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What does

母と慕う彼女は

mean?

I posted the question on HiNative to no luck and Google Translate is definitely way off. The use of the と particle has me a bit confused.

Chocolate
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Grant Poston
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1 Answers1

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The と here means as/like in the sense of A as B when comparing A to B. It's definition 3 in デジタル大辞泉:

３ 比較の基準を表す。「君の―は比べものにならない」「昔―違う」

It's definition 4 in デジタル大辞泉:

４ 動作・状態などの結果を表す。「有罪―決定した」「復讐 (ふくしゅう) の鬼―化した」

But honestly, I think it feels like it's used similarly to として.

The clause says "she who is respected as a mother"

Ringil
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  • So, we adore/ or respect her as a mother. Would the following make sense? 彼は立派な学生と慕う／立派な学生と慕う彼は。He who is respected as a fine student/ I respect/ adore him a fine student. – Grant Poston May 31 '19 at 18:16
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    @GrantPoston If "he" is the topic of the sentence and he is respected by many, you usually have to say 彼は立派な学生と慕われている or 立派な学生と慕われている彼 using the passive voice. In your case, I think the active voice is used because there is a particular person in the story who respects her like a mother. This use of と is discussed in [this question](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/55990/5010). – naruto May 31 '19 at 21:27
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    Is this common for Japanese to shorten として　to 　と? Or, do you think this was just a personal writing style for the author? Thank you, everyone else, as well for helping out! – Grant Poston Jun 01 '19 at 15:47
  • @GrantPoston So I suppose it's not really として, but it's a meaning such that it act as `as`. I suppose as linked in the answer by Chocolate's comment there are actions that do not take the quotative と, but they are fairly rare. However, as the answer naruto links also says there are other combinations of と such where it can act as `as` https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/55158/can-%e3%82%92-used-with-%e3%81%a0-%e3%81%a7%e3%81%99/55169#55169. In the examples naruto lists, I'd say many of them are fairly common. – Ringil Jun 03 '19 at 21:58