occult的词源

英文词源

occult: occult: [16] Something that is occult is etymologically ‘hidden’. The word comes from the past participle of Latin occulere ‘hide’, a compound verb formed from the prefix ob- and an unrecorded *celere, a relative of cēlāre ‘hide’ (which forms the second syllable of English conceal). When English acquired it, it still meant broadly ‘secret, hidden’ (‘Metals are nothing else but the earth’s hid and occult plants’, John Maplet, Green Forest 1567), a sense preserved in the derived astronomical term occultation ‘obscuring of one celestial body by another’ [16].

The modern associations with supernatural mysteries did not begin to emerge until the 17th century.
=> cell, conceal, hall, hell
occult (adj.): 1530s, "secret, not pulged," from Middle French occulte and directly from Latin occultus "hidden, concealed, secret," past participle of occulere "cover over, conceal," from ob "over" (see ob-) + a verb related to celare "to hide," from PIE root *kel- (2) "to cover, conceal" (see cell). Meaning "not apprehended by the mind, beyond the range of understanding" is from 1540s. The association with the supernatural sciences (magic, alchemy, astrology, etc.) dates from 1630s.

oc-,在上，表强调，-cul,隐藏，覆盖，词源同hole,cellar,hell.即隐藏的，覆盖的，引申词义神秘的，玄妙的。

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

所谓“神秘”即真相仍有所隐藏，所以该词词义统一于“隐藏”。前缀oc-相当于ob-表“over”，词根cult表“隐藏”，和它同源的如cell（单人小室），conceal（隐藏）等，单人室即“藏”身之所。