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I'm new to japanese and I'm having a hard time trying to figure what
"彼女のいう天使に見え" means.

I don't know if the correct interpretation is either "She looked like an
angel" or "She saw an angel". I'm not sure how ni particle is working here :/

For context purposes, this is the full description of the item:

> 王妃の聖女であったゲルトルードは彼女のいう天使に見え、その物語を知ったという.

Any help will be appreciated, thanks in advance!
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2019-02-15T13:48:55.647
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2019-02-15T16:59:28.163
2019-02-15T15:08:39.003
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question
translation meaning
Trying to understand what does 見え mean in this short sentence
Yes, I think your guess is correct :) Both can be true but in this context
latter interpretation sounds more probable.

In normal Japanese に見える(ni mieru) would mean by 99% chance “she looks like...”
but in literal, a bit old-fashioned Japanese に 見える(ni mamieru) means to meet
someone.

Therefore the interpretation of the sentence would be, “Gertrud, who was a
sacred woman (?) of the Queen, met what she calls an angel, and came to know
the story.”

The sentence is very vague and hard to understand, maybe it is intended that
this sentence makes us to think what it really means.

Related link:
[https://jisho.org/search/まみえる](https://jisho.org/search/%E3%81%BE%E3%81%BF%E3%81%88%E3%82%8B)
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2019-02-15T14:36:13.420
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answer
見え is the continuative form (連用形) of the verb 見える.

The continuative form has several functions, one of which is to indicate that
the continuative verb is relative to main verb. Therefore it is often used
when the continuative verb is one action in a sequence of actions (or
intuitions). You may be familiar with the how the te-form performs a similar
function when listing a series of actions (i.e. V1～て、 ... V2～ました). So your
example phrase could also be expressed using 天使に見えて. However, 見え is a little
more formal sounding than 見えて, and thus is more likely to be used in written
Japanese.
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answer