What function does とは have here? Is に omitted here?

Question

不自由とは無縁の生活を捨てて、神様は不便極まるこの世界にのめり込んでいった。

Is it defining something?

Also in the second part, is the に particle before the intransitive verb omitted or does it not require it?

神様は不便極まるこの世界にのめり込んでいった。

Thanks!

I just edited my post for your 2nd question -- tell me if this helps answer it — sqrtbottle, Jul 01 '15 at 20:43
The とは is the same as in 地下室という響きとはかけ離れた in your other question. You can rephrase them as ～ からは無縁の, ～ からはかけ離れた. — chocolate, Jul 03 '15 at 05:01

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 17 '20 at 08:18

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とは is used descriptively here, much like 〜とは違う. In this sentence, you should be looking at とは無縁 all together.

不自由とは無縁の生活 "life free from inconvenience"

Not as easy to translate to English, but easy to see from examples how it's used in Japanese (see http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/159809/m0u/%E3%81%A8%E3%81%AF/). It's a combination of the particles と and は

As for the 2nd part you added after I initially posted, no, に isn't being excluded here. Expressions which take 〜極まる don't take に between them and the 極まる part. For example:

進退極まる

迷惑極まる

感極まって言葉も出ない

edited Jun 17 '20 at 08:18

Community

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answered Jul 01 '15 at 19:40

sqrtbottle

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「無縁」を辞書で調べてみましょう。とは無縁 Weblio和英 "free from~" / "not related to ~" ・無縁 goo国語辞典 eg「我々とは―の出来事」 – chocolate Jul 01 '15 at 22:54
I think 極まる in the first example is used differently form the second and the third. For the record, 進退極まる = "be in checkmate", "迷惑極まる" = it is an extreme annoyance" and 感極まって言葉も出ない = "overwhelmed to utter a word". – eltonjohn Jul 02 '15 at 02:30
@eltonjohn The examples are more to show how expressions don't take 'ni' rather than focusing on meaning – sqrtbottle Jul 02 '15 at 06:16
@Sqrtbottle: <The examples are more to show how expressions don't take 'ni' rather than focusing on meaning> I know. But I thought some people may get confused. – eltonjohn Jul 02 '15 at 07:32
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After checking these dictionaries do you still think the とは in 不自由とは無縁の生活 is quotative と + topical は? Compare: 「～とは違う」 – chocolate Jul 02 '15 at 09:21
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Okay, so the と in とは無縁 is ❶-#3 "比較の基準を表す。「君の―は比べものにならない」「昔―違う」", meaning "from~". The と in the defining とは to indicate a topic of discussion is ❶-#2 "引用の「と」" on goo国語辞典「と」. Also refer to #1 and #2 on goo国語辞典「とは」 – chocolate Jul 03 '15 at 05:37
Why the downvote at 23pm, after the last edit at 21pm? – chocolate Jul 04 '15 at 04:41

What function does とは have here? Is に omitted here?

1 Answers1