aghast的词源

英文词源

aghast: aghast: [13] Aghast was originally the past participle of a verb, agasten ‘frighten’, which in turn was based on the Old English verb gǣstan ‘torment’. The spelling with gh did not finally become established until the 18th century, and in fact aghast was the last in a series of etymologically related words in the general semantic area of ‘fear’ and ‘horror’ to undergo this transformation. It seems to have acquired its gh by association with ghastly, which in turn got it from ghost (probably under the ultimate influence of Flemish gheest).
aghast (adj.): c. 1300, agast, "terrified," past participle of Middle English agasten "to frighten" (c. 1200), from a- intensive prefix + Old English gæstan "to terrify," from gæst "spirit, ghost" (see ghost). The -gh- spelling appeared early 15c. in Scottish and is possibly a Flemish influence, or after ghost, etc. It became general after 1700.

前缀a-, 加强。-ghast同ghost, 见鬼了。

该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：aghast 词源，aghast 含义。

aghast是中古英语动词agasten（使惊恐）的过去分词形式，原作agast，一般作表语用，意为“吓呆的”，“惊骇的”。字母h是到了18世纪时因为人们将该词同ghost（鬼）及其同源词ghastly（恐怖的）相联系而加上去的。