| 词源 |
pedigree. A wavering three-line symbol used by medieval genealogists in denoting the line of descent of families they were tracing was thought by some observant scholar to resem- ble the imprint of the bony foot of a crane. In French, the court language in many kingdoms, “foot of the crane” was pied de grue, which came to be both the name for the genealogical symbol and the name for the line or genealogical table itself. Introduced into English in the 15th century, pied de grue be- came through distorted spelling pee de grew, petiegrew, and peti degree, among many other versions, before settling down here as pedigree. |