| 词源 |
ostracism. Ostracism, “to banish socially,” derives from ostra- kon, the Greek word for oyster shell. It seems that a vote of ban- ishment in ancient Athens had to be a written one, for it was, of course, a serious matter to send a person into exile for crimes against the state. Because paper was scarce, the banishment ballot was written on pieces of tile called ostrakon, this name having first been applied to the shell of the oyster, which the tile resembled. It followed that the name ostrakismos was bestowed upon the act of banishment itself, which gives us our word for “to banish socially”—to ostracize or “oyster shell.” |