英语词汇miniature的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

miniature. Miniature doesn’t derive from the Latin minor or minimus, “small,” as seems the case. It comes from minium, a Latin borrowing from Basque. Minium (from the Basque ar- minea) means “red lead, vermilion,” Basque Spain being a ma- jor source of red lead in ancient times. Miniature first meant “a manuscript containing letters illuminated with red vermilion.” The word was then erroneously applied to small portraits, be- cause it was confused with the Latin minimus, and later came to describe anything small.

词汇	miniature
词源	miniature. Miniature doesn’t derive from the Latin minor or minimus, “small,” as seems the case. It comes from minium, a Latin borrowing from Basque. Minium (from the Basque ar- minea) means “red lead, vermilion,” Basque Spain being a ma- jor source of red lead in ancient times. Miniature first meant “a manuscript containing letters illuminated with red vermilion.” The word was then erroneously applied to small portraits, be- cause it was confused with the Latin minimus, and later came to describe anything small.
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