英语词汇battle royal的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

battle royal. Cockfighting does have a lot to do with this metaphor for a free-for-all, a battle in which more than one contestant is involved, but it probably didn’t originate with the now outlawed “sport,” as is often stated. The earliest quotations using the phrase support the theory that it derives from medi- eval jousting tournaments, where it was used to describe two sides fighting, each commanded by a king. Later, the expres- sion became cockpit jargon before passing into standard En- glish. In cockfighting, battle royal better describes what we mean by a battle royal today. It was an elimination tournament for gamecocks in which only the best fighters survived. A number of cocks, say eight, were thrown in the pit. These eight fought until there were only four left. Then these remaining four were rested and pitted against each other until two sur- vived. The two survivors finally fought for the championship.

词汇	battle royal
词源	battle royal. Cockfighting does have a lot to do with this metaphor for a free-for-all, a battle in which more than one contestant is involved, but it probably didn’t originate with the now outlawed “sport,” as is often stated. The earliest quotations using the phrase support the theory that it derives from medi- eval jousting tournaments, where it was used to describe two sides fighting, each commanded by a king. Later, the expres- sion became cockpit jargon before passing into standard En- glish. In cockfighting, battle royal better describes what we mean by a battle royal today. It was an elimination tournament for gamecocks in which only the best fighters survived. A number of cocks, say eight, were thrown in the pit. These eight fought until there were only four left. Then these remaining four were rested and pitted against each other until two sur- vived. The two survivors finally fought for the championship.
随便看	an iliad of woes animal animal spirits a nip of whiskey annie oakley annuit coeptis annus mirabilis anode anonymous anorak another day another dollar another nail in my coffin another richmond in the field an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure a novel novel anselmo anstie-s limit ant cow antediluvian antenna anthology anthracite coal antibiotic anticlimax antifogmatic