@Chocolate Hi Chocolate. This is only my guess but perhaps the engraving is done by machine not hand and it contains Computer Aided Design (CAD) program to direct the lather (or whatever it is that does the cutting).
Actually I had a question on Dave MGs OP for the sentence:
当時母がどんな気持ちだったのか、子どもの私には知るべくもないことだった
（It takes while to get rid of the furigana)
Am I not right in thinking that 知るべく is the noun form in the same way the 近く is the noun form in 近くにある？
Could somebody explain the origin of あしからず , as found in the following expressions?
今回はお断りしますが，どうぞあしからず|
This time I have to say no, I hope you don't mind.
・・ですが、 悪しからず。|
I'm sorry but.....
パーティーに伺えませんがあしからず|
I'm sorry, but I can't come to the party.
The kanji is 悪しからず so ...
Where as 近くない・近い is function as adjective, with a kind of "spectrum" to it, as in you can be closer by "Degrees", in "chikaku ni aru " we are just saying that the subject exists in the near vicinity, it is defined, there is no continuum (spectrum?) if you get my drift
Yang Muye: grammatically I think it works but I've never heard it said and cannot think why one would
@Szymon There are all sorts of discussion on this website about what are adverbs (so perhaps we should keep away from that) but in 近くにある the 近く is a considered a noun.
Anyway, what I was trying to get at is that in the Op's sentence, the item before the "、” is the topic, the subject is marked by も (as an alternative to が、in the same way we can say はず も／が ない) and the phrase 子どもの私には知るべくもない is grammatically the same as 「私には記憶がない」
It seems to make sense to me, if you look at the sentence wholistically
So I thought I'd share here to see if there is something wrong in my logic...
I think we can use it as the set phrase it is but I was looking at the whole sentence. There was some discussion about what was the topic in the sentence and the function of the に and the は
To understand the sentence we need to identify the other parts such as the subject.
Um? Just to clarify, I think [それは]、[子供の私には]、知るべくもないことだ, if we agree there must be at most one 主題 in a sentence (which I personally don't think so), then 子供の私には is not the topic.
As for if [子供の私には] is an adverb of ことだ or an adverb 知るべくもない, I'm a little unsure. But I think it can be viewed either way.
I also think には is not a separable unit. I first though it was に＋は, but later I thought it's better to keep it as a single unit. Anyway, に、に＋は、には has some continuity.
Not sure about calling it an adverb (scrub round that one?) but if こと links to the phrase 〜のか、, then does the phrase ~には have to link to the expression being modified (~べくもない）
@dainichi, In fact I first thought 子供の私には might be top-level, too. But 知るべくもない is similar to 分からない, which makes me believe it should be in a clause. But after some thinking, it seems that this には doesn't require negative or potential forms. After some searching, I found I'm not the only one who mixed them up. Some people believe the に in ～に～できる functions the same as にとって, which etymologically should not. It becomes unclear to me whether 私には分からないことだ should be parsed as に + は or には. Now, I'm somewhat convinced that it might be better to think 子供の私には to be lop-level. — Yang Muye2 days ago
Sometimes it's not obvious if a phrase belongs to the main clause or not. e.g. some people suggest that the 私は in 私は見たことがある belongs to 見た rather than ない, because 私に見たことがない(こと) is impossible. But this is very counterintuitive. Sometimes はization(topicalization) promotes a phrase in a subordinate clause to a higher scope. The same thing happens with と. “それとは別のものだ”, I feel とは is somewhat top-level, which is parallel to “それとは違っている” — Yang Muye2 days ago
It is not a very clear phrase without the は (so perhaps there is an arguement to say we must have it. ) the phrase 子どもに知るべくもない seems to work in the same way that my earlier phrase, 私には記憶がない does...(although if written it might be a bit strange without the は）
I was once asked a strange question about Chinese. The question was about Chinese, but I try will translate it into a Japanese counterpart, so the Japanese is not just the translation of the original question.
A learner asked me about the usege of a Chinese particle which is similar to Japanese は/こそ. Why it is used in 今日[は]きれいだね? I can't explain why that particle is used. The dictionary says it's used to "stress"(取り立て), but I don't feel I'm stressing. The particle just need to be used there no matter you want to stress or not.
After thinking for I few days, I finally understood that The particle is contrasitive. It's because of the word "今日" is special. If 今日 is not special, you won't even say it. e.g. we don't say ここでは、きれいだね. 今月は、きれいだね. We have some common knowledge that people may wear different dresses each day. So 今日 is chosed, not 今月, 今年, ここ, etc.
It seems that every word is useful. If it's not useful, we won't even say it. Similarly, we say ここは寒い because we know the weather may be different in different places. You don't say ここは嬉しい. You say 今日は寒い because you know the weather may be different in different time. You won't say 今日は大きい. You say バラの棘は痛い, but you won't say 今日は痛い.
So are these は only topic-ha or contrast-ha? I think they can be both.
I suddenly realized sometimes は is used not because you intentionally contrast something, just because you subconsciously treat them differently.
@Flaw It has many meanings. If you just say 今天可熱, I would think it's a slightly archaic form to say “今日は暑かったか?”. You may say 今天可真熱（今日は本当に暑いな）, then you think today is “unusually” hot. “Considerably” is implied by “unusually”. Compare it with 今天可不行（今日は行けない）今天可要努力（今日こそ頑張らなきゃ）. But in Chinese, 可 is much stronger than Japanese は and こそ. 今天可不行 makes people think today is a special day for you.
@Flaw Oh, in some dialects 可 means very. You might be speaking such a dialect.
Could somebody explain the origin of あしからず , as found in the following expressions?
今回はお断りしますが，どうぞあしからず|
This time I have to say no, I hope you don't mind.
・・ですが、 悪しからず。|
I'm sorry but.....
パーティーに伺えませんがあしからず|
I'm sorry, but I can't come to the party.
The kanji is 悪しからず so ...
