euphemism的词源
英文词源
- euphemism
- euphemism: [17] Etymologically, euphemism means ‘speaking with good words’. Greek euphēmismós, a compound formed ultimately from the prefix eu- ‘good, well’ and phémē ‘speech, saying’ (a relative of English fable, fame, and fate), originally denoted the avoidance of words of ill omen at religious ceremonies, but it was subsequently taken up by grammarians to signify the substitution of a less for a more offensive word. Its opposite, dysphemism ‘use of a more offensive word’, is a modern coinage, formed in the late 19th century using the Greek prefix dus- ‘bad, difficult’.
=> fable, fame, fate - euphemism (n.)
- 1650s, from Greek euphemismos "use of a favorable word in place of an inauspicious one," from euphemizein "speak with fair words, use words of good omen," from eu- "good, well" (see eu-) + pheme "speech, voice, utterance, a speaking," from phanai "speak" (see fame (n.)).
In ancient Greece, the superstitious avoidance of words of ill-omen during religious ceremonies, or substitutions such as Eumenides "the Gracious Ones" for the Furies (see also Euxine). In English, a rhetorical term at first; broader sense of "choosing a less distasteful word or phrase than the one meant" is first attested 1793. Related: Euphemistic; euphemistically.
中文词源
eu-, 好的。-phem, 说，词源同fame, phone.
该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：euphemism 词源，euphemism 含义。
委婉语或委婉词是一种修辞手段，即采取婉转的、温和的、可接受的词语来表达某些不大好听的内容。例汉语里的“死”字，是个不大好听的字眼，人们创造了许多生动的委婉语来取代“死”这个令人厌恶的字眼，如：“逝世”、“去世”、“过世”、“老了”、“见马克思去”、“交粮本”等等。英语里也避开“die”这个字眼，而说“He went to his reward.”
Euphemism是从希腊语来的，eu，意思是“好”，phemi意思是“说”，合起来则是“说得好听点儿”。委婉语的宗旨正是这样。
来源于希腊语euphemismos,由eu-(优,善,好)和pheme(说)组成。
词根词缀： eu-优,善,好 + -phe-说 + m + -ism名词词尾,语风
