Monday, June 19, 2017

translation - Can 呉れ mean "I give to you" as well as "you give to me"?


Excerpt from よだかの星. Before the Nighthawk leaves, he stops to speak to the kingfisher and says:



「はちすずめへ、あとでよろしく云ってやって呉れ。」




I'm having trouble resolving the 呉れ with へ in this sentence.
It seems like the speaker (the Nighthawk) is saying:



"After (I leave), I will give best wishes in the direction of the hummingbird."



a.k.a. "When I'm gone, I'll send my best wishes to him".
However, I've never seen 呉れ used as "I give to you" (I've only seen it has "you give to me") so I'm unsure.


Is this a correct reading of 呉れ in this context?
Can 呉れ go both ways?



Answer




Recall that 呉れる is the plain version of the polite 下さる. くれ and ください both mean 'to do for or give to the in-group' (often just the speaker). In this case, do me the favor of giving him my regards.


よろしくお伝えください and よろしく言ってくれ both mean to give someone your regards (in your place), i.e. "Tell them I said 'hi'".


はちすずめへ、To the hummingbird

あとで later

よろしく云って = よろしく言って give my regards

やって呉れ do this for me


This culminates in:



Do me (the favor of) giving my regards to the hummingbird later on.



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