英语词汇st elmo-s fire的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

St. Elmo’s fire. Corposants are luminous discharges of elec- tricity that extend into the atmosphere from projecting objects, their name deriving from the Portuguese corpo santo, “holy body.” They are better known as St. Elmo’s fire, and were be- lieved by sailors to be a portent of bad weather. St. Erasmus, the patron saint of Neapolitan sailors, was a fourth-century Italian bishop whose name became corrupted to St. Elmo. An Italian legend tells us that he was rescued from drowning by a sailor and as a reward promised to ever after display a warning light for mariners whenever a storm was approaching. St. Elmo’s fire does not involve enough discharge of electricity to be consid- ered dangerous. The jets of fire are also seen on wings of air- craft, mountaintops, church steeples, on the horns of cattle, and blades of grass, and even around the heads of people, where it is said that they merely cause a tingling sensation. In ancient times St. Elmo’s fire was called Castor and Pollux, for the twin sons of Zeus and Leda in Roman mythology, and a single burst of fire was called a Helen, for the twins’ sister. A Helen was said to be a warning that the worst of a storm was yet to come, while two lights, Castor and Pollux, supposedly meant that the worst had passed. This has given rise to the theory that St. Elmo might be a corruption of Helen instead of St. Erasmus. Still an- other suggestion is that St. Elmo is a corruption of St. Anselm of Lucca.

词汇	st elmo-s fire
词源	St. Elmo’s fire. Corposants are luminous discharges of elec- tricity that extend into the atmosphere from projecting objects, their name deriving from the Portuguese corpo santo, “holy body.” They are better known as St. Elmo’s fire, and were be- lieved by sailors to be a portent of bad weather. St. Erasmus, the patron saint of Neapolitan sailors, was a fourth-century Italian bishop whose name became corrupted to St. Elmo. An Italian legend tells us that he was rescued from drowning by a sailor and as a reward promised to ever after display a warning light for mariners whenever a storm was approaching. St. Elmo’s fire does not involve enough discharge of electricity to be consid- ered dangerous. The jets of fire are also seen on wings of air- craft, mountaintops, church steeples, on the horns of cattle, and blades of grass, and even around the heads of people, where it is said that they merely cause a tingling sensation. In ancient times St. Elmo’s fire was called Castor and Pollux, for the twin sons of Zeus and Leda in Roman mythology, and a single burst of fire was called a Helen, for the twins’ sister. A Helen was said to be a warning that the worst of a storm was yet to come, while two lights, Castor and Pollux, supposedly meant that the worst had passed. This has given rise to the theory that St. Elmo might be a corruption of Helen instead of St. Erasmus. Still an- other suggestion is that St. Elmo is a corruption of St. Anselm of Lucca.
随便看	cucumber cue cueball cue stick cul-de-sac cullinan diamond cumshaw cunt cupcake cupid cupidity cuppa cuppa char cur curare curate-s egg curbstone broker curfew curie curiosity killed the cat curiouser and curiouser curlicism curmudgeon currants currency