| 单词 | 来自拉丁 |
| 释义 | 〔paradise〕Perhaps the supreme example of the semantic process known as melioration is the wordparadise. In tracing this word from its origins to its present status,we see an elevation, or melioration, of meaning that raises the word to new heights.The history begins with the Avestan (the eastern dialect of Old Iranian) wordpairi-daēza-, "enclosure,” made up ofpairi, "around,” and daēza-, "wall.” The Greek military leader and historian Xenophon, who served with Greek mercenaries in Persia,first used the Greek wordparadeisos adopted from the Avestan wordto refer to the Persian kings' and nobles' parks or pleasure grounds.This Greek word extended to mean "garden" or "orchard" was an obvious choice for translators of the Bible into Greekto use both for the Garden of Eden and the Abode of the Blessed, or heaven.The Greek word was adopted into Late Latin and was used much as we might expect in its biblical senses in ecclesiastical Latin (Late Latinparadīsus ). The Old English wordparadis taken from Latin is found, but our word probably really established itself in Middle English (first recorded before 1200),derived both from Latin and from Old French, which had adopted the word from Latin.paradise. 这个词也许能作为词义进化最典型的例子， 从它的起源到现在的地位，我们可以看到词义的进化或改进把这个词带到了一个新的高度。这个历史过程从意为“领地，圈地”的阿维斯陀语（古伊朗人西部方言）pairi-daeza-, 开始， 由意为“环形的”pairi, 和意为“墙”的 daeza-, 组成。 曾随希腊雇佣军到波斯服役的希腊军事将领和历史学家色诺芬，首先使用了希腊语词paradeisos, ， 该词采用了阿维斯陀词，指波斯国王和贵族们的花园或游乐场，这个希腊词衍生到表示“花园”或“果园”，显然是译者在把《圣经》翻译成希腊文时所做出的选择，以用来表明伊甸园和天国或天堂，有这两种含义的希腊词被引入后期的拉丁语中且当它们在教会拉丁文（后期拉丁语paradisus )中意为《圣经》方面的意义时被更广泛地使用， 古英语paradis 一词来自拉丁文， 但我们用的这个词可能在中古英语（首次记录在1200年前）中真正确立了起来，人们发现它源于拉丁文和从拉丁文中采纳了这个词的古法语〔dungeon〕The worddungeon may have gone down in the world quite literally, if one etymology of the word is correct. Dungeon may go back to a Vulgar Latin word,domniō, meaning "the lord's tower,”which came from Latindominus, "master.” In Middle English,in which our word is first recorded in a work composed around the beginning of the 14th century,it meant "a fortress, castle,” and "the keep of a castle" as well as "a prison cell underneath the keep of the castle.”Dungeon can still mean "keep,” although the usual spelling for this sense is donjon, but the meaning most usually associated with it is certainly not elevated.It is also possible thatdungeon goes back to a Germanic word related to our word dung. This assumed Germanic word would have meant "an underground house constructed of dung.”If this etymology is correct, the worddungeon has ended up where it began. 单词dungeon 的一种词源是它以其字面意义流传下来， 如果这个单词其中的一种语源是正确的话。 Dungeon 可追溯到拉丁俗词domnio， 意为“领主的塔”，这一拉丁俗词又来自拉丁文dominus， 意为“主人”。 在中古英语时期，该词首次记录于作于14世纪初的一部作品，意为“要塞，城堡”，“城堡主楼”以及“城堡方楼下的地牢”。Dungeon 仍有城堡主楼的意思，但最常与之联系在一起的这一拼法为 donjon， 但最常与之联系在一起的这一意义显然流传不广。Dungeon 还可能上溯到与之相联系的日耳曼语词 dung。 这一假设的日耳曼语词可能曾意为“由粪建构的地下房屋“。假如这一词源正确，dungeon 一词结束于它起源的地方 |
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