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I found this sentence and I wonder whether I understand it correctly:

どれ腹の傷をおみせ、薬草をぬってあげよう。

The どれ there looks to me like “whichever” or “all”, so I’d get the sentence as “Let me look at all the wounds on your belly…” However I could not find a fitting example in a dictionary, so I am not sure.

If there’d be も, I’d have no doubts, as it then simply means “any”. But this sentence has no も and is not negative.

So, do I get it right? Does this use of question word as an attribute of a noun mean “any, all”?

Eiríkr Útlendi
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1 Answers1

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「どれ腹{はら}の傷{きず}をおみせ、薬草{やくそう}をぬってあげよう。」

You are "seeing" the wrong 「どれ」 here, which is the 「どれ」("which one") from こそあど.

This 「どれ」 is an interjection meaning "now", "well", "let's see", etc. It is most often used when checking on or taking a (close) look at something. We also say 「どら」、「どれどれ」, etc. for the same purpose.

"Now, let me see the wound on your tummy. I'll put some herbal medicine on it for you."

The author could have (or rather should have) inserted a comma right after the 「どれ」 for clarity's sake.