英语词汇burning the midnight oil的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

Wee tyre the night in thought; the day in toyle. I’ve read that this saying is of American origin, but it obviously isn’t, judging by the above poem by Francis Quarles, English au- thor and later “chronologer to the City of London,” who first re- corded the expression in the mid-17th century. Oils of many types were of course widely used for lamps long before Ameri- can petroleum made low-priced lamplight available. The words mean “to sit up late at night working,” especially in the pursuit of learning. It smells of the lamp (Latin, olet lucernam) is an equally old saying, referring to literary work that is overworked and tired from too much burning of the midnight oil. Of au- thors who consistently burned the midnight oil, Honoré de Balzac is the best example. Like Pliny the Elder before him, Balzac liked to begin work at midnight and write for 18 hours at a stretch. He did this for weeks on end and was so meticulous a craftsman that he often completely rewrote his novels in proof.

词汇	burning the midnight oil
词源	burning the midnight oil; it smells of the lamp. Wee spend our mid-day sweat, or mid-night oyle; Wee tyre the night in thought; the day in toyle. I’ve read that this saying is of American origin, but it obviously isn’t, judging by the above poem by Francis Quarles, English au- thor and later “chronologer to the City of London,” who first re- corded the expression in the mid-17th century. Oils of many types were of course widely used for lamps long before Ameri- can petroleum made low-priced lamplight available. The words mean “to sit up late at night working,” especially in the pursuit of learning. It smells of the lamp (Latin, olet lucernam) is an equally old saying, referring to literary work that is overworked and tired from too much burning of the midnight oil. Of au- thors who consistently burned the midnight oil, Honoré de Balzac is the best example. Like Pliny the Elder before him, Balzac liked to begin work at midnight and write for 18 hours at a stretch. He did this for weeks on end and was so meticulous a craftsman that he often completely rewrote his novels in proof.
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