Meaning of 鳥さえ in the song ウィンターワンダーランド

Question

In this song, the lyrics go「青い鳥さえいつもさえずり。」

I'm not sure what さえ means in this context. Is this the particle さえ or does it mean somthing else?

Can anyone help me out? Thanks!

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 20 '18 at 15:05

3

I think this is the particle-さえ ("Even bluebirds are tweeting"). Although it does sound a bit weird to me, too, this is the only possible interpretation. It's also clearly different from what's said in the original lyrics, but this happens all the time in English-to-Japanese translation of lyrics.

answered Dec 20 '18 at 15:05

naruto

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I suspect that the translator used the particle さえ as a deliberate echo of the さえ in さえずり. – Eiríkr Útlendi Dec 20 '18 at 22:00
@EiríkrÚtlendi That never occurred to me :) – naruto Dec 21 '18 at 01:46

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 24 '18 at 15:59

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It's a rhyme to impress you with this bit of confusion. I often run into those kind of lyrics in J-pop made later than 00's.

answered Dec 24 '18 at 15:59

yasu

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Meaning of 鳥さえ in the song ウィンターワンダーランド

2 Answers2