《國語》釋詞五則

There five phrases need to be discussed more in "Guó Yŭ." The first are the sentences "Sī shāng xie min xing" in "Zhōu Yǔ Shàng" and "Li qi ming dé, yǐ hòu mín xing" in "Jin Yǔ Sì." The two phrases "mín xìng" should be read as "mín shēng." It refers to the needs of people's life including tools, supplies, and possessions. "Sī-shāng" is an official who manages business affairs. The sentence "Sī-shāng xié mín xìng" means "Sī-shāng" masters the amount of people's livelihood resources; therefore, he could get the precise number of population by this method. The second is the sentence "Zhèng bù lǚ jiù, zé mín bù tōu" in "Qi Yǔ." The word "lǚ" could be interpreted as the verb "jì yù." In other words, when recommending government affairs, you cannot be entrusted to people you know. The third is the phrase "shǐ wù dōu (兜)" in "Jin Yǔ Liù." The word "兜" should be "𠑹". According to the unearthed materials, it is actually the word "卵". The word "卵" should pronounce as "luan." It is interpreted as the verb "confuse"; therefore, the phrase "shǐ wu luan (𠑹)" means "do not get confused with something or someone." The fourth is the sentence "shǐ chén niǔ (狃) zhōng jūn zhī Sī-mǎ" in "Jin Yǔ Qī." The word "niǔ (狃)" should pronounce as "xiū." It means to let someone get promotion or to select the best person for promotion. The whole sentence means Wèi Jiang was ordered to promote to the Sī-mǎ (General) of the Central Army. The fifth is the sentence "Fū Shēn-xū, Huá Dēng jiǎn fú Wú guó zhī shi yú jiǎ Bing" in "Wú Yǔ." The word "jiǎn" should be interpreted as "to review the troops." The word "fu" means to train. The whole sentence refers to the fact that Shēn-xū (Dàfū of Wú State) and Hua Deng reviewed and trained the Wu's strong and determined warriors who never lost a battle.