「持てる力をふりしぼる。」
Does it mean "to be possesed" (just from 持てる) or "to can have" (potential, from 持つ)? The context doesn't help, they're both fine to me.
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Sign up to join this communityThis 持てる is a set phrase from classical Japanese which corresponds to 持っている in modern Japanese ("perfective form" of 持つ, used attributively, i.e., "which one has gained" or "who has gained [things]"). There is no potential sense.
持てる力をふりしぼる
= 持っている力をふりしぼるto use up all one's strength
Grammatically, it's the realis form (已然形) of 持つ followed by the attributive form (連体形) of り, an auxiliary in classical Japanese.
Practically speaking, you can forget the classical grammar and just remember this as a fixed (or "fossil") rentaishi that appears almost exclusively in the following patterns:
These correspond to the fourth and fifth definitions here.
See also: The meaning of モテる