| 翻訳と辞書 |
termagant
In medieval Europe, Termagant was the name given to a god which Christians wrongly believed Muslims worshipped, represented in the mystery plays as a violent overbearing personage.〔Definition from Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed.〕
The word is also used in modern English to mean a violent, overbearing, turbulent, brawling, quarrelsome woman; a virago, shrew, vixen.〔 In the past the word could be applied to any person or thing personified, not just a woman.
==Origin of the concept==
European literature from the Middle Ages often referred to Muslims as pagans, with sobriquets such as "the paynim foe". These depictions represent Muslims worshipping Muhammad as a god along with various deities in the form of idols (cult images), ranging from Apollyon to Lucifer, but their chief deity was typically named Termagant. In some writings, such as the eleventh-century ''Song of Roland'', this was combined to create an "unholy Trinity" of sorts composed of Muhammad, Apollyon, and Termagant.〔Julia Bolton Holloway, ''The Pilgrim and the Book: A Study of Dante, Langland, and Chaucer'', Peter Lang, New York, 1992, p.151〕
The origin of the name Termagant is unknown, and does not seem to derive from any actual aspect of Muslim belief or practice, however wildly distorted. W. W. Skeat in the 19th century, speculated that the name was originally "Trivagante", meaning 'thrice wandering', a reference to the moon, because of the Islamic use of crescent moon imagery. An Old English origin has also been suggested, from ''tiw mihtig r'' ("very mighty"), referring to the Germanic god Tiw. Another possibility is that it derives from a confusion between Muslims and the Zoroastrian Magi of ancient Iran: thus ''tyr-magian'', or "Magian god". Joseph T. Shipley argues that it evolved from the Italian "Trivigante" and became confused with "termigisto", meaning boaster, derived from Hermes Trismegistus.〔
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「termagant」の詳細全文を読む
スポンサード リンク
| 翻訳と辞書 : 翻訳のためのインターネットリソース |
Copyright(C) kotoba.ne.jp 1997-2016. All Rights Reserved.
|
|