雪明かり照らす町 . Is there a missing を?

Question

Could someone explain this sentence to me?

雪明かり照らす町

Google translates this as:

The town illuminated by snow

For my part, I would translate it as:

The town illuminating snow-brightness.

Or

The town that illuminates snow-brightness.

Note, however, that my translation assumes a を particle has been omitted. Am I on the right track? Or am I missing something?

Is that line from song lyrics?
– chocolate ♦
Commented Sep 17, 2022 at 1:29 — chocolate, Commented Sep 17, 2022 at 1:29
Yes. It is from 再会 by Uru.
– userhello90831
Commented Sep 17, 2022 at 2:36 — userhello90831, Commented Sep 17, 2022 at 2:36

A.Ellett · Accepted Answer · 2022-09-17 03:45:30Z

8

I suggest you think of rewriting this in a different word order as:

雪の明かりが町を照らす

Does that help?

But 雪明かり is already a word meaning "light of the snow" or "the illumination from the snow".

The idea is that this is a town which the snow illuminates.

answered Sep 17, 2022 at 3:45

A.Ellett

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1

+1, It doesn't make much sense to illuminate an illumination, so I think it's more reasonable to think 雪明かり is the subject of 照らす.
– naruto
Commented Sep 17, 2022 at 6:15

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