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Going off the main clause I think the general meaning here is that Saegusa (2nd person) is giving the speaker (narrator, 1st person) a surprised look (lit. "giving me a great suprise" - the speaker used 上品に to stress random things before so assume it's the same here).

(NARRATOR, 1st person): まあ、なんてこれまた上品に驚いてくれる三枝さん。

There's not much relevant context here other than the narrator just having surprised Saegusa by revealing a surprising fact (surprise!).

What I'm missing here is the role of なんてこれまた.

The grammar book I'm using as reference has two forms of なんて, the first one (a fixed phrase) used before a noun or a verb as a question, e.g.

なんていうひとですか。

Or as なんて＋Ａｄｊ｜Ｎ＋だろう as an exclamation, e.g.

なんて難しいんだろう！

The second form (a particle) is used after another word "to express a strong feeling", e.g.

小学校からのいじめが中学まで続くなんてひどい。

As for これまた, I am at a loss. Does it carry any nuance? Google search didn't help much (or, to be more accurate, I don't really know where to look for).

おしえてください！

Thank you!

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  • Was it Saegusa who said 「まあ」 first and the narrator quoted it? Or did Saegusa never say it? This is a pretty important question.
    – user4032
    Commented Feb 27, 2015 at 0:59
  • Only the narrator says it. In any case, it would be very interesting to hear what difference it would make if it weren't the case. If it will help, I will edit in the whole conversation that came before?
    – cirno
    Commented Feb 27, 2015 at 1:42
  • I asked because one can utter 「まあ」 to express surprise and it happens to be a 上品な kind of interjection. On top of that, 「なんて」 can function as a quotative particle. These "facts" combined would allow the whole phrase to mean two completely different things, which is why I asked what I asked instead of answering the question. In either case, though, 「これまた」 should not be analyzed too strictly. As I stated below, it is highly idiomatic (and colloquial).
    – user4032
    Commented Feb 28, 2015 at 10:06
  • Someone had proposed a JMdict/EDICT entry for これまた based on this item. That's fair enough, but it means we have to put the more usual "これ + また" usage in as well, because apps that use JMdict for glossing text will otherwise treat これまた as this "highly idiomatic (and colloquial)" expression, when usually it just means "this" and "again".
    – Jim Breen
    Commented Jun 20, 2018 at 2:06

1 Answer 1

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「まあ、なんてこれまた[上品]{じょうひん}に[驚]{おどろ}いてくれる[三枝]{さえぐさ}さん」

「なんて」 here expresses exclamation, which is the same usage as 「なんて」 in 「なんて[難]{むずか}しいんだろう！」 among the examples you have listed. = "How ~~!"

「これまた」 should not be analysed too literally by its components 「これ」 and 「また」. Instead, it should be treated as a common set phrase used to express a great degree of exclamation, excitement, surprise, etc. that the speaker is feeling about something.

Therefore, 「なんてこれまた」 is what I might call a double-exclamatory expression similar in feeling to "how on earth", "how freaking ~~", "what in the world", etc.

"Boy, how freaking elegantly Saegusa showed his surprise!"

That is just a "translation". The original is only a long noun phrase, not a sentence like my TL above, in which 「なんてこれまた上品に驚いてくれる」 modifies 「三枝さん」.

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