prole 復習
Younger adults are by now used to having their deficiencies highlighted in the newspapers. We are profligate, spoiled, and easily offended by racism, sexism or homophobia (making us “snowflakes”). We’ve annihilated everything from marriage to golf to napkins. And now, we have turned our seek-and-destroy Gorgon-esque gazes to offices. …
But Russell is unconcerned about all of this. Aside from arguing that a diverse office environment replete with proles is crucial to keep rich people from stagnating in their own bubbles (one interviewee says it teaches you not to “talk tactlessly to an assistant about designer clothes”), she also quotes a twentysomething whose freelance peers are lonely, isolated or arrogant. (Skip the rest)
今回取り上げる語は、prole /próʊl/ です。“… a diverse office environment replete with proles is crucial to keep rich people from …” の部分をみると rich people と proles が対比関係にあると考えられるので、proles は「貧乏人」と推測することができます。以下で意味等を確認していきます。
まず意味を LDOCE でみると、“British English old-fashioned not polite” “an offensive word for a working-class person” とあり、Cambridge Dictionary には “an insulting word for a person from a low social class; a short form of "proletarian"” と定義されていました。
次に語源を OED でみると、“Late 19th century: abbreviation of proletariat.” とあり、proletariat を調べると “Mid 19th century: from French prolétariat, from Latin proletarius.” となっています。
以上のことから、「プロレタリア階級の人、貧乏人」という訳をつけることができます。(OkaUchi)