slow wormとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From 中期英語 sloworm (possibly influenced by slow), from 古期英語 slāwyrm (“slow-worm, blindworm”), from *slā, related to Norwegian slo (“slow-worm”), Swedish slå (“slow-worm”) + wyrm (“worm, snake”). Compare Swedish ormslå.

発音

• IPA: /ˈsləʊwɜː(ɹ)m/

名詞

slowworm (plural slowworms)

1. A small Old World lizard, Anguis fragilis, often mistaken for a snake, having no legs and small eyes.

   Synonyms: blindworm, deaf adder, hazelworm, long-cripple, steelworm

   Hypernym: lizard

   • c. 1588, Robert Greene, “Scene Eleventh. Frier Bacons cell.”, in The Honorable Historie of Frier Bacon and Frier Bongay‎:

     Well, sir, it may be we shall have some better orations of it anon: well, Ile watch you as narrowly as ever you were watcht, and Ile play with you as the nightingale with the slowworme; […]

参照

• Anatoly Liberman (2008) An Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology: An Introduction, pages 196-200

Further reading

• Anguis fragilis on Wikipedia.Wikipedia