catch

Haruki Murakamiの小説 "South of the Border, West of the Sun" を読んでいます。

Still, I was impressed by his unique outlook on life. I'd never met anybody like him. He drove around Tokyo in a chuffeur-driven Mercedes but he was never snobbish. When I went to see him to ask for his daughter's hand in marriage, he just said, "You're not children any more, so if you like each other it's up to you." I wasn't much of a catch, a nothing employee of a nothing company, but that din't faze him.

自分は "catch" では無いと言っていますが、その意味を辞書で調べます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: a person that other people see as a good person to marry, employ, etc.: He’s a good catch.
・Collins Dictionary: If you describe someone as a good catch, you mean that they have lots of good qualities and you think their partner is very lucky to have found them.: I was so in love with him and all my friends said what a good catch he was.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a person who is considered to be very suitable as a romantic or marriage partner: Her new boyfriend's not much of a catch really, is he?

キャッチコピーは和製英語で、英語では "catchphrase" と言うと読んだ事がありますが、小説に出てきた "catch" は人間に使うのですね。

bowl me over

Haruki Murakamiの小説 "South of the Border, West of the Sun" を読み始めました。

Not that I was attracted to her. I wasn't. She was nice and I enjoyed our time together. She was a pretty girl and, as my friend said, quite pleasant. But all these good points aside when I asked myself if there was something in her that would bowl me over, that would zoom straight to my heart, the answer was no. Nothing.

"bowl me over" は文脈からすると何か強い印象を与える意味のようですが、英英辞書で確認します。
・Collins Dictionary: If you are bowled over by something, you are very impressed or surprised by it.: ...a man who bowled her over with his humour and charm.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to surprise and please someone a lot: She was bowled over when she heard she'd won the competition.
・The American Herritage Dictionary: To make a powerful impression on someone; astound someone: She bowled over everyone at the meeting with her amazing presentation.

make of

Osam Dazaiの小説 "The Setting Sun" の(Donald Keen訳)、最後から一つ前の章、遺書（英語ではThe Testamentと訳されています）からの引用です。

Kazuko.
I have no room for hope. Good-bye.
In the last analysis my death is a natural one--man cannot live exclusively for principles. I have one request to make of you, which embarrasses me very much. You remember the hemp kimono of Mother's which you altered so that I could wear it next summer? Please put it in my coffin. I wanted to wear it.
The night has dawned. I have made you suffer a long time.
Good-bye.

今日取り上げるのも駆動詞で、"make of" の意味と用法です。 "make of" で調べると次の説明しか見つかりません。

・Collins Dictionary: If you ask a person what they make of something, you want to know what their impression, opinion, or understanding of it is.: Well, what did you make of her
・Merriam-Webster: to have or form an opinion about (something or someone): What do you make of this message?
・Wiktionary: To form an opinion about (someone or something); to appraise (a person, idea or situation).: What do you make of the new guy?

小説での意味はこれではありませんね。単に何かをお願いしているだけなので。
そこで久しぶりにChatGPTに質問して見ました。

ChatGPT: In the sentence "I have one request to make of you," the phrase "to make of you" is indeed different from the expression "What do you make of something?" which you found in the dictionary. Let's break it down grammatically.

1. "Make of" in Context:
• "Make of" (asking for an opinion or impression): As you pointed out, this usage is about asking someone's opinion or understanding of something. For example, "What do you make of the situation?" Here, "make of" means "interpret" or "think of."
• "Make of" in the Sentence from The Setting Sun: In this case, "make of" is not being used to ask for an opinion or interpretation. Instead, it functions differently.
2. Grammatical Breakdown:
• "To make a request of someone": In the sentence "I have one request to make of you," the phrase "to make of you" should be understood as "to direct toward you" or "to ask of you."
• Subject + Verb + Object + Prepositional Phrase: Here’s how the sentence is structured:
o Subject: "I"
o Verb: "have"
o Object: "one request"
o Prepositional Phrase: "to make of you" (which modifies the verb "make")
In this structure, "of you" specifies who the request is directed toward. It implies that the speaker has a request to direct at "you."

3. Rephrasing:
• If you were to rephrase it for clarity, you might say: "I have one request to ask of you," or simply, "I have a request for you."

4. Meaning in Context:
• The speaker is embarrassed to ask, but is essentially saying, "I have a request that I want you to fulfill."
In summary, in the context of The Setting Sun, "to make of you" grammatically means "to ask of you" or "to request from you," which is different from the "make of" expression meaning "to interpret."

どうも私は駆動詞としての "make of" の意味にこだわり過ぎたのですね。単純に "ask of you" と同じ意味でした。　それにしても丁寧な説明が一瞬に戻ってくるとはAI (ChatGPT)の威力には感服です。

take to

Osam Dazaiの小説 "The Setting Sun" (Donald Keen訳)を読んでいます。

She spoke with a genuinely unself-conscious smile. Behind her stood a thin little girl of about twelve with big eyes and a manner which suggested that she did not often take to people. I did not actually consider them my enemies, but I could be quite sure that one day this woman and child would think of me in those terms and hate me.

簡単な動詞で作られる駆動詞が私にとっては難しい。　上の文にある "take to" の意味をしらべます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: to start liking somebody/something: He hasn't taken to his new school.
・Collins Dictionary: If you take to someone or something, you like them, especially after knowing them or thinking about them for only a short time.: Did the children take to him?

人見知りする子なのですね。

camphor injection

Osam Dazaiの小説 "The Setting Sun" (Donald Keen訳)を読んでいます。

The old doctor, who normally gave forth nothing but jokes, rushed this time into the sickroom in a kind of rage and at once began his examination. This concluded, he muttered to no one in particular, "She's grown weaker." He gave Mother a camphor injection.

"camphor injection" の "camphor" は楠木から作られる樟脳ですが、樟脳から何かの注射液ができるのでしょうか？

・Collins Dictionary: a whitish, translucent, crystalline, pleasant-odored terpene ketone, C10H16O, obtained from the camphor tree, used chiefly in the manufacture of celluloid and in medicine as a counter-irritant for infections and in the treatment of pain and itching
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a white substance with a strong smell which is used in medicine and to keep moths (= flying insects) away from clothes that are stored

樟脳から何等かの薬品も作られるのでしょうね。もしかして、カンフル剤と言う言葉を聞いたことがありますが、このカンフルってcamphorから来たのでしょうか？　カンフルを調べると、心臓の働きを活発にして、血圧を上昇させる目的で注射されていたものが、いわゆる「カンフル剤」とありました。（https://ishikawa-mental.com/mt/archives/000106.html）

valerian, burnet and timothy

Osam Dazaiの小説 "The Setting Sun" (Donald Keen訳)を読んでいます。

"Well, then, since summer has passed, that means we're over the hump of your danger period, doesn't it? Mother, the bush clover is in bloom in the garden. And valerian, burnet, bellflowers, timothy--the whole garden reeks of autumn. I am sure that once it's October your temperature will go down."

花木の名前がいっぱい出てきました。見慣れない名前は "valerian"、"burnet"、"timothy" の三つですが、英英辞書でそれらの日本語名が当てられるか見ましたが、難しいですね。

"valerian" は次の辞書に写真も載っていました。
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a plant with small white or pink flowers and a root that is used in medicines, especially as a sedative (= drug to calm you or make you sleep)　valerian
野原で見かける花ですが、名前は知りません。
他の植物は写真を載せている辞書は見つからないのでGoogle検索で結果を画像で見ると、次の様な写真がみつかります。

Naturescape: burnet
これはワレモコウでしょう。
Great Basin Seed: timothy
これは正式名は分かりませんが、いわゆるネコジャラシに見えます。

ausculation

Osam Dazaiの小説 "The Setting Sun" (Donald Keen訳)を読んでいます。

He took three pears from a shelf in the corner of his reception room and offered them to me. He appeared a little after noon in his formal clothes. As usual he spent an interminable time in ausculation and percussion, at last turning to me with the words, "There is nothing to excite alarm. If your mother takes the medicine which I shall prescribe, she will recover."

"ausculation and percussion" は医者がすることを指していますが、まず "ausculation" を調べます。いつも使っている辞書検索のOnelookでは普通の辞書には載っていませんでしたが、次の辞典に説明がありました。

・Collins Discovery Encyclopedia: the diagnostic technique in medicine of listening to the various internal sounds made by the body, usually with the aid of a stethoscope
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms: The act of listening to sounds from internal organs, especially the heart and lungs, to aid in diagnosing their physical state.

聴診器で検査することですね。すると "percussion" は医者がよく手と指を使って体を叩いて調べることですね。

・Merriam-Webster: the act or technique of tapping the surface of a body part to learn the condition of the parts beneath by the resultant sound
・Wiktionary: The tapping of the body as an aid to medical diagnosis.

上記小説の引用文の少し後に次の文がありました。

The doctor, his ausculator dangling from his shoulders like a necklace, slouched in a wicker chair.

"ausculator" は "ausculation" をする為の道具なので聴診器ですが、聴診器は普通 "stethoscope" ですよね。 "stethoscope" は大分前に通訳ガイドの資格をとる時に覚えた単語です。

rack

Osam Dazaiの小説 "The Setting Sun" (Donald Keen訳)を読んでいます。

One night she was racked by a terrible cough. When I took her temperature, it was already 102 degrees.

会社で扱っている機器のカタログで "rack mounted" の表現をよく見かけるので "rack" と言うと名詞の棚のような物しか連想しませんが、引用文の動詞用法でどんな意味になるのでしょうか？

・Oxford English Dictionary: to make somebody suffer great physical or mental pain: Her face was racked with pain.
・Collins Dictionary: If someone is racked by something such as illness or anxiety, it causes them great suffering or pain.: His already infirm body was racked by high fever.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to cause physical or mental pain, or trouble, to someone or something: The dog was already racked by/with the pains of old age.

ferreted out

Osam Dazaiの小説 "The Setting Sun" (Donald Keen訳)を読んでいます。

I extracted the bedding from our baggage and helped Mother spread it. Something about her worried me so much that I ferreted out the thermometer to take her temperature.

"ferreted out" は初めてみる表現ではありませんが、今まで取り上げたことが無いようなので今回取り上げます。

・Oxford English Dictionary: to discover information or to find somebody/something by searching carefully and completely, asking a lot of questions, etc.: He is determined to ferret out the truth about what happened.
・Collins Dictionary: If you ferret about for something, you look for it in a lot of different places or in a place where it is hidden.: She nonetheless continued to ferret about for possible jobs.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to search for something by moving things around with your hands, especially in a drawer, bag, or other closed space: I was just ferreting around in my drawer for my passport.

小動物の "ferret" が動詞になると何故上記の意味になるのか不思議で語源辞書をみました。

Online Etymology Dictionary: early 15c., "hunt with a ferret," from ferret (n.) or from Old French verb fureter, in reference to the use of half-tame ferrets to kill rats and flush rabbits from burrows. The extended sense of "search out, discover," especially by perseverance and cunning, usually with out (adv.), is from 1570s.

kerria rose

地元の図書館に、英訳されたOsam Dazaiの小説が "No Longer Human" の他にもう一冊、「斜陽」、英語の題名は "The Setting Sun" があったので読むことにしました。
小説の語り手が昔の事を語っている個所からの引用です。

I was walking by the pond intending to cut flowers for the service. I stopped by a bank of azaleas and suddenly noticed a little snake twined around the tip of an azalea branch. This startled me a little. Then when I went to cut off a bough of kerria roses from the next bush, I saw a snake there too. On the rose of Sharon next to it, on the maple, the broom, the wisteria, the cherry tree--on every bush and tree--there was a snake.

花や植物が好きなので "kerria roses" がどんな植物か調べます。

・Collins Dictionary: any of a genus (Kerria) of Chinese plants of the rose family, esp. an ornamental species ( K. japonica) with slender, green twigs and bright yellow, often double flowers
・Merriam-Webster:　a shrub (Kerria japonica) of the rose family that is native to China and Japan and has solitary yellow and often double flowers

Wikipedia にはKerria japanicaの項があり、そこには写真も載っています。
"rose of Sharon" は大分前に二度（12/17/2007と7/7/2007）もとり上げた植物で、韓国の国花になっているムクゲです。