under the auspices of~ 復習
The bombing of Syrian government targets by the United States, Britain, and France is a disgraceful and ineffectual act masquerading as a noble gesture. Far from preventing a more vicious war, the bombing instead legitimizes the continuation of the conflict. In fact, what this barrage of weapons really reveals is how little interest the global powers have in ending Syria’s ghastly war. …
But wasn’t last year’s attack meant to put an end to Assad’s use of chemical weapons, and aren’t these the weapons that he was supposed to have destroyed under international auspices in 2014? At this rate, should we expect that an aerial bombing mission to finally and completely destroy Assad’s chemical weapons will be launched every April? (Skip the rest)
今回取り上げる語は、auspice /ˈɔːspɪs/ です。辞書を確認する段階で under the auspices (of A) と使うことがわかったので、語源とこの形での意味を以下で確認していきます。
まず意味を Cambridge Dictionary でみると、“with the protection or support of someone or something, especially an organization” とあり、LDOCE には “with the help and support of a particular organization or person” と定義されていました。
次に語源を OED でみると、“Mid 16th century (originally denoting the observation of bird flight in divination): from French, or from Latin auspicium, from auspex ‘observer of birds’, from avis ‘bird’ + specere ‘to look’.” とあります。
以上のことから、under the auspices (of A) は「(組織の)後援のもとで」という意味で、
記事にある “under international auspices” は「国際的な援助を受けて」と訳すことができます。(OkaUchi)
