英语词汇giraffe的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

giraffe. The camelopard is not a mythical monster, but a very real animal, though you might not have believed it existed if you hadn’t seen it in a jungle or zoo. The ancient Greeks came across the beast on the African plain and called it kameloparda- lis, believing it to be a cross between the camel—because of its height—and the leopard—because of its spots. It was called the camelopard in English for many years, beginning in at least 1398, until its present designation began to be used in the late 16th century: giraffe (from the Arabic word for the animal). The giraffe, the world’s tallest quadruped, at up to 20 feet (so tall that newborn calves come to life with a jolt, falling six feet to the ground), also has the highest blood pressure of any ani- mal (an average 260/160, as opposed to 120/80 in humans) to compensate for the pull of gravity while it is supplying blood to a brain 10 feet above the heart. Jeffrey Kacirk includes camelop- ardal or camelopard in his fascinating The Word Museum (2000), crediting its description to naturalist Edward Topsell in The Historie of Four-Footed Beastes (1607). Topsell probably never saw neither camelopard or giraffe: “This beast is engen- dered of a camel and a female libbard [leopard]. The head of the camelopard is like a camel’s, his neck like a horse’s, and his body like a hart’s. The color of the beast is for the most part red and white mixed together, therefore very beautiful . . . His neck is diversely colored and is fifteen feet long . . . They are very tractable and easy to be handled, so that a child may lead them with a small cord about their head and, when they come to see them, they willingly . . . turn themselves round . . . to show their soft hairs and beautiful colore, being, as it were, proud to ravish the eyes of the beholder.”

词汇	giraffe
词源	giraffe. The camelopard is not a mythical monster, but a very real animal, though you might not have believed it existed if you hadn’t seen it in a jungle or zoo. The ancient Greeks came across the beast on the African plain and called it kameloparda- lis, believing it to be a cross between the camel—because of its height—and the leopard—because of its spots. It was called the camelopard in English for many years, beginning in at least 1398, until its present designation began to be used in the late 16th century: giraffe (from the Arabic word for the animal). The giraffe, the world’s tallest quadruped, at up to 20 feet (so tall that newborn calves come to life with a jolt, falling six feet to the ground), also has the highest blood pressure of any ani- mal (an average 260/160, as opposed to 120/80 in humans) to compensate for the pull of gravity while it is supplying blood to a brain 10 feet above the heart. Jeffrey Kacirk includes camelop- ardal or camelopard in his fascinating The Word Museum (2000), crediting its description to naturalist Edward Topsell in The Historie of Four-Footed Beastes (1607). Topsell probably never saw neither camelopard or giraffe: “This beast is engen- dered of a camel and a female libbard [leopard]. The head of the camelopard is like a camel’s, his neck like a horse’s, and his body like a hart’s. The color of the beast is for the most part red and white mixed together, therefore very beautiful . . . His neck is diversely colored and is fifteen feet long . . . They are very tractable and easy to be handled, so that a child may lead them with a small cord about their head and, when they come to see them, they willingly . . . turn themselves round . . . to show their soft hairs and beautiful colore, being, as it were, proud to ravish the eyes of the beholder.”
随便看	hemp henchman henpecked henry henry higgins henry rifle he or she doesn’t miss much hepatica hepplewhite style herba sacra herb of grace herb robert herculean task hercules’ club herd-s grass here lies one whose name was writ in water here-s lookin’ at you kid here-s mud in your eye here-s to swimmin’ with bowlegged wimmin here today gone tomorrow hermannia hermaphrodite hermes hermetically sealed hermia