California
英 [,kælɪ'fɔ:njə]
美 [,kælɪ'fɔnjə]
助記提示
原為加利福尼亞半島的名字（就是現在墨西哥西岸的那個長長的半島），是首先到達當地的西班牙探險家埃爾南多·科爾蒂斯起的。California這個詞是從一本西班牙探險小說裏借用的虛構地名。小說裏，California是亞洲印度河的一個島嶼，和理想之國離得不遠。而再追根朔源，這本小說的作者奧爾多內斯·德·蒙塔爾瓦在創作這部作品時，把該島定為一個氣候炎熱且幹燥的地方。其地名為西班牙語中Caliente和Fornalla的結合變體，意思為”熱的火爐“。埃爾南多·科爾蒂斯來到墨西哥和美國的西海岸，就把下加利福尼亞灣以西的炎熱幹燥的土地當做了小說中的島嶼，California因此得名。
英文詞源
- California
- name of an imaginary realm in "Las sergas de Esplandián" ("Exploits of Espladán"), a romance by Spanish writer Garci Ordóñez de Montalvo, published in 1510. It was a sequel to his "Amadis de Gaula," and was said to have been influential among Spanish explorers of the New World. It could have led them to misidentify Baja California as this mythical land and to mistake it for an island. The Amadis tales are the Iberian equivalent of the Arthurian romances; they are older than 1510 (traces of them have been found mid-14c.) and were wildly popular. That conquistadors and sailors would have known the story in all its imaginative detail is hardly surprising.
Amadis de Gaula ... set a fashion: all later Spanish writers of books of chivalry adopted the machinery of Amadis de Gaula. Later knights were not less brave (they could not be braver than) Amadis; heroines were not less lovely (they could not be lovelier) than Oriana; there was nothing for it but to make the dragons more appalling, the giants larger, the wizards craftier, the magic castles more inaccessible, the enchanted lakes deeper. Subsequent books of chivalry are simple variants of the types in Amadis de Gaula: Cervantes made his barber describe it as 'the best of all books of this kind.' This verdict is essentially just. Amadis de Gaula was read everywhere, especially in the French version of Herberay des Essarts. It was done into Hebrew during the sixteenth century, and attracted readers as different as St Ignatius of Loyola and Henry of Navarre. Its vogue perhaps somewhat exceeded its merit, but its merits are not inconsiderable. [James Fitzmaurice-Kelly, "Spanish Literature," 1922 edition]
Where Montalvo got the name and what it means, if anything, is a mystery. Californian is attested from 1785. The element Californium (1950) was named in reference to University of California, where it was discovered.
雙語例句
- 1. He majored in finance at Claremont Men's College in California.
- 他在加利福尼亞州的克萊爾蒙特男子學院主修金融專業。
來自柯林斯例句
- 2. He now controls the largest retail development empire in southern California.
- 他現在掌管著加州南部最大的零售發展企業。
來自柯林斯例句
- 3. The prime example is Macy's, once the undisputed king of California retailers.
- 最典型的例子是梅西百貨，它曾經是加利福尼亞無可爭辯的零售巨頭。
來自柯林斯例句
- 4. An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale struck California yesterday.
- 昨天加利福尼亞發生了裏氏6.1級地震。
來自柯林斯例句
- 5. He remains in a critical condition in a California hospital.
- 他在加州的一家醫院裏，病情仍然十分危急。
來自柯林斯例句