asbestos: [14] Originally, the word we now know as asbestos was applied in the Middle Ages to a mythical stone which, once set alight, could never be put out; it came from the Greek compound ásbestos, literally ‘inextinguishable’, which was formed from the prefix a- ‘not’ and sbestós, a derivative of the verb sbennúnai ‘extinguish’. However, by the time it first came into English, its form was not quite what it is today.
To begin with, it was the Greek accusative form, ásbeston, that was borrowed, and in its passage from Latin through Old French it developed several variants, including asbeston and albeston, most of which turned up in English. Then, in the early 17th century, the word was reborrowed from the original Greek source, ásbestos, and applied to a noncombustible silicate mineral.
asbestos (n.)
1650s, earlier albeston, abestus (c. 1100), name of a fabulous stone, which, set afire, could not be extinguished; from Old French abeste, abestos, from Latin asbestos "quicklime" (which "burns" when cold water is poured on it), from Greek asbestos, literally "inextinguishable," from a- "not" (see a- (3)) + sbestos, verbal adjective from sbennynai "to quench," from PIE root *(s)gwes- "to quench, extinguish" (cognates: Lithuanian gestu "to go out," Old Church Slavonic gaso, Hittite kishtari "is being put out").
The Greek word was used by Dioscorides as a noun meaning "quicklime." "Erroneously applied by Pliny to an incombustible fibre, which he believed to be vegetable, but which was really the amiantos of the Greeks" [OED]. Meaning "mineral capable of being woven into incombustible fabric" is from c. 1600 in English; earlier this was called amiant (early 15c.), from Latin amiantus, from Greek amiantos, literally "undefiled" (so called because it showed no mark or stain when thrown into fire). Supposed in the Middle Ages to be salamanders' wool. Prester John, the Emperor of India, and Pope Alexander III were said to have had robes or tunics made of it.
雙語例句
1. The prospectors have discovered such minerals as calcite, quartz and asbestos here.
探礦人員在這裏發現了方解石 、 石英、石棉等礦藏.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
2. Asbestos can be used to insulate a cooking stove.
石棉能用來使烹調用的爐灶絕熱.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
3. Breathing asbestos - laden air may be hazardous to health.
呼吸充滿了石棉的空氣可能對健康有害.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
4. They claim the council has prejudiced their health by failing to deal with asbestos.
他們聲稱，理事會沒有處理好石棉的問題，從而損害了他們的健康。
來自柯林斯例句
5. Blue asbestos is far less common in buildings, which is just as well because it's more dangerous than white asbestos.