loathe 復習

　Donald Trump will host a lavish celebration of his first year as US president at his private estate in Florida on Saturday, with tickets starting at $100,000 a pair, even as thousands of women take to the streets to protest against his divisive leadership.
　Trump had been due to depart Washington on Friday but postponed the trip for a day as the government stood on the brink of its first shutdown since 2013. Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill were locked in a stalemate over a funding agreement on immigration, the military and other issues. …
　Neil Sroka, communications director for the progressive political action committee Democracy for America, said: “You’d think he’d be taking a victory lap at this moment but his presidency has been marked by so much incompetence that he knows in his psyche he couldn’t hold a rally on the National Mall and get a tenth of the crowd at his inauguration. Even Trump can no longer deny he’s loathed across the country.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/19/trump-anniversary-president-protests

　今回取り上げる語は、loathe /lˈəʊð/ です。
　まず意味を確認します。LDOCEをみると、“to hate someone or something very much” とあり、OEDをみると “Feel intense dislike or disgust for.” と定義されていました。『ジーミアス英和辞典』(大修館)をみると、「<人・物>をひどく嫌う」とあります。同書に用例があり、“loathe doing” で「…するのをひどく嫌う」と使われることがわかります。
　次に語源を確認します。 OEDをみると “Old English lāthian, of Germanic origin; related to loath.” とあるため、 “loath”をみると “Old English lāth ‘hostile, spiteful’, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch leed, German Leid ‘sorrow’.” となっていました。
　最後に類語を確認します。この語の類語で代表的なのは “hate” です。“hate” をLDOCEでみると “to dislike something very much” とあります。さらに『ジーミアス英和辞典』(大修館)をみると、”loathe” は「hate よりも強意的で、あまり重要でないことに用いる」とありました。(OkaUchi)