archipelago的词源

英文词源

archipelago

archipelago: [16] Originally, archipelago was a quite specific term – it was the name of the Aegean Sea, the sea between Greece and Turkey. Derivationally, it is a compound formed in Greek from arkhi- ‘chief’ and pélagos ‘sea’ (source of English pelagic [17] and probably related to plain, placate, and please). The term ‘chief sea’ identified the Aegean, as contrasted with all the smaller lagoons, lakes, and inlets to which the word pélagos was also applied.

An ‘Englished’ form of the word, Arch-sea, was in use in the 17th century, and in sailors’ jargon it was often abbreviated to Arches: ‘An island called Augusto near Paros, in the Arches’, Sir T Roe, Negotiations 1626. A leading characteristic of the Aegean Sea is of course that it contains a large number of islands, and from the 16th century onwards we see a strong and steady move towards what is now the word’s main meaning, ‘large group of islands’.

The immediate source of the English word was Italian arcipelago, and some etymologists have speculated that rather than coming directly from Greek arkhipélagos, this may have been a sort of folk-etymological resuscitation of it based on a misunderstanding of Greek Aigaion pelagos ‘Aegean Sea’.
=> pelagic

archipelago (n.)

c. 1500, from Italian arcipelago "the Aegean Sea" (13c.), from Greek arkhipelagos, from arkhi- "chief" (see archon) + pelagos "sea" (see pelagic). The Aegean Sea being full of island chains, the meaning was extended in Italian to "any sea studded with islands." Klein, noting the absence of arkhipelagos in ancient or Medieval Greek (the modern word in Greek is borrowed from Italian) believe it is an Italian mistake for Aigaion pelagos "Aegean Sea" (Medieval Latin Egeopelagus), or influenced by that name.

中文词源

archipelago（群岛）：希腊人的“主海”爱琴海

英语单词archipelago源自希腊语arkhipelagos，由arkhi（=archi，chief，主的）+pilagos（sea，海）构 成，意思就是“主海”，特指希腊人所处的爱琴海。众所周知，爱琴海中遍布岛屿，所以希腊语arkhipelagos演变为意大利语arcipelago 后，词义就变了，不再特指爱琴海，而是泛指各种分布有大量岛屿的海。进入英语后，拼写变成archipelago，词义进一步发生变化，除了表示“分布有 大量岛屿的海”以外，还可以用来表示“群岛”。

archipelago：[,ɑːkɪ'peləgəʊ]n.群岛，多岛的海

monarch：n.君主，帝王，最高统治者

pelagic：adj.深海的，浮游的，远洋的

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

archipelago：群岛

发音释义：[,ɑːkɪ'peləgəʊ] n. 群岛，列岛；多岛的海区

结构分析：archipelago = archi（主要的）+pelago（海洋）→主海→爱琴海→多岛的海区→群岛

词源解析：archi←希腊语arkhi（主要的）←希腊语 arkhos（首领）；pelago←希腊语pelagos（海洋）

背景知识：archipelago来自希腊语，本是希腊人对自己所在的主要海域——爱琴海的称呼。由于这一片海域有大量岛屿，因此衍生出“多岛海域”、“群岛”的含义。

同源词：archbishop（大主教），architect（建筑师←建筑者的首领），pelagic（远洋的）

archipelago：群岛

前缀arch-, 始，主要。词根pelag, 海，见pelagic, 海面的，词源同plan, 平的。指爱琴海，后指爱琴海众多小岛。

archipelago：群岛　　

该词最初仅被用以指爱琴海( the Aegean Sea)。这一名称是意大利人在13世纪据意大利语盘arcipelago‘chief sea’取的。其实这个词本身就来源于希腊语（archi-‘chief’+pelagos‘sea’）。由于爱琴海中有一大群岛屿，因此archipelago一词在16世纪后逐渐泛指“多岛屿的海”，最后又转指“群岛”。