Jan.30 Japan Times Onlineに映画批評の記事がありそのタイトルに覚えたい単語がありました。
Exodus: ‘Verisimilitude alone doesn’t make a story more engaging’
"engaging" は "4/29/2011" に取り上げました。 "verisimilitude" が今日覚えたい単語です。"veri" は真実で、"similitude" は似ていると言う意味がありますが、とにかく記事を読みます。
And yes, there's much to admire on a purely technical level, whether it's the costumes and set design, or the CGI-assisted re-creations of ancient Memphis and the parting of the Red Sea -- depicted here as something closer to a tsunami.
But verisimilitude alone doesn't make a story more engaging.
この映画は技術的には写実的だと言っている様です。辞書で "verisimilitude" の意味を確認します。
・Oxford English Dictionary: The appearance of being true or real: the detail gives the novel some verisimilitude
・Collins Dictionary: 1. the appearance or semblance of truth or reality; quality of seeming true 2.something that merely seems to be true or real, such as a doubtful statement: I saw a photocopy of the fake document later, and was stunned by its verisimilitude.
写実的だけれども本物ではないと言うニュアンスがある様です。
サンタクララでの新しい環境は苛酷ではありませんが、White Fangにとっては苦労が絶えません。
On the way to town, hanging around the saloon at the cross-roads, were three dogs that mad a practice of rushing out upon him when he went by. Knowing his deadly method of fighting, the master had never ceased impressing upon White Fang the law that he must not fight. As a result, having learned the lesson well, White Fang was hard put whenever he passed the crossroads saloon. After the first rush, each time, his snarl kept the three dogs at a distance, but they trailed along behind, yelping and bickering and insulting him.
"hard put" は文脈からして苦労するとか困るという感じですが、どうでしょうか？ 初めて見る（？）表現の様なので、辞書で確認します。
・Collins English Dictionary: scarcely having the capacity (to do something) ⇒ he's hard put to get to work by 9:30
・Merriam-Webster : barely able: faced with difficulty or perplexity: was hard put to find an explanation
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: able to do something only with great difficulty. I'm hard put to come up with enough money to pay the rent. I get hard put like that about once a month.
なるほど、こう言う使い方はどうでしょう？ I'm hard put whenever I try to remember new English expressions like "hard put".
やはり帝京大は東芝にかないませんでした。後半は頑張りましたが前半に大きく差をつけられたのが致命的でした。残念、でも良い試合でした。
さて、White Fangの新しい飼い主との暮らしが始まりました。
But most potent in his education were the cuff of the master's hand, the censure of the master's voice. Because of White Fang's very great love, a cuff from the master hurt him far more than any beating Gray Beaver or Beauty Smith had ever given him.
They had hurt only the flesh of him; beneath the flesh the spirit had still raged, splendid and invincible. But with the master the cuff was always too light to hurt the flesh. Yet it went deeper. It was an expression of the master's disapproval, and White Fang's spirit wilted under it.
"cuff" の意味として手錠と袖口、ズボンの折り返し位しか思い浮かばないのですが、上の 引用文での "cuff" には別の意味があるようです。辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A blow given with an open hand.: The second I exposed myself, the blow would come, a cuff across the head or shoulders that I'd feel for days.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to hit someone with your hand in a light, joking way: His brother cuffed him playfully round the head.
拳固ではなく平手打ちですね。しかも余り強く叩くものではない様です。
今年の高校と大学のラグビー全国大会の決勝戦はどちらも大差の一方的な試合で、社会人トップリーグの決勝も大差ではありませんが、やはり一方的な試合で余り面白くありませんでしたが、学生と社会人が戦う全日本一回戦のＮＥＣ対帝京戦は接戦で大変面白い試合でした。帝京がどこまで社会人と二回戦以降戦えるのか楽しみです。
さて、今ジャック・ロンドンのWhite Fangを読んでいます。昨年（1/31/2014）取り上げましたが、また意味を忘れている単語が次の様に出て来ました。
One Eye sprang back with a snort of sudden fright, then shrank down to the snow and crouched, snarling threats at this thing of fear he did not understand. But the she-wolf coolly thrust past him. She poised for a moment, then sprang for the dancing rabbit. She, too, soard high, but not so high as the quarry, and her teeth clipped emのptily together with a metallic snap.
"quarry" はRobert B. ParkerのWILDERNESSを読んでいた時に出てきた単語です。意味は "a person or animal that someone is trying to find or catch" でしたね。
Japan Times Online Jan.18の記事タイトルの中に何となく見覚えのある単語がありました。
Sri Lanka votes against fear and kleptocracy
しかし、このタイトルに使われている "kleptocracy" の意味が直ぐには頭に浮かんできません。でも新聞記事の場合は記事を読み進めば意味は大抵の場合分かるので記事を読みます。
After a decade in power, Sri Lankans chose to hold Rajapaksa accountable for extensive corruption and nepotism, and for presiding over a climate of intimidation. His relatives and cronies dominated key ministries and institutions, and abused their powers to raid the public purse and silence critics.
政治を私物化し、家族・親戚を政治の有力な地位に就ける政治ですね。辞書で意味を確認します。
・Collins Dictionary: a government where officials are politically corrupt and financially self-interested: However, Western nations have their own problems with corruption and kleptocracy.
・Wordnik: A corrupt and dishonest government characterised by greed.: His reign of corruption would last three decades, spawning the term kleptocracy, rule by thieves.
"kleptocracy" をこれまでに取り上げたことは無いようですが、"kleptomania" (4/14/2014 Kleptomania is an addiction to stealing.)と"kakistocracy" (Government by the least qualified or most unprincipled citizens.: Russia is proving the opposite. Late last year, the kakistocracy propping up Boris Yeltsin decided not to risk giving up power. wordsmith.org/awad/archives/0600) を取り上げていました。
昨日取り上げた "fealty" が使われた文に慣用句らしい "take upon himself" がありました。
In acknowledgment of fealty, he proceeded to take upon himself the guardianship of his master’s property.
"take upon onself" で辞書をみます。
・The American Heritage Idioms Dictionary: Also, take on oneself. Undertake something, as in I took it upon myself to count the precise number of children in the audience, or She took it on herself to enter a convent.
・McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs: take something (up)on oneself: to accept the entire burden of something on oneself. (Upon is formal and less commonly used than on.) You didn't need to take it all upon yourself. There are others here who can help, you know. Jan takes too much on herself.
責任を持って仕事を引き受ける感じですね。White Fangの場合は引き受けると言っても自主的に行っていますが。
White Fangを見世物の闘犬にしたBeauty Smithから救ってくれたWeedon ScottにWhite Fangは恩を感じている様子です。
And so, because he needed a god and because he preferred Weedon Scott to Beauty Smith, White Fang remained. In acknowledgment of fealty, he proceeded to take upon himself the guardianship of his master’s property. He prowled about the cabin while the sled-dogs slept, and the first night-visitor to the cabin fought him off with a club until Weedon Scott came to the rescue.
"fealty" と、慣用句と思われる、 "take upon himself" を辞書で調べます。"fealty" はこの後にも次の個所に出てきました。
The team dispersed in ignominious defeat, and it was not until after dark that the dogs came sneaking back, one by one, by meekness and humility signifying their fealty to White Fang.
では "fealty" の意味を辞書で見ます。
・Collins English Dictionary: (in feudal society) the loyalty sworn to one's lord on becoming his vassal
・Vocabulary.com: Stemming from the Latin word "fidelitas," the noun fealty is related to "fidelity," and is another way of saying "loyalty" or "faithfulness." Most school kids pledge their fealty, or allegiance, to the United States of America every morning in homeroom. But if you think fealty sounds like a word King Arthur would use, you're right: It's really an outdated term that primarily describes a vassal's sworn allegiance to a feudal lord.
人間なら忠誠と言ったところでしょうか？ 渋谷の忠犬ハチ公が思い浮かびます。
"take upon himself" は明日取り上げます。
It began to look as though the battle were over. The backers of Cherokee waxed jubiliant and offered ridiculous odds. White Fang's backers were correspondingly depressed, and refused bets of ten to one and twenty to one, though one man was rash enough to close a wager of fifty to one.
この引用個所に出てきた "rash" の意味が分かりません。早速辞書を見ます。
・Macmillan Dictionary: acting or done too quickly, without considering the effects of your actions: I know you're angry, but please don't do anything rash. a rash decision
・Vocabulary.com: A rash is something that spreads like wild fire ? red itchy skin or a series of unfortunate events. It can also describe an impulsive, wild decision.
As an adjective, rash has meant "quick, vigorous" since the 1300s by way of Scotland. The meaning shifted to "reckless" a few hundred years later, and can still be used that way -- a "rash decision" is a sudden, not well thought out one.
Rash, the noun that no one wants on their skin, came a few hundred years after that, but from the French word rache which at some point meant "ringworm." Ringworm still gives us a red, itchy rash. Fun! Rash can also mean a lot of unpleasant things happening in a short amount of time, like robberies or earthquakes.
Vocabulary.comの説明にはいつもガッテンしてしまいますが、しばらく経つとやはり忘れてしまうのは情けない。
White Fangとブルドッグの闘いはまだ続いています。
The bull-dog missed by a hair's-breadth, and cries of praise went up as White Fang doubled suddenly out of danger in the opposite direction.
The time went by. White Fang still danced on, dodging and doubling, leaping in and out, and ever inflicting damage.
"double" は何らかの動きを示す様ですね。 "on the double" は知っていますが、その意味と関係があるのでしょうか？ 辞書を見ます。
・Merriam-Webster: to turn sharply and suddenly; especially : to turn back on one's course: the rabbit doubled back on its tracks
・Infoplease: to turn back on a course or reverse direction (often fol. by back): He doubled back by another road and surprised us.
急に向きを変えると言う事ですね。
ブログの記録を見ると "double" を含んだ表現は幾つも取り上げていました。参考にその記録を下に列記します。
2/4/2014 double-time gesture: a fast march of 180 paces to the minute/a slow running pace, keeping in step
9/24/2013 Doubling back: to turn and go back in the direction you have come from
9/16/2013 double: to clench
4/4/2011 double take: to react after a slight pause
1/11/2010 double bind: situation requiring a choice between equally undesirable alternatives
"double" の意味は "double meaning" どころでは無いですね。
White Fangは闘犬として百戦練磨、狼と戦っても負けません。しかし、今度の相手bull-dogのCherokeeはちょっと様子が違う様です。
Each time that his teeth struck they sank easily into the yielding flesh, while the animal did not seem able to defend itself. Another disconcerting thing was that it made no outcry, such as he had been accustomed to with the other dogs he had fought. Beyond a grown or a grunt, the dog took its punishment silently. And never did it flag in its pursuit of him.
上の引用個所に出てきた "flag" の意味は何でしょう？ 辞書を見ます。
・Oxford Dictionary: become tired, weaker, or less enthusiastic: if you begin to flag, there is an excellent cafe to revive you
・Vocabulary.com: Stopping for a snack may help when your energy or attention begin to flag, meaning you are getting tired or losing your focus.
Flag describes a person’s waning energy level after a sustained effort. For example, you may begin to flag after a long afternoon sightseeing in a strange city. It can also be used to describe diminishing success, such as a movie career that seems to flag after the actor stops landing big roles, flag can also refer to something that seems to drop off, like gym attendance that flags -- along with those New Year's resolutions.
この意味の語源をONLINE ETYMOLOGY DICTIONARYで見ると次の説明がありました。
1540s, "flap about loosely," probably a later variant of Middle English flakken, flacken "to flap, flutter" (late 14c.), which probably is from Old Norse flaka "to flicker, flutter, hang losse," perhaps imitative of something flapping lazily in the wind. Sense of "go limp, droop, become languid" is first recorded 1610s.
なるほど、風がなくて垂れ下がった旗を思い浮かべれば良いのですね。
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