'keep' as in 'to keep someone from...'?

Question

What would you use to say 'keep' as in: Once a selkie finds her coat, neither chains of steel nor chains of love can KEEP her from the sea. what verb would you use? Cuando una selkie encontra su piel de foca, ni cadenas de acero ni cadenas de amor pueden ________ ella del mar. (if the rest of the sentence is incorrect, please let me know!) I DID look at the dictionary, but there were several examples for 'to keep' and none of the example sentences looked like exactly what I was looking for. THANK YOU GRACIAS

Instead of '...pueden ____ ella del mar', I might use '...la __(future tense)__ del mar'. Is one better than the other? - bailarina95, May 9, 2011

You confuse the meanings of "al mar" and "del mar". - Sabor, May 10, 2011

To keep her "from" returning "to" the sea. - Sabor, May 10, 2011

Answer 1

mantenerme alojado/a de la mar.

**En castellano la parabra "mar" puede ser o masculina o femenina segun el contexto. He oido que la version feminina sueña más "poética".

¿Que te parece? Aunque no sea una traducción directa, aun me parece que encarna la misma idea.

Answer 2

Here is another guess

Cuando una selkie encontra su piel de foca, ni cadenas de acero ni cadenas de amor pueden impedir que ella vaya al mar.

Answer 3

I cannot tell if there is a sense of mortal danger here, but normally when you really need to KEEP someone from something, you are talking about SAVING THEM from it ... salvarla de ??

No, in this case it means you cannot stop them from following their desires. - lorenzo9, May 9, 2011

Although the folklore stories turn sad at this point. - lorenzo9, May 9, 2011

Well, Andrea's father kept her from finding her son, and tried to keep her true love from ever seeing her again. (He was a control freak :) - Sabor, May 9, 2011

Lorenzo is right, a selkie belongs in the sea and once she is able to return nothing can stop her. I had to translate this to tell it to my Spanish class - bailarina95, May 9, 2011

Selkies, in Celtic legend, are seals that shed their skins and turn into people. Fishermen in stories fall in love with selkie women and take their seal skins so the woman will stay with them. - bailarina95, May 9, 2011

Answer 4

My guess:

. . .pueden refrenar su atracción por la mar.