raffle 復習
Unpublished haiku poem written by renowned Masaoka Shiki found
TOKYO -- An unpublished poem by haiku master Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) has been found in one of his notebooks, the Shikian Preservation Society that preserves the poet's old home Shikian announced on Aug. 22.
Shiki and his pupils wrote haiku pieces in two notebooks, "Teiyuishu" and "Fukubiki," on New Year's period in 1897 while drawing raffles, as the pupils had visited Shiki who had been ill in bed since the previous year. The new piece Shiki wrote in Fukubiki reads: "Shinnenya/ mukashiyori kyusu / nao kyusu," which can be roughly translated as "New Year comes, and I become poorer than before."
以下省略
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20180823/p2a/00m/0na/028000c
今回気になったのは、raffle /rˈæfl/ です。意味が分からなかったため、調べてみました。
まず、LDOCEで引いてみると、“a competition or game in which people buy numbered tickets and can win prizes” とあり、『ウィズダム英和辞典』には、「富［宝］くじ(販売)」と載っていました。あまりピンと来なかったため、goo辞書でも検索をかけてみると、「慈善事業などの資金集めのため番号のついたくじを売り、当選者に品物を渡す一種の富くじ販売方法」とありました。
続いてODEで語源を調べてみると、“late Middle English (donating a kind of dice game): from Old French, of unknown origin. The current sense dates from the mid 18th cent.” と定義されていました。（Otoyo）
