deus ex machina

メモの中に合った単語を取り上げます。deus ex machina / deɪəsɛksˈmɑkinə / です。見た瞬間の印象は「なんだこれ」です。ラテン語由来の単語であろうという予想はできましたが、意味はさっぱりだったので以下で確認していきます。

Oxford Dictionary of English (2th): “an unexpected power or event saving a seemingly hopeless situation, especially as a contrived plot device in a play or novel”

Collins Online Free Dictionary: “in ancient Greek and Roman plays, a deity brought in by stage machinery to intervene in the action” “any unconvincing character or event brought artificially into the plot of a story or drama to settle an involved situation”

Merriam-Webster: “a god introduced by means of a crane in ancient Greek and Roman drama to decide the final outcome” “a person or thing (as in fiction or drama) that appears or is introduced suddenly and unexpectedly and provides a contrived solution to an apparently insoluble difficulty”

『ジーニアス英和辞典』第5版（大修館）：【ラテン】「(劇・小説などで)急場しのぎの不自然な解決をもたらす人［物］」「（ギリシャ劇で）急場を救うため突然舞台の登場する神」

語源はOEDによると “Late 17th century: modern Latin, translation of Greek theos ek mēkhanēs, ‘god from the machinery’. In Greek theatre, actors representing gods were suspended above the stage, the denouement of the play being brought about by their intervention.”とのことです。

意味を確認してから思い返してみると、おそらくシェイクスピアの授業で出てきた単語だと思われます。テストに向けて復習しなければ（ko-chi @ Calgary）