obscene的词源

英文词源

obscene (adj.)

1590s, "offensive to the senses, or to taste and refinement," from Middle French obscène (16c.), from Latin obscenus "offensive," especially to modesty, originally "boding ill, inauspicious," of unknown origin; perhaps from ob "onto" (see ob-) + caenum "filth." Meaning "offensive to modesty or decency" is attested from 1590s. Legally, in U.S., it hinged on "whether to the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appeals to a prurient interest." [Justice William Brennan, "Roth v. United States," June 24, 1957]; refined in 1973 by "Miller v. California":

The basic guidelines for the trier of fact must be: (a) whether 'the average person, applying contemporary community standards' would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, (b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and (c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Related: Obscenely.

中文词源

obscene：淫秽的，下流的

来自拉丁语obscenus,冒犯的，来自obscaena,舞台后面，ob-,在上，在后面，-scaen,舞台，来自PIE*skei,分开，词源同shed,segment,proscenium.原指古希腊时期在表演不堪入目的情节时，只在舞台后面发出声音，而不在舞台上表演。后由该词引申词义淫秽的，下流的。

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