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The lion's share is an idiomatic expression which refers to the larger part - or most - of something. The phrase derives from the plot of a number of fables ascribed to Aesop and is now used as their generic title, although they exist in several different versions. Other fables featuring the same basic situation of an animal dividing up a prey in such a way that it gains the greater part, or even all, exist in the East. ==Aesop== The early Latin version of Phaedrus〔''Fabula'' I.5〕 begins with the reflection that "Partnership with the mighty is never trustworthy". It then relates how a cow, a goat and a sheep go hunting together with a lion. When it comes to dividing the spoil, the lion says, "I take the first portion because of my title, since I am addressed as king; the second portion you will assign to me, since I’m your partner; then because I am the stronger, the third will follow me; and an accident will happen to anyone who touches the fourth". In the Greek version of Babrius〔''Mythiambi'' I.67〕 it is a wild donkey and a lion who go hunting. The lion divides their take into three, awarding himself the first because he is king of the beasts, the second because they are 'equal' partners, and suggesting that the ass runs away quickly before daring to touch the third. The moral Babrius draws is, "Measure yourself! Do not engage in any business or partnership with a man more powerful!" These related variants are numbered 339 in the Perry Index.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=THE LION, THE COW, THE SHE-GOAT AND THE SHEEP )〕 Another version that first appears in the Middle Ages is more cynical still. A fox joins the lion and donkey in hunting. When the donkey divides their catch into three equal portions, the angry lion kills the donkey and eats him. The fox then puts everything into one pile, leaving just a tiny bit for herself, and tells the lion to choose. When the lion asks her how she learned to share things this way, the fox replies, "From the donkey’s misfortune." This variation is given a separate number (149) in the Perry Index and is the one followed by such Renaissance writers as Gabriele Faerno,〔''Fabulae Centum'' (1564), (fable 3, p.9 )〕 Hieronymus Osius〔''Fabulae Aesopi'' (1564), (fable 78 )〕 and Geoffrey Whitney.〔''Choice of Emblemes'' (1586), (p.154 )〕 That the number of variations circulating at the time was found puzzling by Mediaeval authors is suggested by the fact that Marie de France includes two versions in her 12th century Ysopet.〔''The Fables of Marie de France'', ed. Mary Lou Martin, Birmingham AL, pp.56-8; (see the limited preview in Google Books )〕 Both appear under the title "The Lion Goes Hunting" (''De Leone Venante''). On one occasion, she recounts, the lion is joined by officers of his court, a wild ox and a wolf, who divide the catch into three and invite their lord to apportion it. Then on another occasion, when the lion is accompanied by a goat and a sheep, the deer they take is divided into four. In both cases the lion begins by claiming portions as a legal right and retains the others with threats. In La Fontaine's Fables there is a fourfold division between a heifer, a goat and a sheep (''Fables'' I.6). These the lion retains by right of kingship, because he is the strongest, the bravest, and will kill any who touches the fourth part.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Jean de La Fontaine's Poem: The Heifer, The Goat, And The Sheep )〕 A Latin reference to Aesop's fable is found at the start of the Common Era, where the phrase ''societas leonina'' (a leonine company) was used by one Roman lawyer to describe the kind of unequal business partnership described by Aesop.〔The differences in interpretation between the three versions is discussed in the article ''Societas Leonina or the lion's share'', Brian Møller Jensen, in Eranos: Acta philologica Suecana Vol. CII (2004), pp.97-104; a PDF version is available online (at the Researchgate site )〕 The early 19th century writer Jefferys Taylor also retold the fable in terms of a commercial enterprise in his poem "The Beasts in Partnership": :::This firm once existed, I'd have you to know, :::Messrs Lion, Wolf, Tiger, Fox, Leopard & Co; :::These in business were join'd, and of course 'twas implied, :::They their stocks should unite, and the profits divide.〔''Aesop in Rhyme'', London, 1828, pp.76-7〕 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「Lion's share」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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