Jun 20, 2019 19:40
4 yrs ago
Japanese term
Italy
遠く長い
Non-PRO
Japanese to English
Art/Literary
Cinema, Film, TV, Drama
Dear ProZ members,
I have a doubt about the use of 遠く in the following sentence. It comes from a cartoon, and the speaker is talking about a legendary community of people.
数百年の遠く長い命の中で日々を織り続ける
(They keep weaving days in their very long centuries-old lives.)
I know that 遠く coupled with 長い works as an intensifier when you speak about distance, but is it the same when you speak about time? Or does it mean "long and distant lives" in my sentence?
Thank you very much!
I have a doubt about the use of 遠く in the following sentence. It comes from a cartoon, and the speaker is talking about a legendary community of people.
数百年の遠く長い命の中で日々を織り続ける
(They keep weaving days in their very long centuries-old lives.)
I know that 遠く coupled with 長い works as an intensifier when you speak about distance, but is it the same when you speak about time? Or does it mean "long and distant lives" in my sentence?
Thank you very much!
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 | centuries afar (etc.) |
Dale Ponte
|
Proposed translations
20 hrs
Selected
centuries afar (etc.)
遠く coupled with 長い does work as an intensifier in reference to time also.
Now I have a hunch that this 命 is that of the community (or settlement or hamlet). Would need a larger view of the context to determine for sure. If this proved to be basically accurate, I’d make doubly sure it’s clear from the surrounding context in English that “a life” refers to the community, that is, in the sense of the community’s organic existence over time. For such an ancient community is indeed regarded, felt at a deep level, as a 'being' that transcends the people who weave its days.
It is tricky indeed to get the content into equivalent diction. The diction in and of itself carries real meaning.
Going ahead as if 命 is that of the community, I might render this line something like:
Now I have a hunch that this 命 is that of the community (or settlement or hamlet). Would need a larger view of the context to determine for sure. If this proved to be basically accurate, I’d make doubly sure it’s clear from the surrounding context in English that “a life” refers to the community, that is, in the sense of the community’s organic existence over time. For such an ancient community is indeed regarded, felt at a deep level, as a 'being' that transcends the people who weave its days.
It is tricky indeed to get the content into equivalent diction. The diction in and of itself carries real meaning.
Going ahead as if 命 is that of the community, I might render this line something like:
Example sentence:
They keep weaving the days in/amid/within a life that comes from centuries afar.
They weave the ongoing days of/within/in a life that comes from centuries afar.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "I actually forgot to mention that these legendary beings do live for centuries, so I guess the sentence refers to the individual members of the community.
Thank you for confirming that 遠く is an intensifier here!"
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