Latahとは 意味・読み方・使い方

別の表記

• lata

語源

From Malay latah.

発音

• (英国発音) IPA^(key): /ˈlɑːtə/

名詞

latah (countable かつ uncountable, 複数形 latahs)

1. (pathology) A condition found in Malaysia and nearby areas characterised by extreme suggestibility; also, a person suffering from this malady.
   • 1962 [1959], William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, New York: Grove Press:

     Latah is a condition occurring in Southeast Asia. Otherwise sane, Latahs compulsively imitate every motion once their attention is attracted by snapping the fingers or calling sharply.

   • 1989, Anthony Burgess, The Devil's Mode:

     It seemed to Sir Edwin that this patient, a young man who had never set foot outside England, was suffering from an ailment known as latah – common enough in the Malay archipelago but hitherto unknown, so far as the clinical records – admittedly not very reliable – could advise, in the temperate clime of northern Europe.

   • 2003, Wen-Shing Tseng, Clinician's Guide to Cultural Psychiatry, page 116:

     Actually, there is a debate among scholars as to whether the latah condition should be regarded as a culture-related "mental disorder" or merely as an "unusual behavior response" found in some cultures.

アナグラム

• Thala