<p>說 is the original 悅, they mean the same thing. It's only because in different times, different character may be used to represent the same thing. This situation of different character used is called 古今字. Check <a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%A4%E4%BB%8A%E5%AD%97">this</a>(Chinese Wikipedia).</p>

<p>To back this up, consult (清)段玉裁《說文解字注》</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>説釋也。説釋卽悦懌。説悦釋懌皆古今字。許書無悦懌二字也。説釋者，開解之意。故爲喜悦。釆部曰。釋，解也。从言。兑聲。儿部曰。兑，説也。本周易。此從言兑會意。兑亦聲。弋雪切。十五部。一曰談説。此本無二義二音。疑後增此四字。别音爲失䑔切。</p>
</blockquote>

<p>So as to <em>why</em> it's 說, it's because when you explain something (說釋->說明解釋) to someone, he or she will be happy because the you resolve (開解) their question.</p>

<p>Master Sparkles, I don't think call it stand-in word is appropriate since it's just the correct usage at that time. (Sorry I can't comment so I have to reply here)</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-05T06:51:26.067Z
I think the _why_ was just pronunciation (说 and 悦 used to have a similar pronunciation, which is why they share a phonetic component). The meanings of explanations and happiness are just made up.
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-05T07:09:13.517Z
Yes and no. They do share the same 聲意部 and thus the identical pronunciations. But what do you mean by *made up*? Entire Chinese language is made up by us humans, and the rules we used to create news characters are also made up. There has been numerous classics on how to interpret the characters. The example I mentioned, 說文解字注, is a 注釋 to the most authoritative classic in that field. The original [text](http://www.zdic.net/z/19/xs/60A6.htm), `悦,犹说也,拭也,解脱也。若人心有郁结能解释之也。` also suggest that.
**However**, I assume if you insist, yes, all of Chinese is made up.
RexYuan
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-05T07:56:04.463Z
Are you familiar with the idea of a ["just so story"](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-so_story)? It's common to see characters  that were formed in a simple phonetic+radical way (形声字), but sound changes have completely obscured the phonetic. A long time after the fact, people want an explanation for why the character is that way. The true answer is simply "the phonetic", but people come up with elaborate stories to explain the semantic meaning of the character, as if they were 会意字. This is true in other languages too--see [false etymology](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_etymology).
Stumpy Joe Pete
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-05T03:53:48.090Z
2015-06-05T04:01:59.477Z
2015-06-05T04:01:59.477Z
RexYuan
<p>it's used here as a stand-in for the character 悅, which probably did not exist yet. From the Han Dynasty 說文解字: 說者今之悅字.  </p>

<p>Another example of this is 優 as in 學而優則仕: originally 優 was a stand-in for 餘.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-05T00:39:41.873Z
What, I'm pretty sure 優 is not the same as 餘. That word in that saying is pronounced you1...
Ringil
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-05T00:59:50.747Z
Not now - but in that sentence from 論語 優 means 餘.  Can be hard to tell because it makes sense the other way as well.  Wonder how many people accidentally went into government because they were good students, only to discover that they had the wrong idea the whole time.;)
Master Sparkles
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-05T12:57:39.863Z
what"s a stand-in word?
Zbigniew Adamowicz
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-05T18:08:35.583Z
@ZbigniewAdamowicz By stand-in, he means it's a [phonetic loan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_classification#Rebus_.28phonetic_loan.29_characters) (假借字). 說 and 悦 had very similar pronunciations in Old Chinese ([reconstructed as *l̥ot vs. *lot](http://ocbaxtersagart.lsait.lsa.umich.edu/BaxterSagartOCbyMandarinMC2014-09-20.pdf), respectively), so before the 悦 character was invented, 說 was often used for both meanings.
Claw
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-05T19:27:04.940Z
Do you have a source for this? All the modern translations/explanations say that it's you1 and means to do well at learning.
Ringil
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-05T20:55:53.327Z
@Ringil - 《四書章句集注》:「優，有餘力也。仕與學理同而事異，故當其事者，必先有以盡其事，而後可及其餘。」All the classical commentaries offer similar glosses.  Here's an example from 《荀子》:「故魚鱉優多，而百姓有餘用也。」.
Master Sparkles
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-05T21:01:36.613Z
Actually, that sort of falls short of being a complete equivalency.  However 《抗志》 says:「且又朝夕受酒脯及祭膰之賜，衣食已優，意氣已定，...」, where I don't think it can plausibly mean "good" instead of "餘".  Since the 餘 character does occur in the 荀子 example it's not quite the same as 說/悅.
Master Sparkles
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-07T01:10:49.383Z
A more modern example (which is not technically 假借字) - mistakes like these can happen if you interpret non-Mandarin writing forms with Mandarin meaning. The famous saying 愛拼才會贏 comes from a modern Hokkien song, where 愛 actually means 需要, not 喜愛。 Totally different meaning!
Yang
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-04T23:30:13.487Z
2015-06-04T23:30:13.487Z
Master Sparkles
<p>說 indeed means 悅 here, but the more puzzling question is <em>why</em> you can use one to stand-in for the other. Almost all true "borrowed characters" (假借字, see <a href="http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%81%87%E5%80%9F%E5%AD%97" rel="nofollow">list</a>) we know of are "root versions" compared to the eventually created word, which this is not, even though a "兌" could have been possible here. </p>

<p>So the more likely explanation is that they are in fact the same character. But the two phonemes are <em>very</em> different in modern Mandarin, making it difficult to explain how the sound diverged. I've wondered about this problem myself for a while; I eventually found this page (in traditional Chinese) which provided a much more comprehensive argument, and it turns out there is in fact a plausible series of phonological shifts that can explain the divergence (see table in second section).</p>

<p><a href="http://www.tglin.idv.tw/essay/essay_lang57.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.tglin.idv.tw/essay/essay_lang57.htm</a></p>

<p>This theory would corroborate the view that the two meanings actually originated from one character (in pre-Han Chinese), and are not distinct characters. The reason why these meanings overlapped in one character would be hard to discover conclusively, but the one provided by RexYuan certainly sounds plausible.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-06T10:43:37.433Z
actually if you look at occurrences of the character 说 in Middle Chinese, i.e. in Tang -or-later 诗词 you'll see that even there the rhyming group implies a sound closer to 悦.  Also see the comment from http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/10798/how-should-i-pronounce-the-character-說-in-this-lyric :

"In my dialect 说 as speak is read xue. It's not in the first tone as in Mandarin, instead it's 入声"
Master Sparkles
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-05T15:38:56.780Z
2015-06-05T15:55:07.013Z
2015-06-05T15:55:07.013Z
Yang
<p>In the beginning of the Analects, Confucius writes:</p>
<p>學而時習之， 不亦說乎</p>
<p>I would translate it as &quot;to learn and take time practising,
is it not said? (spoken)?&quot;</p>
<p>Yet everywhere it is translated as <em>pleasant</em>. Why?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-06-05T01:10:09.093Z
You have to expect a lot of differences between the language of the Analects and current Chinese (no matter which version of current Chinese).
Colin McLarty
<translation>
Why is 說 translated as "pleasant" in Confucius's Analects?
# Why is 說 translated as "pleasant" in Confucius's Analects?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-06-04)

In the beginning of the Analects, Confucius writes:

學而時習之， 不亦說乎

I would translate it as "to learn and take time practising,
is it not said? (spoken)?"

Yet everywhere it is translated as *pleasant*. Why?

**Tags:** translation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: You have to expect a lot of differences between the language of the Analects and current Chinese (no matter which version of current Chinese).  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2015-06-05. Score: 6

說 is the original 悅, they mean the same thing. It's only because in different times, different character may be used to represent the same thing. This situation of different character used is called 古今字. Check [this](http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%A4%E4%BB%8A%E5%AD%97)(Chinese Wikipedia).

To back this up, consult (清)段玉裁《說文解字注》

> 説釋也。説釋卽悦懌。説悦釋懌皆古今字。許書無悦懌二字也。説釋者，開解之意。故爲喜悦。釆部曰。釋，解也。从言。兑聲。儿部曰。兑，説也。本周易。此從言兑會意。兑亦聲。弋雪切。十五部。一曰談説。此本無二義二音。疑後增此四字。别音爲失䑔切。

So as to *why* it's 說, it's because when you explain something (說釋->說明解釋) to someone, he or she will be happy because the you resolve (開解) their question.

username_4, I don't think call it stand-in word is appropriate since it's just the correct usage at that time. (Sorry I can't comment so I have to reply here)

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: I think the _why_ was just pronunciation (说 and 悦 used to have a similar pronunciation, which is why they share a phonetic component). The meanings of explanations and happiness are just made up.  
> **username_2**: Yes and no. They do share the same 聲意部 and thus the identical pronunciations. But what do you mean by *made up*? Entire Chinese language is made up by us humans, and the rules we used to create news characters are also made up. There has been numerous classics on how to interpret the characters. The example I mentioned, 說文解字注, is a 注釋 to the most authoritative classic in that field. The original [text](http://www.zdic.net/z/19/xs/60A6.htm), `悦,犹说也,拭也,解脱也。若人心有郁结能解释之也。` also suggest that. **However**, I assume if you insist, yes, all of Chinese is made up.  
> **username_3**: Are you familiar with the idea of a ["just so story"](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-so_story)? It's common to see characters  that were formed in a simple phonetic+radical way (形声字), but sound changes have completely obscured the phonetic. A long time after the fact, people want an explanation for why the character is that way. The true answer is simply "the phonetic", but people come up with elaborate stories to explain the semantic meaning of the character, as if they were 会意字. This is true in other languages too--see [false etymology](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_etymology).  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2015-06-04. Score: 5

it's used here as a stand-in for the character 悅, which probably did not exist yet. From the Han Dynasty 說文解字: 說者今之悅字.

Another example of this is 優 as in 學而優則仕: originally 優 was a stand-in for 餘.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: What, I'm pretty sure 優 is not the same as 餘. That word in that saying is pronounced you1...  
> **username_4**: Not now - but in that sentence from 論語 優 means 餘.  Can be hard to tell because it makes sense the other way as well.  Wonder how many people accidentally went into government because they were good students, only to discover that they had the wrong idea the whole time.;)  
> **username_0**: what"s a stand-in word?  
> **username_6**: @ZbigniewAdamowicz By stand-in, he means it's a [phonetic loan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_classification#Rebus_.28phonetic_loan.29_characters) (假借字). 說 and 悦 had very similar pronunciations in Old Chinese ([reconstructed as *l̥ot vs. *lot](http://ocbaxtersagart.lsait.lsa.umich.edu/BaxterSagartOCbyMandarinMC2014-09-20.pdf), respectively), so before the 悦 character was invented, 說 was often used for both meanings.  
> **username_5**: Do you have a source for this? All the modern translations/explanations say that it's you1 and means to do well at learning.  
> **username_4**: @username_5 - 《四書章句集注》:「優，有餘力也。仕與學理同而事異，故當其事者，必先有以盡其事，而後可及其餘。」All the classical commentaries offer similar glosses.  Here's an example from 《荀子》:「故魚鱉優多，而百姓有餘用也。」.  
> **username_4**: Actually, that sort of falls short of being a complete equivalency.  However 《抗志》 says:「且又朝夕受酒脯及祭膰之賜，衣食已優，意氣已定，...」, where I don't think it can plausibly mean "good" instead of "餘".  Since the 餘 character does occur in the 荀子 example it's not quite the same as 說/悅.  
> **username_7**: A more modern example (which is not technically 假借字) - mistakes like these can happen if you interpret non-Mandarin writing forms with Mandarin meaning. The famous saying 愛拼才會贏 comes from a modern Hokkien song, where 愛 actually means 需要, not 喜愛。 Totally different meaning!  

---

### Answer by username_7 on 2015-06-05. Score: 1

說 indeed means 悅 here, but the more puzzling question is *why* you can use one to stand-in for the other. Almost all true "borrowed characters" (假借字, see [list](http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%81%87%E5%80%9F%E5%AD%97)) we know of are "root versions" compared to the eventually created word, which this is not, even though a "兌" could have been possible here.

So the more likely explanation is that they are in fact the same character. But the two phonemes are *very* different in modern Mandarin, making it difficult to explain how the sound diverged. I've wondered about this problem myself for a while; I eventually found this page (in traditional Chinese) which provided a much more comprehensive argument, and it turns out there is in fact a plausible series of phonological shifts that can explain the divergence (see table in second section).

<http://www.tglin.idv.tw/essay/essay_lang57.htm>

This theory would corroborate the view that the two meanings actually originated from one character (in pre-Han Chinese), and are not distinct characters. The reason why these meanings overlapped in one character would be hard to discover conclusively, but the one provided by username_2 certainly sounds plausible.

> **Comments:**
> **username_4**: actually if you look at occurrences of the character 说 in Middle Chinese, i.e. in Tang -or-later 诗词 you'll see that even there the rhyming group implies a sound closer to 悦.  Also see the comment from http://chinese.stackexchange.com/questions/10798/how-should-i-pronounce-the-character-說-in-this-lyric :  "In my dialect 说 as speak is read xue. It's not in the first tone as in Mandarin, instead it's 入声"  

---

