常時英心:言葉の森から 1.0

約10年間,はてなダイアリーで英語表現の落穂拾いを行ってきました。現在はAmeba Blogに2.0を開設し,継続中です。こちらはしばらくアーカイブとして維持します。

sardonically

ロシア政府は, ウラジーミル・レーニンの遺体保存維持費を上げる方針であることを明らかにしました。

Russia reveals cost of preserving Lenin's body

Russia's government has announced it will spend up to 13m roubles ($200,000; £140,000) this year on preserving Vladimir Lenin's embalmed body.

中略

In the post-Soviet years there have been many calls for Lenin to be buried rather than kept on public display in his glass coffin. A recent online poll of more than 8,000 Russians found that 62% were in favour of giving him a proper burial, although the idea has previously been dismissed by the Kremlin.

News of Lenin's maintenance budget hasn't gone down well among social media users. On the Komsomolskaya Pravda website some deplore the cost of keeping a "mummy" on display, while others complain that Lenin himself would have opposed being treated as an "idol". One person sardonically suggests that the Communists hope to clone the Bolshevik leader if they ever return to power, and another says that if they're going to bury Lenin they should first dig up post-Soviet President Boris Yeltsin.

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-36035076

本日取り上げる表現は “sardonically” です。

『新英和大辞典』(第五版, 研究社)には, 「冷笑的な, 嘲笑的な, せせら笑いの」とありました。また “sardonic laugh” で, 「[病理]痙笑, ひきつり笑い」を指すと記されています。

Oxford Advanced Leaner’s Dictionary (8th edition) には “showing that you think you are better than other people and do not take them seriously” と定義され, 同義語は “mocking” とありました。

これらのニュアンスから, 今回は「ある人が…と嘲笑的にほのめかした」という意味になるではないかと思います。(Cayu)