colossal的词源

英文词源

colossal

colossal: [18] Colossal comes ultimately from Greek kolossós, a word of unknown origin which was first used by the historian Herodotus as a name for certain gigantic statues in Egypt. It became much better known, of course, when applied to the Colossus of Rhodes, a 36-metrehigh statue of Apollo that stood at the entrance to Rhodes harbour, built around 280 BC. Various adjectives meaning ‘huge’ have since been derived from it: Latin had colossēus and colossicus, and in the 17th century English tried colossean and colossic, but in the 18th century the choice fell on colossal, borrowed from French.

The amphitheatre built in Rome by Vespasian and Titus around 80–75 BC was named Colossēum after its great size.

colossal (adj.)

1712 (colossic in the same sense is recorded from c. 1600), from French colossal, from colosse, from Latin colossus, from Greek kolossos (see colossus).

中文词源

colossal（巨大的）：古时候希腊罗德岛上的巨型太阳神塑像

公元前292年希腊的罗德岛人击败马其顿人的入侵，把缴获的兵器熔化后制作了一尊青铜太阳神巨像，高100英尺，脚跨海港入口，船可从底下驶入港口，是古代七大奇观之一，被称为Colossus of Rhodes（罗德岛的巨型塑像）。Colossus来自希腊语kolossos，意为“巨型塑像”，由古罗马历史学家希德罗德首次在其著作《历史》中使用，表示埃及的巨大塑像。后来，罗马人用它来表示罗德岛的巨型塑像。英语单词colossal就来自拉丁语colossue，表示“巨大的”。罗马的圆形大斗兽场就被称为colosseum。

colossal：[kə'lɒs(ə)l] adj.巨大的，庞大的，异常的

colosseum：[,kɔlə'siəm] n.罗马圆形大斗兽场

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

colossal：巨大的

来自colossus, 巨型雕像。