Trying to figure out the meaning of a sentence

karenk · 1 Jul 2022

Hi, so I'm scratching my head over the following passage (p. 85-86): 家根には、真っ青な太陽から黄色の日が毒のやうに導き流れていた. "On the roof of the houses, a yellow sun/day was streaming from the pale sun like poison? Does it make any sense? I wrote 毒 but I'm not so sure about my reading. Did I miss anything? Ideas?

太陽が真っ青に燐の炎のやうにくるくると廻轉していた。下がって行く道から線路を越した向うの人家の屋根が見えた。家根には、真っ青な太陽から黄色の日が毒のやうに導き流れていた。汽車が通り過ぎた。黒い煤煙は枸杞の木の傍に聳えた椎の木に打つ衝かつて靡いた。煤煙が蔓って原が僅の間暗くなった。

mdchachi · 1 Jul 2022

karenk said:
Hi, so I'm scratching my head over the following passage (p. 85-86): 家根には、真っ青な太陽から黄色の日が毒のやうに導き流れていた. "On the roof of the houses, a yellow sun/day was streaming from the pale sun like poison? Does it make any sense? I wrote 毒 but I'm not so sure about my reading. Did I miss anything? Ideas?

太陽が真っ青に燐の炎のやうにくるくると廻轉していた。下がって行く道から線路を越した向うの人家の屋根が見えた。家根には、真っ青な太陽から黄色の日が毒のやうに導き流れていた。汽車が通り過ぎた。黒い煤煙は枸杞の木の傍に聳えた椎の木に打つ衝かつて靡いた。煤煙が蔓って原が僅の間暗くなった。

If you changed "poison" to "disinfectant" the English would make some sense. Not sure if that's a valid translation for 毒 though.

Toritoribe · 1 Jul 2022

karenk said:
Hi, so I'm scratching my head over the following passage (p. 85-86): 家根には、真っ青な太陽から黄色の日が毒のやうに導き流れていた. "On the roof of the houses, a yellow sun/day was streaming from the pale sun like poison? Does it make any sense? I wrote 毒 but I'm not so sure about my reading. Did I miss anything? Ideas?

I think 日 refers to 日差し, i.e., sunshine/sunlight/sun rays.

毒 is どく, meaning literally "poison" there. I think it suggests/foretells what will happen on her right after that...

karenk · 1 Jul 2022

mdchachi said:
If you changed "poison" to "disinfectant" the English would make some sense. Not sure if that's a valid translation for 毒 though.

Literary translations have this kind of problem... Sometimes we have to guess things...

Toritoribe said:
I think 日 refers to 日差し, i.e., sunshine/sunlight/sun rays.

毒 is どく, meaning literally "poison" there. I think it suggests/foretells what will happen on her right after that...

Yes, I agree. Sunshine sounds better indeed. Thank you!

karenk · 25 Jul 2022

Hi, how do you interpret these long dashes on a phrase? For exemple:

この病気は病気からばかりではない――と云ってよこした男の顔は、病いと思いに蒼く雲れていた。女は男を痛わり慰めた――その昨夜の女の優しさを男は思い浮べながら、其の優しさの何所に「別れるこころ」があるのかと

I've seen some that are even longer. Could anyone explain how they are used? Which are their functions in a written text? Thank you!

Toritoribe · 25 Jul 2022

It seems to me that it expresses "pause", remembering the scene in the memory for the first dash and returning to the real world/present time for the second one.

karenk · 25 Jul 2022

Toritoribe said:
It seems to me that it expresses "pause", remembering the scene in the memory for the first dash and returning to the real world/present time for the second one.

Thank you, Tori! Is this resource still in use? Or is it common?

Toritoribe · 26 Jul 2022

I would say it's not uncommon. Of course, the readers can interpret the meaning/function freely, though.

karenk · 28 Jul 2022

Hi! Do you think that 賢気な恰好 could be interpretes as "looked like a wise man/sage" ou just "a meditative pose/looked meditative"? I couldn't find 賢気 but I've found 堅気 in the dictionary but then the meaning would be different, like "a serious/grave pose". (It is about a bird by the way).

ペン先きのような嘴と、小さい頭を空を覗くように動かしている。仔細らしく小首を傾げて、不思議な大地を与えているような賢気な恰好であった。

Toritoribe · 29 Jul 2022

It's the former. The reading of 賢気 is かしこげ, i.e., かしこそう.

mdchachi · 29 Jul 2022

Toritoribe said:
It's the former. The reading of 賢気 is かしこげ, i.e., かしこそう.

What dictionary did you find it in? Are you using 広辞苑?

Toritoribe · 30 Jul 2022

I read it by myself, and confirmed by googling it.

“賢気”の読み方と例文｜ふりがな文庫

furigana.info

Another reading さかしげ is also possible, but さかしい is often used with a nuance of impertinent or crafty, so it doesn't fit here.

karenk · 30 Jul 2022

Toritoribe said:
I read it by myself, and confirmed by googling it.

“賢気”の読み方と例文｜ふりがな文庫

furigana.info

Another reading さかしげ is also possible, but さかしい is often used with a nuance of impertinent or crafty, so it doesn't fit here.

Thank you, Tori! I don't think I would find this reading by myself.

Another one of my unending interpretation questions... I'm not sure how to link 其の音にも男へ気を兼ねて、女は小鳥よりも自分が驚き, to the rest of the passage below. Does it mean that she was afraid of bothering/disturbing the man with the noise she was making while walking on the leaves? And why do you think that she was more surprised than the bird (a bird/birds)? It is because the man was pulling her through the woods? Or was it by the noise she was making while walking?

鳴声が遠くの方でしていた。男は女の手を引いて、林の中へ入った。女の踏んで行く草履の下で落葉がかさかさかさと音を立てる。其の音にも男へ気を兼ねて、女は小鳥よりも自分が驚き、男に引っ張られながら、男の忍ばせる足取りに従って行く。小鳥は深く隠れて今度は容易に見付からなかった。男は女の手を放して、一人で樹の間を縫って歩いた。

Toritoribe · 28 Sep 2022

karenk said:
Does it mean that she was afraid of bothering/disturbing the man with the noise she was making while walking on the leaves?

Yes.

karenk said:
And why do you think that she was more surprised than the bird (a bird/birds)? It is because the man was pulling her through the woods? Or was it by the noise she was making while walking?

It's the latter.

Sorry for the late reply!

karenk · 28 Sep 2022

Toritoribe said:
Yes.

It's the latter.

Sorry for the late reply!

Hi, Tori! No problem, I kind of had figured these out.

I'm happy to see you here again. I was going to ask if someone knew if you were okay. Hope it was just a time out to do your own things or take a vacation.

karenk · 12 Nov 2022

Hi! How would you interpret the following passage: 私と云うものが何うあの人の頭脳の中で動いていたものか夫れは私には分りません, is the character saying that she doesn't know how her husband view/considered her in his mind? Or just that a person like her couldn't understand what was going on in his mind? The last part also made me wonder if she was surprised by the fact that he brought up the subject of a break-up, which would mean being "discarded" by him. Sorry for my English...

これは初めて聞いた言葉でした。別れる......私は幾度繰り返してもこの言葉の形がはっきり私の胸に映ってこないほど驚きました。今ここで別れようと云い切るまでのその経過に、私と云うものが何うあの人の頭脳の中で動いていたものか夫れは私には分りません。分りませんけれども、私自身にしてはあの人から捨てると云う意味の別れ話を持ち出させようとは意外な事なのでした。

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