sans que rien ne puisse le procurer

patrickfor Aug 30, 2017:

Oui comme l'a d'abord suggéré Phil la signification est bien "with no apparent reason"
procurer is often "to make something happen"
procurer du plaisir, de la joie...
La forme négative est normale "rien ne peut" like in "rien ne peut m'arriver" (nothing can happen to me)

katsy Aug 29, 2017:

with Phil Victoria and Michele Here is a helpful (I hope) definition of 'procurer'
2. [Le compl. d'obj. désigne une chose utile, agréable] Qqc. procure qqc. à qqn.Être la cause, l'occasion de quelque chose pour quelqu'un. De tous les sens, c'est la vue qui me procure les impressions les plus fortes et les plus profondes (A. France,Pt Pierre, 1918, p.272).Peut-être qu'une saignée lui procurerait quelque répit (Martin du G.,Thib., Mort père, 1929, p.1297).V. gourmet ex.
Here is the whole entry for procurer, http://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/procurer
I too would go with 'for no apparent reason' or 'with no apparent cause'

Otha Nash Aug 29, 2017:

Makes sense Yeah, I struggled with "procurer" in the sense of to induce or to cause, but that makes more sense, especially with dizziness, which often has no immediately apparent cause

Michele Fauble Aug 29, 2017:

With Phil and Victoria 'for no apparent reason'

Victoria Britten Aug 29, 2017:

With philgoddard "for no apparent reason" leapt out at me as the obvious meaning when I read it

philgoddard Aug 29, 2017:

Could they mean something like "procurer un remède", meaning the patient has tried everything? This, and "for no apparent reason", are the only two things I can think of that fit the context.

polyglot45 Aug 29, 2017:

was this handwritten and could it be a typo?

Otha Nash Aug 29, 2017:

The literal meaning seems clear enough "nothing can get hold of it". Sans que + present subjunctive can simply be rendered as the present tense in English. I'm assuming the report is indicating that current treatments are unable to control the symptoms. Perhaps "nothing can control it"? Just a shot in the dark without more context.

philgoddard Aug 29, 2017:

Could it mean for no apparent reason/with no obvious cause?
It may look like a triple negative, but rien means anything, rather than nothing, and "ne" is pleonastic, meaning that it's used for emphasis rather than negation.