"Gutten har de vises stein."
Translation:The boy has the stone of the wise.
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Yes, you're right. This hasn't been literally translated, as the actual name of "the philosopher's stone" is "de vises sten" in Norwegian.
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You didnt quite answer my question though. you would say "en sten" or "en stein" would you not? So then i would say the philosophers stone would be "vises stenen"
"De" is agreeing with "vise(s)", which is a plural in this case, rather than with "stein", which is indeed a singular. We're not talking of just "en stein", because it's a specific stone; the stone of the wise.
Literal translation from the Norwegian original:
"De vises stein"
"The stone of the (plural) wise (ones/people/men)."
Literal translation had the Norwegian been referring to a singular wise person:
"Den vises stein"
"The stone of the (singular) wise (one/person)"
Literal translation from the English original:
"The philosopher's stone"
"Filosofens stein"
Referring to multiple wise persons, shouldn't it be translated in English as "the philosophers' stone"?
It should be translated as "the stone of the wise (ones)", but we also accept the English title of the book.
but it's not about THOSE wise here, it's about the stone, ONE stone... THAT stone. DEN
It's the stone of the wise (plural). When the noun follows the possessive in Norwegian, it's left indefinite, and so it follows that "de" must belong to the possessive.
If it were to precede the possessive, "steinen til de vise", "the" would appear as a suffix.
very valid point, is the numerical reference of the article to the possessor or to the object? De or Den ?
If anyone is wondering you can buybthe entire set in norwegian on kindle, might be good for further learning
Does this S suffix work on any adjective-as-noun, or just in specific [probably archaic] phrases?
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There once was a boy named Harry, destined to be a star. His parents were killed by Voldemort, who gave him a lightning scar...
- 1815
Once I saw the sentence 'the boy is taking the red stone out of the mirror' now this. It seems like someone reads lots of Harry Potter
Is there a reason that it is 'the stone of the wise' rather than 'the philosopher's stone' (Filosofens stein)?
Is Deliciae responsible for all the Potter exercises, or only all the cat exercises? :)
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If this is a translation of the philosopher's stone (singular philosopher) - it seems the original translator got it pretty wrong, translating instead the philosophers' stone.
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It's not a literal translation, but rather the names used in both languages for the same thing.
Note that Wikipedia (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosopher%27s_stone) also thinks that philosophers' stone would be more accurate (the Latin they give, presumably the original name, definitely uses the plural).