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So there I am again, asking a question from the book "Sword Art Online 1".

This time it's about the sentence: またの名を≪ソードアート・オンライン≫。　　

What is the meaning of を in this case?

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Is ショー度 a rare typo for ソード? – Tsuyoshi Ito Jan 29 at 19:42
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How are your two questions related? If they are not related, please do not cramp them into one question. – Tsuyoshi Ito Jan 29 at 22:59
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(1) Please consider from the viewpoint of those who answer your questions. Why should they be forced to answer the two questions at the same time? Personally, I would rather choose to answer neither if I think that I am being forced to do something without a good reason. – Tsuyoshi Ito Jan 30 at 6:08
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I asked about a similar example of NをN once, and Chocolate suggested it was ellipsis for 「・・・と言う」 or [・・・と呼ぶ」 or such. I think (but don't know) that this is the same thing. – snailboat♦ Jan 30 at 6:19
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You are missing the point of my comments. Answering other questions is not the only way to “pay back,” and I am not complaining for not answering other people’s questions. Please make efforts to ask good questions. For example, leaving a half-done edit (which snailplane cleaned up for you) is not appreciated. – Tsuyoshi Ito Jan 30 at 14:14
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1 Answer

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The particle を is a 格助詞{かくじょし} ("case particle"). Normally, a case particle marks a noun or noun phrase to show its relationship to the predicate (such as a verb or an adjective), or to another noun or noun phrase. Specifically, the particle を marks the accusative case. This means that it marks the direct object of a verb.

Therefore, we would expect to find just such a verb in this sentence. Since there is no verb, we can assume this is an example of ellipsis. Something has been left out, and as the reader, it's our job to guess what it is.

Searching on Google and Weblio for またの名を reveals that it is a common phrase meaning "also known as". The full phrase またの名を〜と言う is also listed on Weblio and appears to be relatively common, so it's reasonable to guess that the elided phrase is と言う. (You could also guess that it's と呼ぶ or something similar; it doesn't change the meaning very much.)

Therefore, we can interpret your sentence as the following:

またの名を≪ソードアート・オンライン≫と言う。

So what does を mean in this sentence? It has the same function it usually does, which is marking the direct object of a verb.

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