What does ざらんや mean?


I've found this sentence

百獣の我を見て敢へて走らざらんや。

and I'm trying to understand what it means. Searching on Google, it seems that
ざらんや belongs to Kobun language and is paired with 敢へて as explained here.

<https://www.try-it.jp/chapters-14482/sections-14486/lessons-14901/practice-3>

According to this website, it is also told that 敢へて～ざらんや can be interpreted
as「どうして～しないことがあろうか、いや必ず～する」. However, I must say I don't understand either
this interpretation in modern language, so the meaning of

百獣の我を見て敢へて走らざらんや。

or

百獣の我を見てどうして走らないことがあろうか、いや必ず走る。

is still not clear to me. **Could you please explain to me 敢へて～ざらんや and
「どうして～しないことがあろうか、いや必ず～する」and tell me the meaning of this sentence?**

**Besides, is ～ざらんや always paired with 敢へて, so that I will always see it as
敢へて～ざらんや, or can it be used alone as well? If so, how would its meaning change
from 敢へて～ざらんや?**




走らざらんや is an archaic version of 走らないだろうか. It corresponds to the modern version
word-by-word:

  * **走ら** :
  * [**ざら**](https://www.hello-school.net/haroajapa009020.htm): negation marker (ない)
  * [**ん**](https://www.hello-school.net/haroajapa009010.htm): inference marker (だろう)
  * [**や**](https://www.hello-school.net/haroajapa010032.htm): question marker (か)

敢えて is an adverb meaning "daringly" or "dare to (do)". It's still [in use in
modern Japanese](https://jisho.org/word/%E6%95%A2%E3%81%88%E3%81%A6).

So the original sentence can be literally translated as:

> 百獣の我を見て敢へて走らざらんや。  
>  ≈ 百獣の私を見て、敢えて走らないだろうか？
>
> Upon seeing me, (the king of) 100 beasts, would one dare not to run?

This of course is a rhetorical question, and the intended meaning is "anyone
would run away from me".

"どうして～しないことがあろうか、いや必ず～する" is taught to Japanese high school students as a
common technique to _verbosely_ translate this as a rhetorical question (or
反語疑問文 in Japanese). But if it's clear from the context that it's a rhetorical
question, you don't necessarily have to say the "いや必ず～する" part explicitly.




走らざらんや is an archaic version of 走らないだろうか. It corresponds to the modern version
word-by-word:

  * **走ら** :
  * [**ざら**](https://www.hello-school.net/haroajapa009020.htm): negation marker (ない)
  * [**ん**](https://www.hello-school.net/haroajapa009010.htm): inference marker (だろう)
  * [**や**](https://www.hello-school.net/haroajapa010032.htm): question marker (か)

敢えて is an adverb meaning "daringly" or "dare to (do)". It's still [in use in
modern Japanese](https://jisho.org/word/%E6%95%A2%E3%81%88%E3%81%A6).

So the original sentence can be literally translated as:

> 百獣の我を見て敢へて走らざらんや。  
>  ≈ 百獣の私を見て、敢えて走らないだろうか？
>
> Upon seeing me, (the king of) 100 beasts, would one dare not to run?

This of course is a rhetorical question, and the intended meaning is "anyone
would run away from me".

"どうして～しないことがあろうか、いや必ず～する" is taught to Japanese high school students as a
common technique to _verbosely_ translate this as a rhetorical question (or
反語疑問文 in Japanese). But if it's clear from the context that it's a rhetorical
question, you don't necessarily have to say the "いや必ず～する" part explicitly.

