enthusiasm的词源

英文词源

enthusiasm

enthusiasm: [17] Enthusiasm has had a chequered semantic history. Like giddiness, it meant originally ‘state of being inspired by a god’. It comes ultimately from Greek énthous or éntheos ‘possessed, inspired’, a compound formed from the prefix en- ‘in’ and theós ‘god’ (as in English theology). From this in turn was derived the verb enthousiázein ‘be inspired’ and the noun enthousiasmós, which passed into English via Latin or French, still with the sense ‘pine inspiration’ (‘Doth he think they knew it by enthusiasm or revelation from heaven?’ Richard Baxter, Infants’ church membership and baptism 1651).

In the stern climate of Puritanism, however, pine inspiration was not something to be encouraged, and as the 17th century progressed enthusiasm took on derogatory connotations of ‘excessive religious emotion’. The modern approbatory meaning, ‘eagerness’, had its beginnings at the start of the 18th century, and by the early 19th century had ousted the deprecatory sense from leading place.
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enthusiasm (n.)

c. 1600, from Middle French enthousiasme (16c.) and directly from Late Latin enthusiasmus, from Greek enthousiasmos "pine inspiration, enthusiasm (produced by certain kinds of music, etc.)," from enthousiazein "be inspired or possessed by a god, be rapt, be in ecstasy," from entheos "pinely inspired, possessed by a god," from en "in" (see en- (2)) + theos "god" (see theo-). Acquired a derogatory sense of "excessive religious emotion through the conceit of special revelation from God" (1650s) under the Puritans; generalized meaning "fervor, zeal" (the main modern sense) is first recorded 1716.

中文词源

enthusiasm（热情）：神灵附体时的狂热情感

英语单词enthusiasm原本是一个宗教词汇，来自希腊语 enthousiazein，后者源自entheos，由en（in）+theos（god，神）构成，字面意思就是“神灵附体”。因此英语单词 enthusiasm的本意就是“神灵附体、受到神灵的启发”，后来被用来表示“自认为与神有某种特殊联系而产生过度强烈的宗教情感”。二十世纪后，该词 的宗教色彩逐渐消失，用来表示“对某事物的特别热衷、热情”。

enthusiasm：[ɪn'θuzɪæzəm] n.热情，热心，热忱

enthusiast：[ɪn'θuzɪæst] n.狂热者，热心人，爱好者

enthusiastic：[ɪn,θjuːzɪ'æstɪk; en-] adj.热情的，热心的，狂热的

该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：enthusiasm 词源，enthusiasm 含义。

enthusiasm：热情，热忱

来自enthuse，热情。