Chüan Ō’,” 187–9Google Scholar. In the two parallel lines, 風凰鳴矣 and 梧桐生矣, the sentence structure is inversed, for ming yi 鳴矣 and sheng yi 生矣 are the final predicates, even though they are put at the head (an emphatic inversion), followed by yü pi 于彼 …, which should precede.

78. The first line has literally, “Do not lightly follow (your) words, do not say kou 苟 (be careless, inattentive)” followed by yi. This is an example of two coordinate clauses for which one yi serves to impose the imperative on both. The next line, though put in the first person, really represents the words of the poet. Shih 逝, because of the immediately preceding k'o 可, must be taken as a passive verb.

79. Ch'i 其 does not mean “my,” but “his, someone's,” Yet, by euphemism or self deprecation, it refers to “oneself, me.” 休矣皇考 could be understood as imperative with final yi (as per Waley), yet being similar to the first line in Ode 241.1, 皇卖上帝, “August is God on high, indeed,” the assertive yi is preferable.

80. Tsun 遵, lit. “following,” but by extension, “as one goes along” and, still further, “with time.”

81. In line 2, ch'un hsi 純熙 is analyzed as verb + object: “to make pure (grand) the brightness”; i.e., “to become bright,” in the same way as yun shih 允師, “to make trusted the army.” Lines 3 and 4 are parallel and form a contrast between shih 是 and wo 我 at the head of the clauses: “Ille qua utebatur lorica, nos beneficio accepimus earn.” The “armour” does not refer to any actual armour that Wen Wang might have worn (as per Chu Hsi, Legge, Couvreur), but rather is a figure of speech for the army that he “founded” and that later generations have received. The rhyming system in this ode partly involves the final syllables of the lines (chih 之 and ssu 嗣), and partly internal rhymes: line 1, 鑠：養 (鞠); line 2, 晦: 矣; lines 3–4, 用: 籠; line 5, 蹒: 造; line 7, 維: 師. In terms of reconstructed sounds, they are quite acceptable: in Karlgren's reconstruction we have ; in Li Fang-kuei's system: *-jakw: 0; *-əgh: -jəg; or -jəgh; *rungh: - jungh; *jagw: -əgwh. In this regular internal rhyme scheme where the second syllable rhymes with the last, the most exceptional line is the first, where 錄 is paired with 養. This could well be a miscopy. In Takada's Kochuhen 古權編 (76.20), there are examples where the graphic elements 鬲,皿,食 are interchanged, and where the graphic elements 米,甸,粥 are mixed. It is therefore quite possible that there was originally a graph 赛, a variant of 雜 or 麹, and used in the sense “to feed, to rear.” This 鞭 is already found in 202.4: 母兮物我, “Oh mother, you nourished me.” On the other hand, yang 養, “to feed,” is not found once in the Shih ching except as a reduplicated descriptive adjective, 養養 “grieved” (44.1), unrelated to the meaning “to feed,” With this emendation, we obtain the rhyme: 錄 *-, 鞠 *- (Li *-jakw, *-jəkw).

82. Yi-to, Wen, Ku-tien hsin-yi, 75Google Scholar. Karlgren explains: “A song in honour of a girl who is going to be married. First the girls of the region are praised as desirable but not easily attained; thus, this girl who is setting on her marriage journey, is eagerly served by her comrades, who feed the horses for her.”

83. In all of the lines, the final clause with k'o 可 grammatically demands a passive, even with hsiu 休: “cannot be used to rest under.”

84. In 漢之廣矣 and 江之永矣, chih 之 is a resumptive pronoun preceding its verb. This is the same structure as in the recurring 心之永矣.

85. On these images, see Yi-to, Wen, Ku-tien hsin-yi, 123Google Scholar.

86. 易維其已 is an inversion for 其已維易, which explains the use of ch'i 其 functioning as subject; lit., “that it will end, is when.”

87. The “making of clothes” for someone is probably an indirect, implicit way of suggesting the duties of a wife.

88. The word mi , “horn-made bow end, end” and “to bring to end,” is also used in the sense of “to destroy, to make disappear” (Lieh tzu: 絕塵彌撒, “to interrupt the ‘dust’ and wipe out the footprints”); here it is probably used in the sense “to make disappear,” figuratively for “to ignore, do as if (it) did not exist,.”

89. Ning 寧 in combination with mo 莫 or other negatives is taken as equivalent to tseng 看不 and tseng mo 曾莫 or chien 懵不 and chien mo 惜莫, “not even, not ever”; see Yin-chih, Wang 王引之, Ching-chuan shih-tz'u 經傳釋詞, 6.17Google Scholar.

90. Yi 伊 is usually a copulative verb with the specific nuance of “to be contrary to what is expected; in contrast with others.” The phrase tzu yi 自詒 is a nominalized unit: “(what) one bequeaths oneself is on the contrary (all) misery.”

91. Legge adds: “Perhaps 維 = only. The writer could do nothing but grieve over the state of things.”

92. For chien 漸, Takada suggests chan or 薪. Legge, on the basis of an Yi ching, quote reads as the proper character. Cheng Hsüan notes, 卒者崔嵬也謂山巔之未, “The word tsu 卒 is (:means) ts'ui-wei ; it refers to the extreme points of the mountain tops,” It is used as an adjective.

93. On the K'un-yi, Karlgren states: “The K'un-yi were Jung Barbarians of Western Shensi evidently early drawn into the sphere of Chinese culture”; “Yin and Chou Researches,” Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities 8 (1936), 62. K'un/*kwmә 昆 is also written 畎 *kiwәn (Li *kwian) and? 犬k'iwәn (Li *k'wian).