すれ / 「黒ぶち」を筆頭に / はたから / こちら

[eeky]

Hello,


1. だが女性にとって、以前めがねは嫌われこそすれ、プラスなんかにはならなかった。

Translation given: "Some time ago, when the wearing of glasses by women met with disfavor, women were deprived of the benefits of this advantage."

I gather こそ is emphasising, but what is すれ here?


2. 実際コンタクトレンズの改良が著しいというのに、めがねをかける女性が目立ち、しかもそのことをことさらに強調するような、「黒ぶち」を筆頭に、アクセントをきかせたフレームが好まれている。

Translation given: "The development of contact lenses can be regarded as a remarkable achievement, true - nonetheless, a woman garbed in glasses stands out from the crowd. At present, black rims and accents on frames are favoured; they emphasise the wearer's conspicuousness even more."

I am having several problems with this sentence.

a) Does そのこと refer to the wearing of glasses by women?

b) I can't work out how 「黒ぶち」を筆頭に fits into the sentence structure. I assume 黒ぶち means black rims, but I'm not sure of the purpose and grammar of を筆頭に.

c) What is the literal meaning of ぶち? The closest I could find in the dictionary was "stick; cane", but I'm not sure if it's a completely different word here.

d) What form of what verb is きかせた?


3. その気がなければ、はたからはどうすることもできないとよく言うだろうね。

Translation given: "If he doesn't want to learn, we can't make him."

What is はたから? Could it mean something like "other people"? Is it はた + から, or is it one "word"?


4. 機械だと思って対していた相手が急に人間になったら、こちらはまごついてしまう。

(The topic is a speaking vending machine.)

Translation given: "When one's partner in this exchange -- thought of and regarded as a machine -- suddenly becomes human, complete perplexity results."

Does the use of こちら indicate that the translation really ought to be in the first person, or can it just refer to "the person in question"?

 

[Toritoribe]

1)
It's more likely for contrasting.

２ ある事柄を一応認めておいて、それに対立的、あるいは、否定的な事柄を続ける。「感謝―すれ、恨むことはあるまい」「賛成―するが、積極的ではない」

こそ - goo辞書

すれ is the 已然形[いぜんけい] of a classical verb す, which is the equivalent to the -ba conditional form of する in Modern Japanese. The reason why 已然形 is used here is from a grammatical rule in Old Japanese, which is called 係り結び. You can think こそすれ as a kind of set phrase.

2) a)
Yes.

b)
Is there actually a comma after 強調するような? Is so, そのことをことさらに強調するような modifies アクセントをきかせたフレーム, i.e., the usual order of the words is しかも「黒ぶち」を筆頭に、そのことをことさらに強調するようなアクセントをきかせたフレーム. But it's more natural to interpret そのことをことさらに強調するような modifies 「黒ぶち」. Although I wouldn't put the comma there for the latter case.

c)
It would be far clear if it's written in kanji 黒縁.;-)

d)
the past of 利かせる

利かせる - goo辞書

3)
傍 ＋ から: by/from other people

２ （傍・側）そば。かたわら。また、そばにいる人。第三者。「―で見て覚える」「―の目を気にする」

はた - goo辞書

4)
Basically こちら refers to first person "I", but it seems that the writer told generalities in the protagonist's viewpoint.

 

[eeky]

Thank you!

2b. Sorry, my mistake, there is no comma there. That was partly messing me up because, with the comma, I think I was somehow misreading ような as ように. But still I am struggling with the sentence as a whole.

I think I understand そのことをことさらに強調するような「黒ぶち」

I think I understand アクセントをきかせたフレームが好まれている

What I am not still clear about is how を筆頭に fits, or how the whole sentence works grammatically.

Is the whole of そのことをことさらに強調するような「黒ぶち」を筆頭に adverbial, and modifying アクセントをきかせたフレームが好まれている?

How would you translate the を筆頭に part anyway?

 

[Toritoribe]

そのことをことさらに強調するような「黒ぶち」 is an example, which heads the list, of アクセントをきかせたフレーム. It's similar to ～を始めとして.

Black rims that emphasise the wearer's conspicuousness even more, heading the list, accents on frames are favoured.

 

[eeky]

So, now I'm thinking that the を after 「黒ぶち」 is not actually marking 「黒ぶち」 as the object of any verb. Is that correct?

Or is 「黒ぶち」 somehow also an object of きかせた?

 

[Toritoribe]

Purely grammatically, を indicates the object of 筆頭にする. In fact, ～を筆頭に can be rephrased with ～を筆頭にして/として.

 

[eeky]

Thanks, that makes sense to me now.