What is the Chinese for "Confucius"?

alychic
February 13, 2008, 04:13 PM posted in General Discussion
I'm working on a project that includes a comment from Confucius...I'd like his name in Chinese (not pinyin) as his signature....anyone know?
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RJ
February 13, 2008, 04:34 PM

孔夫子 is kong fuzi which is confucius. I suppose that would also be his signature.

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rich
February 14, 2008, 11:32 PM

oops... was just thinking about what I wrote and said to myself, "wait, doesn't 家 as a suffix to a noun mean a ‘specialist' in that field?" Yeah, looks like just 儒 is "Confucianism" and 儒家 is a Confucian (scholar), but can also mean "the Confucian school." Sorry for the mistake.

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lydia1981
February 13, 2008, 04:45 PM

kong fuzi is correct, but i think the word that is most used is 孔子

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goulnik
February 13, 2008, 05:00 PM

lydia1981 is right, 夫子(fūzǐ) is more than just 'teacher', it's more like 'master' as addressed by his disciples 弟子[门] (dìzǐ)

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RJ
February 13, 2008, 05:51 PM

you are right lydia. The dictionary does show 孔子 as confucius.

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RJ
February 13, 2008, 04:40 PM

actually I guess 孔夫子 means teacher Kong and his actual name was 孔丘, Kǒng Qiū.

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lydia1981
February 13, 2008, 09:30 PM

but the question remains: how would Confucius sign his own comments...? (he never wrote them down themself, his pupils did..)

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cassielin
February 14, 2008, 01:18 AM

Hi Lydia1981 you are right, 孔子never wrote them down themselves, his students did. 孔子说自己是“述而不著”,最有名的《论语》,也是由弟子编撰的!

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electrician
February 14, 2008, 06:58 PM

孔子name was 仲尼

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rich
February 14, 2008, 11:25 PM

Interesting to note, as I've made this mistake, that "Confucianism" is not 孔子主义 or 孔子思想, and especially not 孔子教 (not a religion per-say, just a way of thought and for right governing different levels of society), but has a whole character of its own for it: 儒(ru2),but usually used as 儒家. So there you have "Confucianism" as well.

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RJ
February 13, 2008, 05:54 PM

the fu is "optional" according to wikipedia: Names Confucius (illustration from Myths & Legends of China, 1922, by E.T.C. Werner)Michele Ruggieri, and other Jesuits after him, while translating Chinese books into Western languages, translated 孔夫子 as Confucius. This Latinised form has since been commonly used in Western countries. In systematic Romanisations: Kǒng Fūzǐ (or Kǒng fū zǐ) in pinyin. K'ung fu-tzu in Wade-Giles (or, less accurately, Kung fu-tze). Fūzǐ means teacher. Since it was disrespectful to call the teacher by name according to Chinese culture, he is known as just "Master Kong", or Confucius, even in modern days. The character 'fu' is optional; in modern Chinese he is more often called Kong Zi. His actual name was 孔丘, Kǒng Qiū. Kǒng is a common family name in China. (In Wade-Giles translation by D. C. Lau, this name appears as Kung Ch'iu.) His courtesy name was 仲尼, Zhòng Ní. In 1 CE (first year of the Yuanshi period of the Han Dynasty), he was given his first posthumous name: 褒成宣尼公, Lord Bāochéngxūan, which means "Laudably Declarable Lord Ni." His most popular posthumous names are 至聖先師, 至圣先师,Zhìshèngxiānshī, meaning "The Former Teacher who Arrived at Sagehood" (comes from 1530, the ninth year of the Jianing period of the Ming Dynasty); 至聖,至圣, Zhìshèng, "the Greatest Sage"; 先師,先师, Xiānshī, literally meaning "first teacher". It has been suggested that '先師' can be used, however, to express something like, "the Teacher who assists the wise to their attainment".[38] He is also commonly known as 萬世師表, 万世师表,Wànshìshībiǎo, "the Model Teacher" in Chinese.