The challenges accompanying "tomonau"

Last time, we we talked about tomo, a lexical element found in Yamato-kotoba with a broad range of meanings all related to accompanying. One of the ways it’s used is in the word 伴う (tomonau), in the sense of some event, situation, or process accompanying some other one.

The word English word “accompany” has its own etymology, by the way. It means to be in company with someone or something. “Company” in turn derives from “having bread (pan) with (com)”—the same derivation as “companion”.

Like other uses of tomo, with tomonau the relationship between the two things is not necessary equal. More commonly, the thing to which tomonau is applied is somewhat secondary or less important or dependent or one of multiple possible accompaniments, whether it be in terms of causality or temporal sequence or location.

As a translator, you see tomonau quite often. How should we translate it? This calls for some judgment, because there are different flavors and nuances to the accompanying. It could be any or all of:

• in response to

• together with

• [go] along with

• in conjunction with (I find myself using this one a lot)

• in association with

• in parallel with

• caused by, triggered by

• accompanying

• involving

• together with

• with

The common thread here is that in every case there are two events or situations or processes that are connected, one “accompanyimg” the other.

Let’s take some examples.

製品ライフサイクルの進展に伴ってデザイン部門の役割が変化していく。
Seihin no life-cycle no shinten ni tomonatte design bumon no yakuwari ga henka shite iku.

In this case, the tomonau is describing a process that occurs along with some underlying process. There’s no need to over-translate the tomonau. Remember Bob’s Rule of Translation Rule D: “Don’t Translate”. A simple “as” does the job quite nicely here:

The role of the design department shifts as the product lifecycle unfolds.

Here's another one：

規制緩和に伴って海外への進出を加速する企業
Kisei kanwa ni tomonatte kaigai he no shinshutsu wo kasoku suru kigyou

Here again deregulation is a process which is driving the companies overseas expansion. And there seems clearly to be a cause-and-effect relationship. So:

Companies driven by deregulation to speed up their overseas expansion

Medical example：

腰痛を伴う病気として、尿路結石、腎結石、腎盂腎炎（じんうじんえん）、前立腺がんなどがあります。
Yōtsū wo tomonau byōki to shite, nyōro kesseki, jin kesseki, shūjinen, senritsusen-gan nado ga arimasu.

This can be translated simply as “cause”. That’s how Google Translate does it anyway.

Diseases causing lower back pain include urinary tract stones, kidney stones, pyelonephritis, and prostate cancer.

And then:

技術の複雑性の増大に伴って自社だけではすべての技術的課題を解決できないことが普通である。
Gijutsu no fukuzatsu-sei no zōdai ni tomonatte jisha dake deha subete no gikutsu-teki kadai wo kaiketsu dekinai koto ga futsu de aru.

Here again, we can get away with a simple translation involving “with”:

It is common that with the increases in technical complexity companies cannot solve all technical issues on their own.

Here are some sentences for you to play with as an exercise:

電力小売全面自由化に伴い

任期満了に伴う選挙

Please leave your suggestions in the comments!

But why -nau?”

It’s clear enough that the tomo in tomonau represents the same basic principle of togetherness as in the other words in which it appears, like tomodachi to name just one. But where did the -nau come from? Didn’t you ever wonder who decided which of the various verb endings—u, ku, su, tsu, nu (shinu), mu, and of course ru?—to use for different verbs? Do they mean anything? Or is it just random? Stay tuned.