英语词汇a plague of mice的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

a plague of mice. According to a tradition preserved in the Magdeburg Centuries, in the 10th century Archbishop Hatto of Mainz, a noted statesman “proverbial for his perfidy” was de- voured by mice. In 1970, so the story goes, there was a great famine and Hatto, councillor of Otho the Great, decided that there would be more food for the rich if he got rid of the poor. Assembling all the poor in a great barn at Kaub he burned them alive, remarking, “They are like mice, only good to de- vour the corn.” The legend claims that “God sent against Hatto a plague of mice,” and to escape the mice he retreated to a town on the Rhine near Bingen. But the mice army swarmed upon his tower by the hundreds and thousands and “at last he was miserably devoured.” A tower still stands near Bingen to- day and is called the Mouse Tower. In reality, however, it was built by Bishop Siegfried 200 years after Hatto died, as a toll house for the collection of duties. The German word Maut means “toll,” while the German mouse is Maus, the similarity of the words probably giving rise to the tradition of the tower.

词汇	a plague of mice
词源	a plague of mice. According to a tradition preserved in the Magdeburg Centuries, in the 10th century Archbishop Hatto of Mainz, a noted statesman “proverbial for his perfidy” was de- voured by mice. In 1970, so the story goes, there was a great famine and Hatto, councillor of Otho the Great, decided that there would be more food for the rich if he got rid of the poor. Assembling all the poor in a great barn at Kaub he burned them alive, remarking, “They are like mice, only good to de- vour the corn.” The legend claims that “God sent against Hatto a plague of mice,” and to escape the mice he retreated to a town on the Rhine near Bingen. But the mice army swarmed upon his tower by the hundreds and thousands and “at last he was miserably devoured.” A tower still stands near Bingen to- day and is called the Mouse Tower. In reality, however, it was built by Bishop Siegfried 200 years after Hatto died, as a toll house for the collection of duties. The German word Maut means “toll,” while the German mouse is Maus, the similarity of the words probably giving rise to the tradition of the tower.
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