Wenyan Primer - vocabulary Texts 1-5

孟

mèng (Noun) a surname.

[Man number seven, step down from the platform.]

子

zǐ (N) child, son, youth; an honorific form of address, equivalent to, “You, Sir”; an honorific form of reference: “the Master”

[“I did see your seventh child, Sir.”]

孟子

Mèngzǐ: Mencius, Meng Ke 軻 (c. 380 - 300 B.C.)

曰

yue (Verb) to say. Yue precedes direct quotations and is the most common quotative, like English “said” or Modern Chinese [MC] shuo 說.

[“You say the dresser only has two drawers?”]

仁

rén (N) a comprehensive Confucian ethical virtue: “humaneness”; (Adj/SV) humane N.B. (nota bene, note well): SV = “Stative Verb”: an adjectival form that behaves as though it embeds the verb “to be”; e.g.: 子仁: “The Master [is] humane. ”

[Christopher Wren (ʐən) designed this door going up to the choir loft out of the goodness of his heart with a top and bottom.]

人

rén (N) person; humankind

[Jen Wren (ʐən) was a person with two legs and a torso going up.]

心

xin (N) the heart; the mind; the “heart-mind”

[Drops of blood from his Loving heart are squirting on his shin.]

也

yĕ (Particle) yĕ is affixed to the close of an equational sentence to indicate that the sentence has the semantic form: “X is Y”; yĕ also appears in mid-sentence, where its function as a stressed pause often indicates the close of a topic phrase (a sentence-opening phrase that might be thought of as preceded by an “as for” and followed by a predicate-comment).

[Hear ye! That is a “th” looking character from bottom to top.]

義

yì (N) righteousness; (SV) right; fitting; proper

[Missionaries thought of this character “righteousness” as a Lamb over Me. Me and ye.]

路

lù (N) road

[Lew stops off by the side of the road going down to Memphis at a gas station to fill his tank.]

舍

shĕ (V) loan for 捨: to put aside; discard; abandon [舍 shè: (N) dwelling, hut; (V) to dwell]

[This old robot has been abandoned. She dwells in a hut down by the river.

其

qí (Pronoun) (1) a subordinating pronoun, comparable to “its; his; her”; (2) a simple pronoun “resuming” (referring anew to) a recent antecedent, and thus functionally equivalent to “he/she/it.”

[She is Madame de Garderobe the walking wardrobe. Her chi is her flamboyance.]

而

ér (Conjunction) Links two verb phrases. Often rendered literally as “and under these conditions,” ér is often functionally equivalent to “and,” but never links nouns or noun phrases.

[Comb your hair and stick the pick in your hair, Art.]

弗

fú (Adverb) negative adverb preceding transitive verb:

“not.” Fú is actually a “fusion” of two characters, bù 不 (not) and zhi 之 (as the direct obj.: “it”). Thus fú-Verb is often rendered by “not Verb it”: 弗 V = [不之] V = 不 V 之 However, fú frequently is employed simply as a loan for bù.

[“Do not unwrap these two sticks!” “Oh phooey!”]

由

yóu (V) to proceed from/through/along

[“Hey you! Follow the windmill vane to proceed along to get to Amsterdam.”]

放

fàng (V) to let loose

不

bù (Adv) negative adverb (as in MC); bù precedes verbs but not nouns.

知

zhi (V) to know; to be aware (N.B. cognate: zhì: (N) wisdom [MC: 智])

求

qíu (V) to search; to beg

哀

ai (SV) lamentable; (V) to lament; to mourn

哉

zai (Particle) an exclamatory termination, replacing yĕ or yǐ. Zai reinforces negative sentiments; as a terminus of interrogative sentences, it creates rhetorical questions.

有

yǒu (V) to possess; to exist (often translated as “there are”; “there was”; etc.)

雞

ji (N) chicken(s) [also written 鷄]

犬

qǔan (N) hound(s)

雞犬

jiqǔan (N) domesticated animals.

則

zé (Conj) then; and so . . . 則 initiates the second phrase of a compound sentence, and most often signals that the entire sentence represents an “if…then…” construction. (N) principle; rule; (V) to emulate; to measure 學 xúe (V) to study; to learn 問 wèn (V) to ask 學問 xúewèn (N) learning (learned wisdom)

之

zhi (Particle) 1. zhi creates noun phrases 2. zhi functions as a pronoun, substituting for noun-objects of verbs.

道

dào (N) a path; the Way; an art; a tradition of knowledge or behavior

無

wú (V) to lack [the antonym of yǒu 有, in its sense of “to exist”]

他

tuo (N) an other; (Adj) otherN.B. In WYW (wenyanwen) readings, 他 is not pronounced ta.

已

yǐ (SV) to be finished [distinguish graph from jǐ 己: self]

而已

ér yǐ “and that’s all”

矣

yǐ (Particle) terminates verbal sentences, indicating completion of action.

天

tian (N) heaven; (Adj) divine, natural

爵

jué (N) rank

者

zhĕ (Particle) a nominalizing particle; it is bound to the preceding word and either reinforces that word’s nominal character or transforms it into a noun; it carries no independent meaning

忠

zhong (N) loyalty; (Adj/SV) loyal

信

xìn (N) trust, faithfulness; (Adj/SV) trustworthy; (V) to trust

樂

lè (V) to take joy in; (N) joy [Distinguish the 破音 reading yùe: (N) music]

善

shàn (N) goodness; (Adj/SV) good; (V) to be good at; take to be good

倦

juàn (SV) to be tired

此

cǐ (Pronoun) this, these

公

gong (N) a patrician title, often rendered “duke”; an honorific form of address, “You, My Lord.”

卿

qing (N) court rank denoting a high patrician advisor; high minister.

大

dà (Adj/SV) great

夫

fu (N) man; husband. When used as a noun, fu rarely occurs alone; it is usually the first or second element of a binome.

大夫

dàfu (N) court rank denoting favored patrician status; a grandee

古

gǔ (N) antiquity; (Adv) of old; (Adj/SV) ancient

脩

xiu (V) to cultivate (a trait or ability in oneself) [also written 修]

從

cóng (V) to follow

今

jin (N) the present day; (Adv) now, nowadays

以

yǐ (CV) in order to, on account of, by means of; (V) to take

要

yao (V) to control (often coercively), to seek and get (often by coercive means); (N) the waist [N.B. Distinguish from 要 (yào): (V) to want; (CV [MC]) shall in the future (future tense marker)]

既

jì (Adv) [having] already既 V1 而 V2 Having V1-ed, to V2.

棄

qì (V) to discard

惑

hùo (N) confusion about alternatives, perplexity, wrongheadedness

甚

shèn (SV) extreme, utmost; (Adv) extremely

終

zhong (Adv) in the end; (N) an end; (V) to end

亦

yì (Adv) also, surely, indeed

必

bì (Adv) certainly, necessarily, must

亡

wáng (V) to perish

序

xù (N) a preface; (V) to put in order, to write a preface

雜

zá (Adj/SV) miscellaneous, mixed

篇

pian (N) a chapter in a text

漢

hàn (N) the name of a river and region of ancient China, borrowed as the name of a dynastic house that ruled 202 B.C. - A.D. 8 and A.D. 25- 220 (later borrowed to denote the majority ethnic group of China)

劉

líu (N) a surname

向

xìang (V) to face towards; (Adv) in the past, just now [here, a personal name]

魏

wèi (N) The name of a large patrician state during the Warring States period (453-221 B.C.), located in the Shanxi 山西 region.

文

wén (Adj) cultivated, patterned; (N) pattern, culture, written script, text 侯 hóu (N) a patrician rank conventionally translated as “Marquis.”

魏文侯

Wèi Wén-hóu: Marquis Wén of Wèi

與

yǔ (Conj) together with, and; used for linking nouns only (remember, to link verbs, use ér 而).

士

shì (N) a member of the lower patrician ranks, sometimes translated as “knight” or “scholar”

士大夫

shìdàfu: (N) members of the patrician court

坐

zùo (V) to be seated

寡

gǔa (SV) few; (N) widow

寡人

gǔarén (Pronoun) First person pronoun reserved for rulers22

何

hé (Interrogative adverb) how, why; (Inter. pronoun) what, what sort of

如

rú (V) to resemble, to be like, to perform, to manage

群

qún (N) a flock; (Adnoun) pluralizes nouns, as “the many”

臣

chén (N) minister, subordinate to a ruler or grandee; (Pronoun) first person pronoun for subordinates addressing superiors

皆

jie (Adv) all (the most common WYW equivalent of Mandarin dou 都)

君

jun (N) a ruler; (Pronoun) “You, my ruler”; “you” (respectful); “you, my husband”

次

cì (Adv) in turn, next

至

zhì (V) to reach to; (Adj) utmost

翟

zhái (N) surname

黃

húang (N) yellow, tan [here, a personal name]

翟黃

Zhái Húang: the name of a minister to Wèi Wén-hóu

非

fei (Adnoun) negative modifier preceding nouns (etymologically, a fusion of 不 bù and 唯 wéi, where wéi functions much like a copula, thus resembling Mandarin 不是 bù shì) 子 zǐ *(Pronoun) mildly honorific second person pronoun: “You, sir”

何以

hé yǐ (Question phrase) why; for what reason; how; by what means

言

yán (V) to speak, to say; (N) word, phrase, saying, teaching

對

dùi (Adv) in response; (V) to stand facing

伐

fa (V) to attack in war

中

zhong (Adj/SV) central; (N) the center

山

shan (N) mountain23

中山

Zhongshan: Name of a small patrician state during the Warring States period, located in the eastern part of modern Shanxi.

封

feng (V) to enfoeff; (N) a fief

弟

dì (N) younger brother

長

zhăng (Adj/SV) elder, eldest; [Cognate: cháng (Adj/SV): long]

以此

yǐcǐ (Adv. phrase) on account of this, therefore; by means of this, thereby

怒

nù (Adj/SV) angry