atrocity 復習

　The Archbishop of York has put on a dog collar for the first time in almost 10 years, ending his symbolic protest over Robert Mugabe's leadership of Zimbabwe.
　In December 2007, Dr John Sentamu cut up his dog collar live on BBC One's Andrew Marr Show, promising not to wear one until Mr Mugabe left office.
　He said Zimbabwe's leader had "taken people's identity" and "cut it to pieces", prompting him to do the same.
　On Sunday, he returned to the Marr Show and reinstated his collar as promised.
　Mr Mugabe left office dramatically on Tuesday after 37 years of authoritarian rule. …
　He said Mr Mugabe may have gone, but the new President Emmerson Mnangagwa - who was sworn in on Friday - was "still implicated in a lot of things".
　Although Mr Mnangagwa has unseated Zimbabwe's long-time ruler, he is still associated by many with some of the worst atrocities committed under the ruling Zanu-PF party since the country gained independence in 1980. (Skip the rest)

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42128073

　今回取り上げる語は、atrocity /ətrάsəṭi/ です。
　まず意味を確認します。LDOCEをみると、“an extremely cruel and violent action, especially during a war” とあります。「冷酷かつ暴力的な行為」を指す語になります。
　次に語源を確認します。ODEをみると、“mid 16th cent. From French atrocité or Latin atrocitias, from atrox, atroc- ‘cruel’ ” とありました。さらに、この語は crude と関係が深いため確認すると、“latte Middle English; from Latin crudus ‘raw, rough’ ”となっています。
　今回の記事によると、ヨーク大司教が a dog collar を身につけたとなっています。dog collar は clerical collar の俗語(ODE)です。cleric は「聖職者」を意味しています(『ジーニアス英和大辞典』参照)。これをヨーク大司教が着けるシーンがこの記事上で動画になっているので、ぜひ確認してみてください。(OkaUchi)