英语词汇take the bull by the horns的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

take the bull by the horns. Since the earliest quotation yet found for this expression is 1873, it seems unlikely that it has its roots in bull-running, a brutal English sport popular from the day of King John until it was outlawed in the mid-19th century. Bull-running consisted of a mob with clubs and dogs chasing a bull loosed in the streets and eventually beating it to death, a favorite trick for the braver bull chasers being to grab the poor beast by the horns and wrestle it to the ground. More likely the expression originated in Spain or America. In bullfights Spanish banderilleros plant darts in the neck of the bull and tire him more by waving cloaks in his face and seiz- ing him by the horns, trying to hold his head down. Raw- boned early ranchers in the American Southwest also wrestled bulls, or steers, in a popular sport called bulldogging that is still seen in rodeos—the object being to grab the animal’s horns and throw him. Either of these practices could have prompted the saying take the bull by the horns, “screw up your courage and cope with a dangerous or unpleasant situation decisively, head on.”

词汇	take the bull by the horns
词源	take the bull by the horns. Since the earliest quotation yet found for this expression is 1873, it seems unlikely that it has its roots in bull-running, a brutal English sport popular from the day of King John until it was outlawed in the mid-19th century. Bull-running consisted of a mob with clubs and dogs chasing a bull loosed in the streets and eventually beating it to death, a favorite trick for the braver bull chasers being to grab the poor beast by the horns and wrestle it to the ground. More likely the expression originated in Spain or America. In bullfights Spanish banderilleros plant darts in the neck of the bull and tire him more by waving cloaks in his face and seiz- ing him by the horns, trying to hold his head down. Raw- boned early ranchers in the American Southwest also wrestled bulls, or steers, in a popular sport called bulldogging that is still seen in rodeos—the object being to grab the animal’s horns and throw him. Either of these practices could have prompted the saying take the bull by the horns, “screw up your courage and cope with a dangerous or unpleasant situation decisively, head on.”
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