What's the meaning of 凛として時雨?


So, I found a band called 凛{りん}として時雨{しぐれ}, and I would translate that name
like "cold as the seasonal rain", but I don't know if that would be to much of
a literal translation or if it has another meaning that I'm ignoring.

I would appreciate the help.




It makes little sense by itself. This phrasing (ab)uses artistic license to a
great degree, so I doubt I can bring up a nearly literal translation that
conveys the nuance.

Grammatically explained, the first part 凛として is "being dignified/frigid" (凛 is
literally like "cold and contracted", and figuratively refers to
"unapproachable stylishness"), an adverbial or continuative phrase, that
requires another predicate either way. The second part 時雨 is "drizzle or
shower in late autumn", a noun, obviously not a predicate. That's why this
phrase is ungrammatical.

However, there is a poetic technique often employed in haiku, that cuts off
the main predicate and places a noun phrase right beside it.

> 湖や **渺々として鳰一つ** （正岡子規）  
>  lit. _the lake, being so vast and boundless, and one grebe_
>
> 生も死も **累々として寒卵** （岩岡中正）  
>  lit. _With both the life and the death laid in heaps, the winter eggs_

In these haiku, what the last nouns have to do with the rest is grammatically
unspecified, because what should conclude the sentence is omitted. The
composition is merely a device to achieve rhetorical effect of superimposing a
scene to another, so the completeness of sentence is out of scope. The name
凛として時雨 is probably devised with those things in mind (時雨 is a traditional
seasonal keyword 季語 in haiku, too).




It makes little sense by itself. This phrasing (ab)uses artistic license to a
great degree, so I doubt I can bring up a nearly literal translation that
conveys the nuance.

Grammatically explained, the first part 凛として is "being dignified/frigid" (凛 is
literally like "cold and contracted", and figuratively refers to
"unapproachable stylishness"), an adverbial or continuative phrase, that
requires another predicate either way. The second part 時雨 is "drizzle or
shower in late autumn", a noun, obviously not a predicate. That's why this
phrase is ungrammatical.

However, there is a poetic technique often employed in haiku, that cuts off
the main predicate and places a noun phrase right beside it.

> 湖や **渺々として鳰一つ** （正岡子規）  
>  lit. _the lake, being so vast and boundless, and one grebe_
>
> 生も死も **累々として寒卵** （岩岡中正）  
>  lit. _With both the life and the death laid in heaps, the winter eggs_

In these haiku, what the last nouns have to do with the rest is grammatically
unspecified, because what should conclude the sentence is omitted. The
composition is merely a device to achieve rhetorical effect of superimposing a
scene to another, so the completeness of sentence is out of scope. The name
凛として時雨 is probably devised with those things in mind (時雨 is a traditional
seasonal keyword 季語 in haiku, too).

