Tu is composed of 言 yen words as radical, and a phonetic which under its modern form is identical with 賣 mai4 to sell, but is really the corruption of an obsolete word pronounced yü. It means to hum over books, to study; with another reading tou4 (line 110) it means the completion of a sentence, in which sense it is said to be used for 逗 tou4 to stop. Mai to sell was originally composed of 出 ch'u to dispose of (line 210) and 貝 pei valuables (line 8), while 買 mai3 to buy was composed of 网 wang a net and pei valuables = to get valuables into one's net; see Mencius II. 下, X, 6, 7. [These two lines are rendered by Eitel, "Then perchance, as to the so-called Six Classics, a beginning can be made to read them." But there is no authority for translating ju by "perchance." Père Zottoli has "Quoad sex canonicos, tunc poterunt prælegi." But prælegi makes 讀 tu the act of the teacher instead of the pupil, prælegere meaning to read to others as a teacher, to show how a thing should be read, to lecture. See line 283 et seqq.]
| 135. | 詩 | 書 | 易 | The Books of Poetry, of History, and of Changes, | |
| Shih1 | shu1 | i4 | |||
| Poetry | book | change |
Shih is composed of 言 yen words and 寺 ssŭ (line 30). It seems to have originally meant purpose, will ; but its only known sense in the earliest records is poetry. Here it stands for the 311 ballads collected and edited by Confucius. 經 Ching (see title) is understood with each word in this line.
Shu see line 114. It here stands for a fragmentary historical work which is said to have been edited by Confucius and embraces a period extending from the middle of the 24th cent, to the 8th cent. B.C.
I see line 126. It is here the famous work (line 141), said to have
