英语词汇horns of a dilemma的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

horns of a dilemma. Lemma, in Greek, means a thing taken for granted, deriving from lampanien, “to take.” Affixing the Greek di, “two,” we have dilemma, two things taken for granted. Therefore, in logic, a dilemma is an argument that forces a per- son to choose one of two things taken for granted, both of which may be untrue and unacceptable (e.g., “Do you still beat your wife?”). Philosophers in the Middle Ages also called each lemma of a double lemma a horn, because it was so easy to get caught on the sharp point of each, even coining the Latin ex- pression argumentum cornutum, “a horned argument.” Since both terms meant the same, they were eventually wedded in the phrase to be caught on the horns of a dilemma, to be unable to make up one’s mind about which course of action to choose.

词汇	horns of a dilemma
词源	horns of a dilemma. Lemma, in Greek, means a thing taken for granted, deriving from lampanien, “to take.” Affixing the Greek di, “two,” we have dilemma, two things taken for granted. Therefore, in logic, a dilemma is an argument that forces a per- son to choose one of two things taken for granted, both of which may be untrue and unacceptable (e.g., “Do you still beat your wife?”). Philosophers in the Middle Ages also called each lemma of a double lemma a horn, because it was so easy to get caught on the sharp point of each, even coining the Latin ex- pression argumentum cornutum, “a horned argument.” Since both terms meant the same, they were eventually wedded in the phrase to be caught on the horns of a dilemma, to be unable to make up one’s mind about which course of action to choose.
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