(line 64). 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 pi3 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.
| 268. | 師 | 項 | 橐 | took Hsiang T'o for his teacher. | |
| Shih1 | hsiang4 | t'o2 | |||
| Teacher | hsiang | t'o |
Shih see line 20.
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."]
| 269. | 古 | 聖 | 賢 | The inspired men and sages of old | |
| Ku3 | shêng4 | hsien2 | |||
| Ancient | holy | wise |
Ku see line 261.
Shêng see line 153.
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 (line 163) were the work of hsien wise men.
