flirtation 復習
On Tuesday morning, I woke to the news that Sudan, the world’s last male northern white rhino, had died. The 45-year-old animal was euthanised at his home in the Ol Pejeta conservancy in Kenya. He was old and he was ill. His time had come. Although this is desperately sad, the stark reality is that his passing makes no difference to those who seek to save his kind.
Despite a brief flirtation with Tinder last year, Sudan had been effectively dead from the waist down for years. His wobbly hind legs made it impossible for him to mount a female. His carers knew this, so veterinarians took the precaution of collecting and freezing away samples of his sperm, along with specimens from four other males who died before him; the hope is that these frozen semen samples can now be used to save the northern white rhino. (Skip the rest)
今回取り上げる語は、flirtation /flɚːtéɪʃən/ です。私自身、出会ったことのない語であることと、この語の語幹である flirt の語源が気になったので、以下で確認していきます。
まず意味を LDOCE でみると、“a short period of time during which you are interested in something” とあり、Cambridge Dictionary には “a situation in which someone behaves as if sexually attracted to another person, without being seriously interested” と定義されていました。また、『ウィズダム英和辞典』をみると「(1)いちゃつくこと、<考えなどを>もてあそぶこと、(2)一時的関心、浮気」とありました。
次に語源を OED でみると、“Mid 16th century: apparently symbolic, the elements fl- and -irt both suggesting sudden movement; compare with flick and spurt. The original verb senses were ‘give someone a sharp blow’ and ‘sneer at’; the earliest noun senses were ‘joke, jibe’ and ‘flighty girl’ (defined by Dr Johnson as ‘a pert young hussey’), with a notion originally of cheeky behaviour, later of playfully amorous behaviour.” とあります。人間性を感じることができる語源ですね。
今回の記事では、“Despite a brief flirtation with Tinder last year ...” とあり、「Tinder に少しだけ興味を持っていたにも関わらず …」と訳をつけることができます。(OkaUchi)
flirt with - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心：言葉の森から
flirt with 復習 - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心：言葉の森から
