Meaning of こともあろう


> やつに人間らしさのかけらでも残っていれば死ぬこともあろうさ (Japanese Harry Potter TL)  
>  Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. (Original book)  
>  If even a trace of humanity remains in him, _he might even die_. (My TL
> attempt)

I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the Japanese sentence does not convey the
original meaning at all, but that's a separate issue.

My main concern is that I'm struggling with the meaning/nuance of 死ぬこともあろう in
this sentence. My literal breakdown is

> 死ぬこと an event where he dies  
>  死ぬことも even an event where he dies  
>  死ぬこともある there exists even an event where he dies  
>  死ぬこともあろう there might exist even an event where he dies (I'm guessing the
> volitional form adds some conjecture like with だろう)

Hence my final translation of "he might even die".

Is this even close to the truth? How would it differ if the sentence were
simply 死ぬだろう?




Your breakdown seems correct but your final translation doesn’t sound quite
right. I think it’s because of “even.”

も puts what it marks in the same category as other things, which are often not
stated explicitly. In this case, the event of him dying is included in the
speaker’s speculation among other possibilities. “He might even die” sounds
like him dying is a less likely scenario and even that less likely scenario is
possible. The Japanese sentence doesn’t have this nuance. It implies the
speaker wouldn’t be surprised if it had happened (supposing a trace of
humanity remained in him).

死ぬだろう means the speaker is reasonably certain he is going to die.

In any case, you are correct about the sentence not conveying the meaning of
the original, where the speaker seems to doubt he died. I’m not sure how they
ended up with this translation after having translated the preceding lines
with reasonable accuracy.

> Some say he died.  
>  やつが死んだと言う者も居る。
>
> Codswallop, in my opinion.  
>  そんなのは、たわごとにしか過ぎん。

* * *

The sentence might have been meant as a contrapositive statement suggesting
the speaker didn't think he had even a trace of humanity left in him, but it's
a bit hard to understand, especially for young readers. あるかもしれないが, just for
example, would have made this meaning much clearer. Or even just replacing the
final さ with が would have made a huge difference.




Your breakdown seems correct but your final translation doesn’t sound quite
right. I think it’s because of “even.”

も puts what it marks in the same category as other things, which are often not
stated explicitly. In this case, the event of him dying is included in the
speaker’s speculation among other possibilities. “He might even die” sounds
like him dying is a less likely scenario and even that less likely scenario is
possible. The Japanese sentence doesn’t have this nuance. It implies the
speaker wouldn’t be surprised if it had happened (supposing a trace of
humanity remained in him).

死ぬだろう means the speaker is reasonably certain he is going to die.

In any case, you are correct about the sentence not conveying the meaning of
the original, where the speaker seems to doubt he died. I’m not sure how they
ended up with this translation after having translated the preceding lines
with reasonable accuracy.

> Some say he died.  
>  やつが死んだと言う者も居る。
>
> Codswallop, in my opinion.  
>  そんなのは、たわごとにしか過ぎん。

* * *

The sentence might have been meant as a contrapositive statement suggesting
the speaker didn't think he had even a trace of humanity left in him, but it's
a bit hard to understand, especially for young readers. あるかもしれないが, just for
example, would have made this meaning much clearer. Or even just replacing the
final さ with が would have made a huge difference.

