become enamored with

栃木県で乗馬クラブの経営を手掛ける馬術選手―増山誠倫さんは, 地元チームの育成を最優先する意向を示しています。

Equestrian picks training Iwate team over Rio

OYAMA, Tochigi — Equestrian Takamichi Mashiyama had his priorities, and perhaps to the surprise of many, the Rio de Janeiro Olympics were not at the top.

A four-time all-Japan show-jumping champion, Mashiyama abandoned his place on the team to Rio for a higher calling — to focus on training the team representing Iwate Prefecture at this autumn’s National Sports Festival there.

The 37-year-old Mashiyama’s aim is to show the nation, via the team, how the prefecture has recovered from the Great East Japan Earthquake. “I want to offer proof of the region’s reconstruction through the performance of the riders,” he said.

Mashiyama made the tough decision to pass up the opportunity to compete in Rio after realizing that it would make it impossible for him to coach his team over a prolonged period of time.

中略

Mashiyama’s first experience on a horse came when he was in sixth grade and his father, Haruo, brought him to a horse-riding club in Oyama, Tochigi Prefecture. “Let’s make some time to spend together,” said his father, whose life was otherwise focused on his job as a sushi chef.

Haruo himself became so enamored with the sport that two years later, he opened his own riding club. It was there that Mashiyama began honing his equestrian skills in earnest.

以下省略

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003071840

本日気になった表現は “become enamored with” です。

『リーダーズ英和中辞典』(研究社)で調べると, “enamor” 「ほれさせる, 魅了[魅惑]する」とあり, “be [become] enamored of [with] a girl” で「娘にほれている[ほれる]」という例が挙げられていました。本文では, 誠倫選手の父が乗馬の虜になったということがわかります。

さらに, “enamor” を分解して調べると, 名詞 “amour” が「色事, 情事」という意味を示し, 接頭辞 “em (en)” は「…の中に入れる[入る]」という意の動詞をつくることがわかりました。以上より, “enamor” はこれに由来するのではないかと思いました。(Cayu)

以前, 取り上げられていた “enamored” の記事です。
enamored - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心：言葉の森から