词源 |
asylum. Asylum, from the Greek asulon, refuge, first meant a sanctuary for debtors or criminals, but in the 18th century it came to mean a lunatic asylum. After another two centuries that meaning lost favor, mental hospital preferred, and now it is mainly heard in sayings such as British prime minister Lloyd George’s “The world is a lunatic asylum run by the lunatics.” Asylum is used frequently today in political asylum, protection and immunity from extradition granted to a political refugee from another country. |