Give birth

[liuzix]

Can a father be said to give birth to a baby if he fathered the baby?

 

[SwissPete]

Welcome to the forum, liuzix.

I doubt it, since giving birth is defined as

To release live offspring from the body into the environment

Source.

 

[perpend]

Is this your own sentence, or did you read/hear it somewhere, liuzix?

 

[liuzix]

Is this your own sentence, or did you read/hear it somewhere, liuzix?

I read it in a book Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar, which was written by a Canadian sinologist.

The author gave this sentence as the translation of a sentence in ancient Chinese, <Chinese removed>, which I would render into English as "Six months after I was born, I was deserted by the death of my loving father." Yet the author gave a translation "Six months after he gave me birth, I was deserted ..."

I know that sometimes interpretation of ancient Chinese texts can be controversial. I just wonder if the author's version is sound English or merely an attempt to demonstrate his own literal interpretation of the ancient text.

 

[perpend]

(Very BTW, "Canadian sinologist gives me hope for posterity! Quite eloquent. Love it.)

"Six months after I was born, I was deserted by the death of my loving father."
Six months after he gave me birth, I was deserted ..."

Hmmm ... I might say:
I invented this whole idea/concept.
I'm the one who came up with this.

 

[Giorgio Spizzi]

Hullo, per.

Can an inanimate object (= death) be the logical subject of the transitive verb "desert"?

GS

 

[perpend]

Hullo, GS, but, of course.

Do you feel the contrary is not entertainable?

 

[echo_cheng]

<Chinese removed>，my father died when I was only six months old. It doesn't make sense a dead person deserts someone or something. My English is not good enough to give a better explanation, I just try to be helpful. According to Collins dictionary,

• 4.​
  V-T If someone deserts you, they go away and leave you, and no longer help or support you. <Chinese removed>
  
  <Chinese removed>​
  Mrs. Roding's husband deserted her years ago.
  
  <Chinese removed>
  
  
  

 

[liuzix]

I used "deserted by the death of" just to keep consistent with the author's style of translation. I know better way of expressing this in English.
I find the authors choose of words laughable and want to find out whether natives speakers feel the same way.