43575
This is my first question on this site, so excuse me if I make any mistake.

I found this phrase in a text which uses pre-WW2 grammar (so I'm not entirely
sure if it's [生き乍らへて]{いきながらへて} or 生き乍ら **え** て due to historical kana usage).
I've searched in dictionaries but I haven't been able to find anything with
these specific kanji. I found 生き長らえて (to live long) though, but I don't know
whether it's the same thing (and it doesn't seem to fit in this text either).

生き obviously means "to live", and 乍ら is just the old ながら used to mean that
something is being done at the same time another action is being performed.
But it doesn't seem to make sense here. I provide the original and a version
with modern kana usage (only those lines that actually use the historical
usage).

I will be very thankful if somebody could shine some light about the meaning
of this word in the text.

```

    私は滅びゆく村を見た
    I saw the village being destroyed
    
    吸ひ込むやうな月に濡れ　-> 吸い込むような月に濡れ
    It looked completely soaked up, wet due to the moon
    Alt (less literal): "It looked bathed in light, wet with the moonlight".
    
    私は其れを潰れた箱らに入れてゐた -> 私は其れを潰れた箱らに入れていた
    I put that inside the crushed boxes
    
    生き乍らへて、
    While [they] were alive???
    
    今に其れを知る私はばかり
    Although I've came to know that only now
    
    私は壊れゆく村を見た
    I saw the village breaking
    
    重く赤い露に浸り
    Soaked in heavy red dew
    
    朽ちぬと共に探してゐた -> 朽ちないと共に探していた
    I looked for him along those that weren't rotten
    
    其れでも、其れでも見つからぬ -> 其れでも、其れでも見つからない
    But so, even so I couldn't find [him].
    
    私は死にゆく村を見た
    I saw the village die
    
    片時も未だ、心を離れず
    It still hasn't left my mind not even once
    
    未だ、疼いてゐる -> 未だ、疼いている
    It still hurts me.
    
    燃え盡くした
    It has burned completely
    
    私の指が、私の箱が煙の中を
    My fingers, my box, inside the smoke
    
    あぁ、あの方に
    Ah, that person
    
    もう一度
    Once more
    
    会はねば
    I ought to meet.
    
```
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-16T03:58:34.317
43573
2017-02-16T05:10:38.080
19871
question
translation meaning orthography
What's the meaning of 生き乍らへて / 生き乍らえて?
It must be just
[生きながらえる](http://jisho.org/word/%E7%94%9F%E3%81%8D%E6%B0%B8%E3%82%89%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B)
which means to survive (e.g. a disaster) and live for a long time. Kanji
usages were not very standardized pre-war, so you may find odd kanji usages by
today's standards in old documents.

> 生き乍らへて、今に其れを知るは私ばかり  
>  -> 生きながらえて、今それを知っているのは私ばかりだ  
>  I am the only one who has survived and still knows that.

(I'm assuming 其れを知る私はばかり is a typo for 其れを知るは私ばかり because 憚る doesn't make
sense here. In classical Japanese, so-called nominalizers were not necessary
and the attributive form (連体形) of a verb worked just like nouns.)
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-16T04:59:33.283
43575
2017-02-16T05:10:38.080
2017-02-16T05:10:38.080
9831
5010
43573
answer