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I came across this while reading 「狼と香辛料」and was confused by the usage of を in
the sentence below:

> 少女は狼の耳と尻尾を有した美しい娘で、自ら **を** 豊作 **を** 司る神ホロと名乗った。

In particular I'm interested in 「自らを豊作を司る」which I would normally expect to be
written 「自ら豊作を司る」without the first「を」.

What is the meaning of the above sentence fragment vs. simply「自ら豊作を司る」?
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2016-04-11T02:29:30.227
33480
2016-04-11T05:58:07.250
2016-04-11T02:52:44.733
14125
question
grammar particle-を subordinate-clauses
Usage of を in 自らを豊作を司る
> 自ら **を** 「豊作を司る神、ホロ」と名乗った。

豊作を司る modifies 神 as a relative clause ("God who presides over fertility").
豊作を司る神 is in apposition to ホロ.

自ら **を** ～と名乗る sounds natural to my ears, and according to BCCWJ, it's roughly
as common as 自ら～と名乗る (without を).

[![table](https://i.stack.imgur.com/YBMU5.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/YBMU5.png)

The difference between the two is small, but 自ら (without を) may have the
feeling of "voluntarily" or "on one's own initiative" in some cases. 自らを●●と名乗る
only means "call/name oneself ●●".
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2016-04-11T04:58:53.930
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2016-04-11T05:58:07.250
2016-04-11T05:58:07.250
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answer