The Japan Times Online June 3の記事タイトルに出てきた "hamstrung" が気になりました。
Justice seen hamstrung as experts warn court interpreters should be licensed
Courts are supposed to be bastions of justice. But equal justice may be thwarted for some defendants owing to language barriers.
"hamstrung" だと原形は "hamstring" の様ですが、 "hamstring" は足のどこかの腱の意味しか知らないので辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: (usually be hamstrung) Severely restrict the efficiency or effectiveness of.: we were hamstrung by a total lack of knowledge
・Collins Dictionary: If you hamstring someone, you make it very difficult for them to take any action.: If he becomes the major opposition leader, he could hamstring a conservative-led coalition.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to limit the amount of something that can be done or the ability or power of someone to do something: The company was hamstrung by traditional but inefficient ways of conducting business.
アキレス腱（Achilles tendon）を切られた様な状態ですね。ところで、"hamstring" は "ham" と "string" の二つの名詞が合成されてできたので、Online Etymology Dictionaryによると文法的には "hamstring" は可笑しいそうです。
1640s, "to disable, render useless," a figurative verbal extension from hamstring (n.) "tendon at the back of the knee." Cutting this would render a person or animal lame. Literal sense of the verb is attested from 1670s. Since it is a verb from a noun-noun compound, hamstrung as a past participle is technically incorrect.
Justice seen hamstrung as experts warn court interpreters should be licensed
Courts are supposed to be bastions of justice. But equal justice may be thwarted for some defendants owing to language barriers.
"hamstrung" だと原形は "hamstring" の様ですが、 "hamstring" は足のどこかの腱の意味しか知らないので辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: (usually be hamstrung) Severely restrict the efficiency or effectiveness of.: we were hamstrung by a total lack of knowledge
・Collins Dictionary: If you hamstring someone, you make it very difficult for them to take any action.: If he becomes the major opposition leader, he could hamstring a conservative-led coalition.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to limit the amount of something that can be done or the ability or power of someone to do something: The company was hamstrung by traditional but inefficient ways of conducting business.
アキレス腱（Achilles tendon）を切られた様な状態ですね。ところで、"hamstring" は "ham" と "string" の二つの名詞が合成されてできたので、Online Etymology Dictionaryによると文法的には "hamstring" は可笑しいそうです。
1640s, "to disable, render useless," a figurative verbal extension from hamstring (n.) "tendon at the back of the knee." Cutting this would render a person or animal lame. Literal sense of the verb is attested from 1670s. Since it is a verb from a noun-noun compound, hamstrung as a past participle is technically incorrect.
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