predicament的词源
英文词源
- predicament
- predicament: [14] Predicament was originally a technical term in logic, denoting a ‘category of attributes which may be asserted of a thing’. It broadened out in the 16th century to ‘situation’, but it does not seem to have been until the 18th century that the specific modern sense ‘awkward situation’ became established. The word comes from late Latin praedicāmentum, a derivative of praedicāre ‘proclaim’ (source of English preach and predicate [16]). This was a compound verb formed from the prefix prae- ‘in front of’, hence ‘in public’ and dicāre ‘make known’.
=> preach, predicate - predicament (n.)
- early 15c., "category, class; one of Aristotle's 10 categories," from Medieval Latin predicamentum, from Late Latin praedicamentum "quality, category, something predicted, that which is asserted," from Latin praedicatus, past participle of praedicare (see predicate). Praedicamentum is a loan-translation of Greek kategoria, Aristotle's word. The meaning "unpleasant situation" is first recorded 1580s.
中文词源
predicament（困境）：亚里士多德提出的“范畴”的拉丁文意译
英语单词predicament来自拉丁语predicamentum，而后者是对古希腊哲学家亚里士多德所提出的术语“范畴”（英语category， 希腊语kategoria）的拉丁语意译。predicament的字面意思是“所宣称、断言的东西”，等于category，与predict（预 言）、predicate（断言、谓语）词源相同。predicament原本表示“范畴”，后来词义演变为“状态、情形”，最后专指“令人难受而又难以 摆脱的情形”，即“困境”。
predicament：[prɪ'dɪkəm(ə)nt] n.困境，窘况，状态
该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：predicament 词源，predicament 含义。
来自拉丁语praedicamentum,预测之事，分类，品质，词源同predicate.后借用该拉丁词来翻译希腊语kategoria,分类，该词为古希腊哲学家亚里士多德对当时的社会进行分类后创造出来的词，共十类，即being,quantity,quality,relation,place,time,posture,possession,action,passion.引申词义情况，状况，后特别用于指不好的情况，即困难，窘境。
