<p>《逸周書：諡法解》：
經緯天地曰文。道德博厚曰文。勤學好問曰文。慈惠愛民曰文。愍民惠禮曰文。錫民爵位曰文。</p>
<p>諡法 is a book that was written in early Zhou. It specifies some select words as a summary of life for someone who just died. Usually only noble men were given such posthumous titles.</p>
<p>The quoted text above is the designated meaning of the title when the word 文 should be used on someone. It can be roughly translated as follow.</p>
<ul>
<li>Being principled, administering with rule and order, wen is such.</li>
<li>Being ethical, learned, and of profound scholarship, wen is such.</li>
<li>Being inquisitive and truth seeking, wen is such.</li>
<li>Being benevolent, generous, and caring, wen is such.</li>
<li>Being sympathetic and respecting social decorum, wen is such.</li>
<li>Bestowing honors and titles to the people, wen is such.</li>
</ul>
<p>Here the word 文 is not translated because in this context, there is no single word that can be found in English to carry the meaning of the word with complete fidelity and authenticity.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-04T17:50:37.290Z
文: 经天纬地曰文，照临四方曰明的意思是上知天文(astronomy)下知地理(geography)才称得上有文化，

光芒普照四方才称得上光明。最早出自唐代孔颖达注疏《尚书》时对“文明”的解释。

If you know astronomy and geography, you are civilized! (Counts me out!)
Pedroski
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-04T19:47:27.047Z
Yes, this makes a lot of sense. Thanks.
Fred Liu
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-04T15:07:07.530Z
2024-05-04T15:07:07.530Z
Fred Liu
<p>孔圉 AKA 孔文子: 被大家称为“文”</p>
<p>不耻下问</p>
<p>春秋时(770-476 BC)，卫国(c. 1040-209 BC)大夫孔圉（yu3）死了，被大家称为“文”，孔子的学生子夏问孔子道﹔”孔圉天资聪明而又勤奋好学，他不认为向地位比自己低﹑学问比自己差的人请教，是件羞耻的事，所以他死后给他这个称号。”</p>
<p>I think this &quot;文&quot; just means &quot;cultured&quot; or is there some other meaning?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-04T08:32:57.103Z
In this context, I believe it is something like Alexander the Great, a name given posthumously to give an exact but terse description of his whole life. 文 could be either culture文化, or word文字,or literature文学, but here I believe it should be a man of letters文人,per the words of Confucius.
NanningYouth
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-04T08:44:22.750Z
[《論語・公冶長》](https://ctext.org/analects/gong-ye-chang) 子貢問曰：「孔文子何以謂之文也？」子曰：「敏而好學，不恥下問，是以謂之文也。」
dROOOze
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-05T12:30:52.873Z
@dROOOze Forgot to say thanks for the link! Very nice!
Pedroski
<meaning-in-context>
What is the meaning of this 文? 孔圉 AKA 孔文子: 被大家称为“文”
# What is the meaning of this 文? 孔圉 AKA 孔文子: 被大家称为“文”

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-05-04)

孔圉 AKA 孔文子: 被大家称为“文”

不耻下问

春秋时(770-476 BC)，卫国(c. 1040-209 BC)大夫孔圉（yu3）死了，被大家称为“文”，孔子的学生子夏问孔子道﹔”孔圉天资聪明而又勤奋好学，他不认为向地位比自己低﹑学问比自己差的人请教，是件羞耻的事，所以他死后给他这个称号。”

I think this "文" just means "cultured" or is there some other meaning?

**Tags:** meaning-in-context

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: In this context, I believe it is something like Alexander the Great, a name given posthumously to give an exact but terse description of his whole life. 文 could be either culture文化, or word文字,or literature文学, but here I believe it should be a man of letters文人,per the words of Confucius.  
> **username_2**: [《論語・公冶長》](https://ctext.org/analects/gong-ye-chang) 子貢問曰：「孔文子何以謂之文也？」子曰：「敏而好學，不恥下問，是以謂之文也。」  
> **username_0**: @username_2 Forgot to say thanks for the link! Very nice!  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2024-05-04. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

《逸周書：諡法解》：
經緯天地曰文。道德博厚曰文。勤學好問曰文。慈惠愛民曰文。愍民惠禮曰文。錫民爵位曰文。

諡法 is a book that was written in early Zhou. It specifies some select words as a summary of life for someone who just died. Usually only noble men were given such posthumous titles.

The quoted text above is the designated meaning of the title when the word 文 should be used on someone. It can be roughly translated as follow.

* Being principled, administering with rule and order, wen is such.
* Being ethical, learned, and of profound scholarship, wen is such.
* Being inquisitive and truth seeking, wen is such.
* Being benevolent, generous, and caring, wen is such.
* Being sympathetic and respecting social decorum, wen is such.
* Bestowing honors and titles to the people, wen is such.

Here the word 文 is not translated because in this context, there is no single word that can be found in English to carry the meaning of the word with complete fidelity and authenticity.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: 文: 经天纬地曰文，照临四方曰明的意思是上知天文(astronomy)下知地理(geography)才称得上有文化，  光芒普照四方才称得上光明。最早出自唐代孔颖达注疏《尚书》时对“文明”的解释。  If you know astronomy and geography, you are civilized! (Counts me out!)  
> **username_3**: Yes, this makes a lot of sense. Thanks.  

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