hieroglyphic的词源

英文词源

hieroglyphic

hieroglyphic: [16] Etymologically, hieroglyphic means ‘of sacred carving’. It came via French hiéroglyphique from Greek hierogluphikós, a compound of hierós ‘sacred’ and gluphé ‘carving’ (which derived from the same source as English cleave ‘split’). It was applied to the picture writing of the ancient Egyptians because this was used in sacred texts.
=> cleave

hieroglyphic

1580s (adj. and n.), from Late Latin hieroglyphicus, from Greek hieroglyphikos "hieroglyphic; of Egyptian writing," from hieros "sacred" (see ire) + glyphe "carving," from glyphein "to carve" (see glyph). Plutarch began the custom of using the adjective (ta hieroglyphika) as a noun.

中文词源

hieroglyphic（象形文字）：刻在古埃及神庙中的象形文字

古埃及人很早就发明了象形文字，但其运用具有浓厚的宗教色彩，仅用来记录法老和宗教方面的资料，常常雕刻在古埃及神庙的石墙、石柱上。因此，古希腊人将这些象形文字称为hieroglyphikos，由hiero（神圣的）和glyphe（雕刻）组成，字面意思就是“神圣的雕刻”。由于这些雕刻的图画其实是一种象形文字，所以hieroglyphic常常翻译为“象形文字”。它原本是一个形容词，但古希腊历史学家普鲁塔克（Plutarch）将其作为名词使用。因此，在英语中，它即可做形容词也可做名词。

hieroglyphic：[haɪrə'glɪfɪk] adj.象形文字的n.象形文字

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