Classical Chinese/Lesson 4

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道德经 1 章: 道可道，非常道。名可名，非常名。無名天地之始；有名萬物之母。故常無，欲以觀其妙；常有，欲以觀其徼。此兩者，同出而異名，同謂之玄。玄之又玄，眾妙之門。

道德经 12 章: 五色令人目盲；五音令人耳聾；五味令人口爽；馳騁畋獵，令人心發狂；難得之貨，令人行妨。是以聖人為腹不為目，故去彼取此。

— 老子 (Laozi).

Vocabulary & Translation

• 道可道，非常道。名可名，非常名: The way that can be spoken of is not the constant way. The name that can be named is not the constant name.
  • 道 (dao4) - The first & third: noun the dao, the way, the path; the second: verb to say
  • 可 (ke3) - can, that can be
  • 非 (fei1) - is not
  • 常 (chang2) - eternal(ly), common, constant(ly)
  • 名 (ming2) - The first & third: noun the name; the second: verb to name
• 無名天地之始；有名萬物之母: Without a name [it is] the beginning of heaven [and] earth. Having a name [it is] the mother of thousands of things.
  • 無 (wu2) - without
  • 天 (tian1) - heaven, the heavens
  • 地 (di4) - land, earth
  • 之 (zhi1) - possessive marker like English 's
  • 始 (shi3) - start, beginning
  • 有 (you3) - to have
  • 萬 (wan4) - 10,000
  • 物 (wu4) - things,
  • 萬物 (wan4 wu4) - the myriad things
  • 母 (mu3) - mother
• 故常無，欲以觀其妙: Therefore constantly [be] without desire in order to see its mystery.
  • 故 (gu4) - reason, cause, therefore
  • 欲 (yu4) - desire
  • 以 (yi3) - in order to
  • 觀 (guan1)- to see
  • 其 (qi2)- his, her, its, their
  • 妙 (miao4) - mystery
• 常有 , 欲以觀其徼: [But] constantly have desire in order to see its frontier.
  • 徼 (jiao4) - frontier, border