menace的词源
英文词源
- menace
- menace: [13] Latin mināx meant ‘threatening’ (it was formed from a base *min- ‘jut’ which also produced English eminent and prominent, and hence etymologically denoted ‘overhanging’). From it was derived the noun minācia ‘threatening things’, which passed into English via Old French manace. The closely related demeanour comes ultimately from a word denoting ‘drive animals with threats’.
=> eminent, prominent - menace (n.)
- c. 1300, "declaration of hostile intent," also "act of threatening," from Old French menace "menace, threat" (9c.), from Vulgar Latin minacia "threat, menace" (also source of Spanish amenaza, Italian minaccia), singular of Latin minaciæ "threatening things," from minax (genitive minacis) "threatening," from minari "threaten, jut, project," from minæ "threats, projecting points," from PIE root *men- (2) "to project." Applied to persons from 1936.
- menace (v.)
- c. 1300, from Old French menacer "threaten, urge" (11c.), Anglo-French manasser, from Vulgar Latin *minaciare "to threaten," from minacia (see menace (n.)). Related: Menaced; menacing.
中文词源
menace（威胁）：以喊叫、威胁的方式驱赶牲畜
古代人放牧、驱赶牲畜时比较粗暴简单，通常通过喊叫、威胁或鞭打的方式来驱赶牲畜，这种方式在拉丁语中叫做minare，进入法语后拼写为mener。英语单词menace（威胁）就来源于此，本意指的是驱赶牲畜时人所发出的叫喊声、威胁声，兼有“威胁”和“驱策”的含义。后来“驱策”的含义逐渐消失，仅仅表示“威胁、恐吓”，变成了threaten的同义词。
还有一个单词也来源于此，那就是amenable，由a（=to，面对）+mener（驱赶、领导）+able（能够），字面意思就是“能够面对领导”，引申为“顺从的、易于管教、易于屈服、容易被说服的”，还可以表示“负有责任的、经得起检验的”。要注意这个词与amend（改善）并没有关系。
menace：['menəs] n.v.威胁，恐吓
amenable：[ə'miːnəb(ə)l] adj.顺从的，肯接受的；负有责任的；经得起检验的
该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：menace 词源，menace 含义。
来自拉丁语minari,突出，升出，来自PIE*men,突出，升出，词源同mountain,minatory.引申词义威胁。
