Use of 所

[Crush]

I came across a sentence (in 三毛's "撒哈拉的故事") that i can't quite figure out:

一向是你所神住。 (The full sentence is "我想可能是沙漠美丽的景色深深地迷惑了你，夕阳中的蜃楼，一望无垠的黄沙，一向是你所神住")

 

I feel like i've read about using 所 in different structures, like 所+Verb+的 to "nominalize" a verb, but i don't think that's what's going on here. If i had to take a guess, it looks like "You've been living like a god(dess) all along".

 

On an unrelated note, i'm also not quite sure what a "蜃楼" could be. A metaphorical clam/sea-serpent building?

 

Anyway, i appreciate any help, thanks for stopping by

[anonymoose]

I guess 蜃楼 means illusions. Check 海市蜃楼.

[Crush]

Ah, maybe you're right. Maybe she's talking about a mirage since it's set in the desert? Thanks

[skylee]

It is not 神住. It should be 神往 ->  http://chinesedictionary.mobi/?handler=QueryWorddict&mwdqb=%E7%A5%9E%E5%BE%80

 

The 所 here functions like "by which". But I don't know Chinese grammar so I can't explain it.

[Crush]

So might it be translated as "it's what you dreamed of all along"?

 

Thanks for finding that, i never would've figured that out.

[陳德聰]

Yes, or if you wanted to make it a little more poetic you could use "that which", which reflects skylee's intuition.

[Crush]

So it turns out it really was the "所+Verb+的" structure. Thanks for helping me piece this together