agate的词源
英文词源
- agate (n.)
- 1560s, from Middle French agathe (16c.), from Latin achates, from Greek akhates, the name of a river in Sicily where the stones were found (Pliny). But the river could as easily be named for the stone.
The earlier English form of the word, achate (early 13c.), was directly from Latin. Figurative sense of "a diminutive person" (c. 1600) is from the now-obsolete meaning "small figures cut in agates for seals," preserved in typographer's agate (1838), the U.S. name of the 5.5-point font called in Great Britain ruby. Meaning "toy marble made of glass resembling agate" is from 1843 (colloquially called an aggie).
中文词源
来自古希腊发现该矿石的地名。
该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：agate 词源，agate 含义。
; agate 玛瑙
用以表示玛瑙的英语词agate得名于西西里岛上一河流名Achates。据古罗马作家普林尼(Pliny,23—79>所述,古时曾在这条河流附近发现大量玛瑙。其实玛瑙在许多语言中的名称也来源于此。如法语作agate，德语作achat，西班牙语作agata等。
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agate（玛瑙）：首次发现玛瑙的阿盖特河
根据古罗马历史学家普林尼（Pliny）的记载，公元前4世纪至前3世纪左右的古希腊哲学家、自然学家泰奥弗拉斯托斯（Theophrastus）曾在位于意大利西西里岛的一条河流的河岸中发现了玛瑙。人们便用这条河流的名称来命名玛瑙。这条河流在希腊语中名记为Akhates，在拉丁语中名为Achates。该名称进入英语后仅表示“玛瑙”，拼写也演变为agate。
agate：['æɡət] n.玛瑙
