1

The sentence in question is

「いずれにしても、強大な力を秘めていたことは間違いない」

For me, this would mean something like

"In any case, there is no doubt it was hiding its mighty power." (a)

However, Google translate gives the following sentence:

"In any case, there is no doubt that he had a great power." (b)

Now, normally, I don't take stuff from Google translate at face value but in this case, I've seen other people translating this sentence both ways (both (a) and (b)).

Context-wise, the sentence appears as part of the following dialogue,

「ミュウです」
発掘隊員が石版を指すと、博士は感嘆の表情を浮かべた。
「神秘の力を持ち、大洪水を引き起こしたとか••••••荒地に作物を実らせ、人々に分け与えたとか••••••」
「天使か悪魔か」
「気まぐれなだけか」
研究員たちが後に続くと、博士は笑みを浮かべた。
「いずれにしても、強大な力を秘めていたことは間違いない」

and it translation (b) can fit too. According to Jisho though, 秘める only has the meaning "to hide".

That being said, is (a) the correct translation? Is (b) possible as well?

Jak
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2 Answers2

3

Three monolingual dictionaries I checked have both of the following definitions:

  1. to conceal, to hide
  2. to have within itself, to possess (if not showily)

So how secretive it is depends on the context, but it's somewhere between 強大な力を宿している and 強大な力を隠している. I think "had a great power" is a reasonable translation in many cases.

Reference: https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%A7%98%E3%82%81%E3%82%8B-612565

naruto
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To me, both (a) and (b) are correct though I feel (a) sounds more accurate as the letter 秘 itself means a secret so with める it sort of becomes a verb meaning "to secretly possess" or "to have something (that usually refers to something spiritual or a special power) without anyone's knowledge" so "to hide" in this instance and in my opinion is more accurate.

YoOuch
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