"Gotoku" meaning "like/as" as a noun?

[J44xm]

I have a Love Hina song entitled "Tsuki No Gotoku," which I'm told means "like the Moon." But I'm a bit confused about the grammar because WWWJDIC says that "gotoku" means "like; as." So is this "as of the Moon" the way it's done in nihongo?

 

[GaijinPunch]

It was explained to me as similar to "~ no koto".

 

[Tamie]

Hi,J44xm.
I think "Tsuki No Gotoku," means "like the moon"

 

[J44xm]

It was explained to me as similar to "~ no koto".

I'm unfamiliar with this expression. Is that "koto" in the sense of "thing; matter; fact; circumstances; business; reason; experience"? How might it be used?

(Darn it! I'm not getting update notifications by e-mail!)

 

[epigene]

I have a Love Hina song entitled "Tsuki No Gotoku," which I'm told means "like the Moon." But I'm a bit confused about the grammar because WWWJDIC says that "gotoku" means "like; as." So is this "as of the Moon" the way it's done in nihongo?

"Gotoku" in an inflection of "gotoshi（如し）which means "comparable to" or "equivalent to." That is the reason why it is defined as "like" or "as."
A similar and more common expression would be:
～のような（～の様な）.

Hope it helps!

 

[J44xm]

It does. Sankyuu!

 

[Glenn]

It does. Sankyuu!

I like using "39!" instead.

 

[J44xm]

On "Naruto", "Itachi no koto ﾂ…"

This was posted in the translation-request thread, but I'll replicate it here since I believe it's of some interest.

Noun no koto literally means "thing of N" and is often used with verbs such as shitte iru (to know), hanasu (talk) and wasureru (to forget). And in your case oboeru (to remember). So it's like "know about Noun", "talk about Noun", "forget about Noun" and in your case "remember about Noun" with Noun being Jona-san (your name?). So he's saying that he remembers about Jona-san. "I remember Jona-san"

It's of convenience that this week's episode of Naruto apparently used this "[noun] no koto" construction. I've ripped the audio to a Vorbis file for those who might be interested. It's always exciting to see things you just learned used in the field, as it were. Is the translation "Also, about Itachi, I will take the responsibility of watching over him" accurate? Oh, and could I ask someone to type out what was said in Japanese so that I might examine it further. Many thanks!

Update: Also, here's an interesting line from the same episode. Lots of, er, しs and しゅs!

I like using "39!" instead.

Er, I don't understand. (わかりません。)

 

[Miki-san]

Glenn was saying 3(san) 9(kyuu)!

Miki-san

 

[J44xm]

Ohhhhhh! ^_^ I should have thought a little harder. So, uh, 39!

 

[Glenn]

Yeah, that's one of my attempts at dajare. One of my favorites was CorDarei's "日本語をマナ部" name as a suggestion for a Japanese language learning club.