趣味英语起源论第542期:Iron 铁
日期:2014-03-28 09:00

(单词翻译:单击)

世间万物的存在,必定有其存在的价值和意义,每一个事物的产生必定有其产生的根源,并非凭空而降。

Iron 铁


在西亚古苏美尔语中,铁被叫做“安巴尔”,意思是“天降之火”(陨石)。古埃及人把铁叫做“天石”。 在古人类发现铁时,由于其坚硬的特性,被命名为 Iron(“铁”),该词源于拉丁语,意为“坚固”、“刚强”的意思。

铁的元素符号“Fe”,源自拉丁文“Ferrum”,意指“铁”,系该词的 缩写。

Iron is probably a Celtic contribution to English, but the borrowing took place in the prehistoric period, before the Germanic dialects separated, and so English shares the word with German (eisen), Dutch (ijzen), Swedish (järn), etc. The prehistoric Celtic form from which these all ultimately came was *īsarnon, which some have linked with Latin aes ‘bronze’ and Sanskrit isira- ‘strong’. The ancient Indo- European peoples had already split up into groups speaking mutually unintelligible tongues by the time iron came into general use, so there was never any common Indo-European term for it.

Iron Age 铁器时代

Iron horse 火车

Iron man 通用摄像机

Iron ore 铁矿石

Ironclad 装甲的

Ironing 熨烫的

Ironmonger 铁器商

Ironworks 钢铁厂


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重点单词
  • ironcladadj. 坚固的,装铁甲的 n. 铁甲舰
  • unintelligibleadj. 难以理解的; 莫明其妙的
  • ultimatelyadv. 最后,最终
  • prehistoricadj. 史前的 =prehistorical
  • oren. 矿,矿石
  • separatedadj. 分居;分开的;不在一起生活的 v. 分开;隔开
  • splitn. 劈开,裂片,裂口 adj. 分散的 v. 分离,分
  • contributionn. 贡献,捐款(赠)