breathing life into something

Question

To breathe life into – in my native language that is the phrase used symbolically when anything is being restored. It may be a car but a factory or economy itself as well. As for me, I would like to talk about some symbols which meanings are unknown. I would call them vacant or empty in this way. They’ve lost their function. I think I can give their meaning back talking about what I think about them, as if filling them with life. So does anybody know a proper phrase for this case?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

KaaJeeTo breathe life into ...does anybody know a proper phrase for this case?

It's very likely to be the same in English. To be sure, write your sentence using 'breathe life into', and we'll check it to see that it is used correctly within your sentence.

CJ

KaaJee · Answer

Thank you, alright, it’s in the finishing paragraph of my essay dealing with religious-mythological topics. So: “I’ve talked much about rebirth , but as for me, only these symbols I’ve tried to breath life into, and by so doing, I’ve tried to make these once so important stories living.” (Well, its being one of the finishing sentences doesn’t mean that I regard all my earlier sentences perfect. Very likely there are many, many problematic and false ones among them /just like in my everyday sentences, like these present ones/, I continually try to filter them out.)

CalifJim · Answer

KaaJeeI’ve talked much about rebirth , but as for me, only these symbols I’ve tried to breath life into, and by so doing, I’ve tried to make these once so important stories living.

I'm not sure precisely what you want to say, but I think it's like this:

I've talked much about rebirth, but I have only tried to breathe life into these symbols and by so doing, bring these once-so-important stories to life.

In any case, "breathe life into" is fine provided you spell "breathe" correctly.

CJ

KaaJee · Answer

Thanks again. Well, it’s really not completely clear how I try to mean these lines, but if I can add some things to these, some characters are restored to life in several mentioned myths – in some myths even in such a way that somebody breathes new life into them. So it may be an awkward way to make a bridge(???; I don’t know the right word, I mean finishing dealing with any details but making some conclusion), that is why I put “only these symbols” before “I’ve tried to,” meaning that just like some characters are repaired to life, it’s symbolically a very little bit similar, but I don’t want to tell these in our lines not to make them even more awkward. I hope you understand what I try to say. Well, in your version these thing is not included (or is it?), and if you think my version (putting “only these symbols” to the first place) isn’t work, the best is to make an entirely different conclusion. To know if that is what I should do is also a result, of course.

CalifJim · Answer

It appears to me that this is the sentence we're trying to fix:

I’ve talked much about rebirth , but as for me, only these symbols I’ve tried to breathe life into, and by so doing, I’ve tried to make these once so important stories living.

The part in blue seems most problematical. "only these symbols I've tried to breathe life into" is not grammatical in English, so I can only guess the meaning you are trying to convey. On the other hand "I've only tried to breathe life into these symbols" is correct grammatically, but I don't know if that's what you mean.

I get this much.

1. Some characters in the myths are restored to life by someone else.
2. Just as some of these characters are restored to life, [ something else is symbolically similar? ] (I'm not sure what "it" is when you say "it is symbolically a bit similar". What is "it"? What is similar to the restoration of life to these characters?)
3. You want to make a bridge from the facts of your presentation to a conclusion that you want to make. ("bridge" is the correct word for this, by the way.)
____

Are you trying to say that by writing your essay you are doing something similar to what happens in the myths? That is, you are restoring the myths to life (symbolically) by writing about them just as some characters restore others to life in the myths?

CJ

KaaJee · Answer

It was meant as a grammatical turn. By using “little bit similar” I meant some similarity which is enough to use something like this, and nothing more. It’s like saying that time goes, so I too have to go now. So I was thinking how to finish my work, and the mentioned comparison, “to breathe life into something,” seemed to me quite good, at least in Hungarian – now I’m trying to translate my work, where is it possible; and where it isn’t, I need “English” things. So I don’t know if it works in English but the fact is that on all the previous pages it was a freqent topic that some characters were restored to life. But these are mythical stories, which can’t be understood without understanding some symbols. Therefore here is the mentioned sentence adding the preceding one:
“As they [mankind] had acquired civilized way of thinking, their symbols died. I’ve talked much about rebirth but as for me, only these symbols I’ve tried to breathe life into, and by so doing, I’ve tried to make these once so important stories living.”
Now I see that I need to write a very different sentence; however, do you think that I can keep the thought of “reviving symbols” in it?

CalifJim · Answer

KaaJeedo you think that I can keep the thought of “reviving symbols” in it?

Yes, but you can't keep only these symbols I’ve tried to breathe life into because it is not grammatical. This will be taken by an English speaker to mean I’ve tried to breathe life into only these symbols, and I don't know if that's what you want.

CJ

KaaJee · Answer

Thank you!

breathing life into something

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