英语词汇parasite的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

parasite. In ancient Greece a parasite was a person who re- ceived free meals at someone’s table in exchange for making brilliant conversation, or in any way entertaining and flattering his host; the word, in fact, derived from the Greek parasitos, one who eats at another’s table, or at another’s cost. No one re- ally knows why over the centuries parasite took on the meaning of someone who contributed nothing to a relationship, just liv- ing off his host without “singing for his supper” or “dining out on a story.” It may have had something to do with the flatterer attaching himself to his host like a leech, but by the 16th centu- ry we find the word used to describe “smelle-feastes” who feed themselves free at other people’s tables. Today when a relation- ship is mutually beneficial, it is called symbiotic (Greek sym, “together” + bios, “life”).

词汇	parasite
词源	parasite. In ancient Greece a parasite was a person who re- ceived free meals at someone’s table in exchange for making brilliant conversation, or in any way entertaining and flattering his host; the word, in fact, derived from the Greek parasitos, one who eats at another’s table, or at another’s cost. No one re- ally knows why over the centuries parasite took on the meaning of someone who contributed nothing to a relationship, just liv- ing off his host without “singing for his supper” or “dining out on a story.” It may have had something to do with the flatterer attaching himself to his host like a leech, but by the 16th centu- ry we find the word used to describe “smelle-feastes” who feed themselves free at other people’s tables. Today when a relation- ship is mutually beneficial, it is called symbiotic (Greek sym, “together” + bios, “life”).
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