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I'm reading Harry Potter in Japanese and it goes:

力は失せ、命も絶えなんとする姿で、ヴォルデモートは逃げ去った。
His powers gone, his life almost extinguished, Voldemort had fled;

命も絶えんとする姿で would make sense to me, but it's a bit confusing with the extra な. What is it? Can it be the perfective ぬ (as in 風が立ちぬ =The wind has risen)?

naruto
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squirrel
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  • Why they used an expression like this in a children’s book is beyond me. – aguijonazo Jan 06 '22 at 02:12
  • 読んだことないですが、ファンタジー作品ならこういう古めかしい表現もあるのかなー、と思ってました。現代文では「さもありなん」を除けばまず見ないですよね…。 – naruto Jan 06 '22 at 03:18
  • @aguijonazo I have often heard people say that the translation of Harry Potter is strange, but I don't think I've ever found a breakdown of why people think so. – Leebo Jan 06 '22 at 03:44
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    @Leebo By googling "harry potter 翻訳おかしい," you can find some interesting Japanese threads like https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q13174025388 – Jimmy Yang Jan 06 '22 at 05:35

1 Answers1

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Yes, that な is the irrealis form (未然形) of ぬ from classical Japanese. ぬ is usually the auxiliary for the perfective aspect (as in 風立ちぬ), but when it's combined with an auxiliary of inference such as ん (=む), it emphatically adds the degree of certainty.

ぬ

(2) 強意…［きっと～・～してしまう］

船にのりなんとす。（土佐日記・一二月二七日）
　（船に乗ってしまおうとする。）

※「つ」・「ぬ」＋推量の助動詞
　つべし・ぬべし・てむ・にむ・つらむ・ぬらむ・てまし・なまし・にけむ・てけむ
　などの推量の助動詞とともに用いられる場合は強意となる。

ぬ

②〔確述〕きっと…だろう。間違いなく…はずだ。▽多く、「む」「らむ」「べし」など推量の意を表す語とともに用いられて、その事態が確実に起こることを予想し強調する。

完了の助動詞「つ」「ぬ」を解説！【古典文法】

推量（系）の助動詞と連携

この「つ」「ぬ」は推量（系）の助動詞（いずれ出てきます）とも連携します。そして、なんと推量と連携する時、「つ」「ぬ」は新たな文法的意味を獲得します。それが 「強意」。

この時の「つ」や「ぬ」の意味は「完了」ではなくて「強意」です。訳す際には、「きっと〜だろう」と訳し、「きっと」のところに「強意」の意味が反映されています。

So:

  • 絶えん (絶えむ) = 絶えるだろう
  • 絶えなん (絶えなむ) = 間違いなく絶えるだろう/絶えてしまうだろう

See this entry, too.

naruto
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    Fascinating question and answer. I have a question about native speakers' general knowledge of this type of construction. Do native Japanese speakers only understand such things because they have studied 文語 at school? Or do they have a kind of vague intuition about some Classical constructions (e.g. -む ~= だろう) even though they have never formally studied Classical Japanese? – jogloran Jan 06 '22 at 01:07
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    @jogloran Simple ん/む for volition/inference (e.g., いざ行かん, さもあらん) is relatively common in manga and lyrics, so most people know how it works intuitively. なん/なむ is much less common, and average native speakers don't understand it intuitively. I think I knew about it before the university entrance exam, but I had forgotten about it until yesterday. – naruto Jan 06 '22 at 03:26