arduous 復習
As I See It: Japan must fix refugee status issues before accepting more foreign workers
KAWAGUCHI, Saitama -- Said to be the biggest ethnic group without a country, several million Kurds have become refugees due to armed conflict and prosecution. Around 2,000 Kurds have come from Turkey and are now residing in Japan, and 1,500 of them have chosen this city in the southern part of the prefecture, just north of Tokyo, as their home.
中略
In 2016, a 20-year-old appears to have become the first Kurdish student to advance to university education in Japan. Coming to the country 10 years earlier, she joined the Japanese school system from the fifth grade of elementary school. With arduous study, she was able to move on to a public high school, and with exceptional grades, was accepted into the English department of a university via recommendation admission. In fluent Japanese, she said, "Even though I came to Japan as a refugee, (because I am on provisional release) I don't have a national health insurance card and I cannot work, either. If I am not certified as a refugee, then even if I graduate from university, it will be difficult to get a job."
以下省略
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20181110/p2a/00m/0na/006000c
今回気になったのは、arduous /άɚdʒuəs/ です。文脈から、「勤勉な」という意味だと予測しました。以下で確認していきます。
まず、LDOCEで意味を引いてみると、“involving a lot of strength and effort” とあり、『ウィズダム英和辞典』には、「〈仕事などが〉骨の折れる、難儀な、〈努力などが〉懸命な」と載っていました。
続いて、『オックスフォード新英英辞典』で語源を調べてみると、“mid 16th cent. : from Latin arduus ’steep, difficult’ + -ous.” と定義されていました。このことから、険しく困難なことに立ち向かうようなニュアンスが伺えます。過去のブログにも取り上げられていました。（Otoyo）
