blitheとは

意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From Middle English blithe (“glad, happy, joyful; causing joy, joyous; gentle, mild; gracious, merciful; bright, shining; beautiful, fair”) [and other forms],^[1] from 古期英語 blīþe (“glad, happy, joyful; gentle, mild”), from Proto-West Germanic *blīþī, from Proto-Germanic *blīþiz (“friendly; gentle, mild; pleasing”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlī- (“fine; light; pleasant”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“shiny; white”).^[2]

発音

• (Received 発音, General American) IPA^(key): /blaɪð/, /blaɪθ/
• 韻: -aɪð, -aɪθ

形容詞

blithe (comparative blither, superlative blithest)

1. Casually careless or indifferent; showing a lack of concern.

   She had a blithe disregard of cultures outside the United States.

   • 1913–1921, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “England, My England”, in England My England and Other Stories, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Seltzer, published 24 October 1922, OCLC 494162929, page 23:

     From mother and nurse it was a guerilla gunfire of commands, and blithe, quicksilver disobedience from the three blonde, never-still little girls.

2. (chiefly Scotland, elsewhere dated or literary) Cheerful, happy.
   • c. 1588–1593, William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene iv], page 47, column 2:

     And now ſweet Emperour be blithe againe, / And bury all thy feare in my deuiſes.

   • a. 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, OCLC 606951673, page 31:

     There on Beds of Violets blew, / And freſh-blown Roſes waſht in dew, / Fill'd her with thee a daughter fair, / So buckſom, blith, and debonair.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554, lines 610–613:

     For that fair femal Troop thou ſawſt, that ſeemd / Of Goddeſſes, ſo blithe, ſo ſmooth, ſo gay, / Yet empty of good wherein conſiſts, / Womans domeſtic honour and chief praiſe; […]

   • 1725, Homer; [Elijah Fenton], transl., “Book I”, in The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, OCLC 8736646, lines 211–214, page 26:

     Shou'd he return, that troop ſo blithe and bold, / With purple robes inwrought, and ſtiff with gold, / Precipitant in fear, wou'd wing their flight, / And curſe their cumbrous pride's unwieldy weight.

   • 1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Introduction to Canto Second: To the Rev. John Marriot, M.A.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, OCLC 270129616, page 63:

     But not more blythe than sylvan court, / Than we have been at humbler sport; / Though small our pomp, and mean our game, / Our mirth, dear Marriot, was the same.

   • 1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Tales of My Landlord, […], volume III (Old Mortality), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for William Blackwood, […]; London: John Murray, […], OCLC 230697985, pages 85–86:

     Tarry, tarry, ye wha were aye sae blythe to be at the meetings of the saints, and wad ride every muir in Scotland to find a conventicle.

   • 1820 June​, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “To a Skylark”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], published 1820, OCLC 36924440, stanza 1, page 201:

     Hail to thee, blithe spirit! / Bird thou never wert, / That from heaven, or near it, / Pourest thy full heart / In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.

   • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], OCLC 55746801, page 158:

     He looked so irresistibly pleasant, in a word, that three or four good-humoured fellows said, "Good morning, sir! A merry Christmas to you!" And Scrooge said often afterwards, that of all the blithe sounds he had ever heard, those were the blithest in his ears.

   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter III, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], OCLC 13623666, phase the first (The Maiden), page 31:

     To-night, however, she was even in a blither mood than usual. There was a dreaminess, a preoccupation, an exaltation, in the maternal look which the girl could not understand.

別の表記

• blythe (廃れた用法)

派生語

関連する語

• bliss

参照

Further reading

• blithe (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.

アナグラム

• thible