Translation of 竜すらも恐るるに足らない


The full text is...

> この魔剣があれば… メルヴィンの言うとおり 竜すらも恐るるに足らない…

Is this a double negative? "Even dragons to be not afraid is not enough" =
"Even dragons are [will be] afraid".




I see only one negation in your sentence, and therefore I do not know what
made you think that it might be a double negative. Anyway, 恐るるに足らない means “not
worth fearing.”

Strictly speaking, 恐るるに足らない is not very correct because it is a mixture of the
classical and modern Japanese grammars. As I explained in an
[answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/2480/15) to the question which
cypher linked to, it should be 恐るるに足らず in the classical grammar and 恐れるに足らない
in the modern grammar.




I see only one negation in your sentence, and therefore I do not know what
made you think that it might be a double negative. Anyway, 恐るるに足らない means “not
worth fearing.”

Strictly speaking, 恐るるに足らない is not very correct because it is a mixture of the
classical and modern Japanese grammars. As I explained in an
[answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/2480/15) to the question which
cypher linked to, it should be 恐るるに足らず in the classical grammar and 恐れるに足らない
in the modern grammar.

