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There is a line in the 「この涙 星になれ」, which is a song of ZARD (Sakai Izumi):

> 父なる砂漠 コイン投げて 明日を占おう

I don't understand the meaning of 「父なる砂漠」. It's quite strange to think of it
as the desert that has been a father...

坂井泉水の大ファンなんです。今歌詞を整理しているので、理解出来ないところを問題にして、援助をお願いします。

Thank you very much.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-07-31T01:40:17.297
2336
2011-12-29T06:03:59.620
2011-12-29T06:03:59.620
562
question
words quotes
What does 「父なる砂漠」mean?
It does not say it has been a father. It says it is the father. Vast natural
things like sea, earth, desert, universe, etc. are often metaphorically
expressed as mother, father, the ancestors, or the homeland of human.

>   * 母なる大地  
>  'Earth, the mother of human'
>   * 父なる砂漠  
>  'Desert, the father of human'
>   * 生命のふるさと、海  
>  'The sea, the homeland of life'
>

I dont' think this is particular to Japanese. But suddenly sticking in this
phrase in this piece of lyrics does not make much sense. I don't think the
quality of the lyrics is that high.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-07-31T02:07:38.623
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2011-07-31T02:22:11.010
2011-07-31T02:22:11.010
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answer
As sawa suggested, 母なる大地 (which literally means “the earth which is a mother”)
is a fixed phrase to refer to Mother Earth, a common personification of the
earth. Just to clarify, 父なる砂漠 is not a common phrase, but it clearly builds on
top of the phrase 母なる大地. The phrase may be an invention by the writer of the
song.

Interpretation of song lyrics is a delicate art, and I will not try to do it
here.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2011-07-31T17:22:48.503
2361
2011-07-31T17:22:48.503
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answer