What is the meaning and function of "幸" in the following sentence?
吾翁即若翁。必欲烹而翁，则幸分我一杯羹
幸 in this context means to hope for.
吾翁即若翁。必欲烹爾翁，則幸分我一杯羹
My old man is your old man. If you want to boil your old man alive, then I hope that you’ll share a portion of the soup with me.
As far as I can find, the original text says 必欲烹「而」翁 rather than 必欲烹「爾」翁, but the interpretation is the same.
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What source do you have available that indicates 幸 means "hope" here? – Apollyon Mar 11 '19 at 10:37
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1@Apollyon 幸 doesn't necessarily mean hope - its common meaning that people are familiar with is fortune. However, hope is an extended meaning - consider the translation instead: may I be fortunate enough to receive a portion of the soup, which is another natural translation. Of course, 幸 means hope as one of the meanings given by standard reference dictionaries like 《漢語大詞典》: "12. 希望， 期望。 亦為表示希望之辭。" – dROOOze Mar 11 '19 at 10:42
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幸 is hope that. The excerpt is from 《史记》 项羽 threatened 刘邦 that he would boil 刘邦's father alive. But 刘邦 was not afraid of him and said: "吾(my)翁(father)即(is)若(your)翁。(if you)必(must)欲(will,want)烹(boil alive)爾(your)翁,則(conjunction)(I)幸(hope)分(share)我(me)一杯(a bowl of)羹(soup)。
Note: 刘邦 and 项羽 once 拜为兄弟
answered Mar 11 '19 at 11:09
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Some sources say it is an adverb: <副>敬词，希望对方照自己的意见做，可译为“希望”。《孔雀东南飞》：“幸可广问讯，不得便相许。” – Apollyon Mar 11 '19 at 11:20
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Moderators: I think this answer is an excellent demonstration of why its good to have Ruby text functionality as in this meta question. It's super-useful, and not just for readings/pinyin. – dROOOze Mar 11 '19 at 11:23
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That is true. Classical Chinese is not strict on part of speech. – Toosky Hierot Mar 11 '19 at 11:55
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Here's an example that requires 幸 to be treated as an adverb: 吾子幸觀焉. The source passage indicate 吾子 is not the person bearing the hope. Rather, the intended meaning is that the speaker hoped 吾子 (the addressee) would do something. – Apollyon Mar 15 '19 at 2:08
幸 literally means 'feel lucky for' or 'happy for'
吾翁即若翁。必欲烹爾翁，則幸分我一杯羹
My old man is your old man. If you want to boil your old man alive, then I would be happy to share a portion of the soup.
'hope for' is extended meaning of 'happy for' -- When you are happy for something to happen, you are hoping for it to happen
In the idiom: "幸災樂禍" (happy to see other people suffer) both 幸 and 樂 mean 'happy for'; 災禍 means disaster
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Why down vote? I said 幸 also means 'hope for', just stated the literal meaning of 幸 is 'feel lucky for" or "feel happy for" . Is that wrong? – Tang Ho♦ Mar 11 '19 at 10:59
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I don't think so, see zh.wikisource.org/zh-hant/%E5%8F%B2%E8%A8%98/%E5%8D%B7007 and ctext.org/shiji/xiang-yu-ben-ji/zh. – dROOOze Mar 11 '19 at 11:05
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