猫のあい-love of cats?

[TJack]

There was a discussion on another board talking of the translation neko no ai.
One person said it can be translated as:

"Cat of love"
"Cat's love"
"Love cat"
"Cat love"

while another poster said it could only be translated as "love of cat(s)" and nothing else.
Can someone clear this up? I thought it would be the cat's love, since の marks the possessive.
I hope this isn't too trivial of a question.

[.Jingoo]

I'm no expert, but I read that as "Cat's love". But after throwing it around for a while, "Love of Cats" seemed capable, too. Maybe it's one of those things that is so simple, it gets complicated.

[sei]

I read it as "Cat's love" too. But I could understand the use of "love of cats" IF the "love is from the cats" (which means the same as "Cat's love") and not "someone who loves cats".

[Yudan Taiteki]

since の marks the possessive..

That is only one of の's functions; XのY can also mean that Y is described by X, without any relation to possession at all.

In this case, however, it does indicate possession -- 猫の愛 means the love that cats have. 猫愛 can mean "love for cats" but it's a little slangish.　　猫への愛 is a possibility for "love for cats".

The four possibilities suggested:
"Cat of love" --> 愛の猫 (This is the "Y is described by X" structure, not possession)
"Cat's love" --> 猫の愛
"Love cat" --> 愛の猫 or 愛猫
"Cat love" --> 猫の愛 (this is the same thing as "cat's love"? If "cat love" is supposed to mean "love for cats" then it can be 猫への愛 as above.)

[TJack]

Thanks everyone, I understand it better now.

[coco]

I guess あい can be a name of someone's cat.
猫のあい=　A/the cat called あい．

[keatonatron]

I guess あい can be a name of someone's cat.
猫のあい=　A/the cat called あい．

It could also be the name of a cat who met an unfortunate accident: Neko no-eye.

[tōkai devotee]

It could also be the name of a cat who met an unfortunate accident: Neko no-eye.

[coco]

It could also be the name of a cat who met an unfortunate accident: Neko no-eye.

[selinangela]

Cat's love

[Hyperworm]

Someone should probably hit the smite key on that account. >_>

None of its 6 posts contribute anything of substance.
2 of them are confusing posts two words long,
2 are exact duplicates of other text/posts in the thread (even the apparently innocent-looking revival post in the shiritori quiz thread was an exact character-for-character duplicate!),
1 is the introduction post (one line long, in someone else's introduction thread, and saying "nihongo ga wakarimasen", which I suspect is completely true),
and the remaining 1 is a not-so-subtle nod to the advert in its signature >_>

[Yudan Taiteki]

I had the same thought; I think it's either a spam bot or someone posting for the sole purpose of advertising that site in the sig.

[Infidel]

You guys didn't quote, so I suppose there is a deleted post there somewhere.

[NocturnalOcean]

You guys didn't quote, so I suppose there is a deleted post there somewhere.

Not deleted. They refer to selinangelas short post.