kanashii tomo no koe wa nani o ureu

English translation: be anxious [concerned] (about), worry

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Japanese term or phrase:	憂う (ureu)
English translation:	be anxious [concerned] (about), worry
Entered by:	jsl (X)

21:03 Oct 20, 2002

Japanese to English translations [Non-PRO]

Japanese term or phrase: kanashii tomo no koe wa nani o ureu

The above song lyric is causing me trouble because I cannot find the final verb in the sentence in a dictionary.

Also, could someone translate the verb tanabiku? I also can't find that in a dictionary.

Thanks.

D Tse

憂う (ureu)

Explanation:
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Note added at 2002-10-20 21:13:21 (GMT)
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The verb ¥"憂う¥" (ireu) is the one used in the written Japanese before the war, and its present-day form is ¥"憂える¥" (ureeru). This refers to ¥"be anxious (about)¥", ¥"be concerned (about)¥" (both from Shogakkan¥'s Progressive JE dictionary), ¥"worry¥", and so on.

¥"tanabiku¥" is a verb which means (flag, hair, or smoke) ¥"trails¥", ¥"flows¥", (mist) ¥"hungs¥", ¥"lies¥", ¥"lingers on¥" (the latter also from Shogakkan¥'s dictionary).

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Note added at 2002-10-20 21:16:32 (GMT)
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Although I am not good at writing poesm, the lyric literally means ¥"what is the sad [sorrowful] voice of (my) friend worrying about?¥"

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Note added at 2002-10-20 21:17:31 (GMT)
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With kanji, it would be written as follows:

悲しい [哀しい] 友の声は何を憂う

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Note added at 2002-10-20 21:18:35 (GMT)
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BTW, ¥"ureu¥" can be written as ¥"愁う¥" also, thanks to ATOK14¥'s suggestion.

Selected response from:

jsl (X)
Local time: 20:56

Grading comment

4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

5 +3

憂う (ureu)

jsl (X)

4 +4

What is the sorrowful voice of my friend grieving?

mkj (X)

Answers

2 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

憂う (ureu)

jsl (X)
Local time: 20:56
PRO pts in pair: 1098

4 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

What is the sorrowful voice of my friend grieving?

Explanation:
Above is the literal translation of the phrase from Kuwata's song. It means, "I hear sorrow in my friend's voice. What is she/he grieving over?" Ureu is the old and literary way of saying ureeru. It has a lot of meanings as Daisuke pointed out. In this case, the word ureu corresponds with kanashii(sorrowful), so I would choose grieve for translation.

As for tanabiku, it is synonymous with nabiku, which means for a flag (in this case) to stream or flutter in the wind.

Why didn't Tommy translate the whole song into English?

Reference: http://members.tripod.co.jp/Enigmatic/score/m_kiseki.htm

mkj (X)
United States
Local time: 04:56
PRO pts in pair: 159

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