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A jinx, in popular superstition and folklore, is: * A type of curse placed on a person that makes them prey to many minor misfortunes and other forms of bad luck; * A person afflicted with a similar curse, who, while not directly subject to a series of misfortunes, seems to attract them to anyone in his vicinity. * An object or person that brings bad luck. * A penalty that one person can invoke on another when the two of them say the same thing at the same time. The superstition can also be referenced when talking about a future event with too much confidence. A statement such as "We're sure to win the contest!" can be seen as a jinx because it tempts fate, thereby bringing bad luck. The event itself is referred to as "jinxed". In a similar way, calling attention to good fortune – e.g. noting that a certain athlete is having a streak of particularly good fortune – is thought to "jinx" it. If the good fortune ends immediately afterward, the jinx is then blamed for the turn of events, often seriously. ==Origins== The etymology of the word is obscure. * It may come from Latin ''iynx'' (from Greek ἴυγξ), that is, the wryneck bird, which has occasionally been used in magic and divination and is remarkable for its ability to twist its head almost 180 degrees while hissing like a snake. The Jynx bird is found in Africa and Eurasia. * It may be the plural of jink treated as singular. The ''Online Etymology Dictionary'' entry for jinx states that the word was first used, as a noun, in American English in 1911. It traces it to a 17th-century word ''jyng'', meaning "a spell", and ultimately to the Latin word ''iynx''. Barry Popik of the American Dialect Society suggests that the word should be traced back to an American folksong called ''Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines'', which was first popular in 1868. One verse in one version goes: :The first day I went out to drill :The bugle sound made me quite ill, :At the Balance step my hat it fell, ::And that wouldn't do for the Army. :The officers they all did shout, :They all cried out, they all did shout, :The officers they all did shout, ::"Oh, that's the curse of the Army." The reference to various misfortunes and a curse lend plausibility to this. A ''Mr Jinx'' appeared in Ballou's monthly magazine - Volume 6 - Page 276 in 1857. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jinx」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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