selkie的词源

英文词源

selkie: "A mythical creature that resembles a seal in the water but assumes human form on land", From selch, variant of seal¹, + -ie. More seal from Old English:Rather than signing their name, people formerly stamped a personal seal in wax on a completed letter or other document. The expressions put the seal on, ‘to put the finishing touch to something’, and set your seal to, ‘to mark something with your own distinctive character’, both derive from this. To seal something off reflects the use of seals to check that something has not been opened or disturbed. In these and related uses, seal goes back to Latin sigillum ‘small picture’, from signum ‘a sign’, the source of design (late 16th century), designate (mid 17th century), ensign (Late Middle English), insignia (mid 17th century), sign (Middle English), signal (Late Middle English), scarlet, and numerous other English words. This seal dates from Middle English. The name of the animal seal derives from Old English seolh, the source also of the selkie or silkie (mid 16th century), the mysterious seal woman of folklore.

来自苏格兰盖尔语 selkie,来自古英语 seolh,海豹，词源同 seal,海豚。一种传说在海里为海豹，在岸上化身为人的精怪。在苏格兰和爱尔兰流传有诸多海豹精化身为人与人类谈情说爱的故事，但多以爱情悲剧收场，类似于中国的狐狸精相关故事。

该词的英语词源请访问找单词词源英文版：selkie 词源，selkie 含义。