stagnation 復習

　People should not expect pay rises above inflation this year as the stagnation in wages is set to continue until the end of 2018, according to a leading thinktank.
　The pay squeeze is likely to get worse before it gets better, with no meaningful recovery in wage packets before the end of next year, the Resolution Foundation found.
　Real wage growth is expected to be zero over the course of 2018 as a whole, meaning the pressure on living standards is set to continue.
　Inflation started outstripping pay rises at the beginning of 2017, marking a return to the pay squeeze that took hold after the financial crisis and finally began to ease in 2015. (Skip the rest)

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/dec/27/zero-real-wage-growth-britain-end-2018-forecasts

　今回取り上げる語は、stagnation /stægnéɪʃən/ です。
　まず意味を確認します。『ジーニアス英和大辞典』(大修館)をみると、「(1)<水や空気の>よどみ、停滞、(2)[経済]不況、景気停滞、不景気」とあります。この語の動詞形が stagnate /stˈægneɪt/ で、LDOCEで確認すると、“to stop developing or making progress” とありました。
　次に語源を確認します。Oxford Dictionary of English (2nd Edition Revised)をみると、“mid 17th cent. : from Latin stagnat- ‘settled as a pool’, from the verb stagnre, from stagunm ‘pool’ ”とあります。ここでいう “pool” は「よどみ」という意味で使われています(『ジーニアス英和大辞典』参照)。
　今回の記事では「不況」の意味で使われています。この同意表現をあげると、“depression, recession, dulness” があります。これは抑えておくと良いと思います。(OkaUchi)