【英语学习】【WOTD】ecstatic 释义/词源/示例

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ecstatic adj. [ek-STAT-ik]

狂喜的

Definition

: of, relating to, or marked by ecstasy
：狂喜的，与疯狂有关的，或以疯癫为标志的

注：ecstasy：狂喜，入迷，摇头丸

Did You Know?

Ecstatic has been used in our language since the late 16th century, and the noun ecstasy is even older, dating from the 1300s. Both derive from the Greek verb existanai (“to put out of place”), which was used in a Greek phrase meaning “to drive someone out of his or her mind.” That seems an appropriate history for words that can describe someone who is nearly out of their mind with intense emotion. In early use, ecstatic was sometimes linked to mystic trances, out-of-body experiences, and temporary madness. Today, however, it typically implies a state of enthusiastic excitement or intense happiness.

词源词根演化：existanai (“to put out of place”) —> ecstasy (n.) / ecstatic (adj.)

形容词ecstatic自从16世纪晚期就在英语中使用了，而名词ecstasy的历史则更加悠久，可以追溯到1300年底。这两个词都是来自于希腊动词existanai，意思是“放置到外面”，这个希腊词用在一个意思是“使某人发疯”的短语中。这个词汇历史看起来非常适合于表达“某人由于强烈的感情而处于半/近似疯癫状态”。在早期的使用中，ecstatic与“神入”，“出体体验”或者“短暂的疯狂”相关。但是在现代，它通常暗指一种极度兴奋或者强烈欢喜的状态。

Examples

• Greta and Paul were ecstatic when their daughter called to tell them that they were soon going to be grandparents.
  当他们的女儿打电话说他们即将当祖父母时，Greta与Paul简直乐疯 。

• “Harold Pinter established himself as Britain’s foremost dramatist by placing inscrutable characters in cryptic situations and he was bound to keep the production line in motion, knowing that his oblique scripts would be greeted by genuflecting reviewers, ecstatic professors of literature and shrewd thesps ululating with approval at every rehearsal.”
  — Lloyd Evans, The Spectator, 24 Nov. 2018

注：不知道如何翻译。

注：foremost：adj. 最前面的；dramatist：剧作家，戏剧家；inscrutable：难以了解的，不能预测的；cryptic：隐秘的，秘密的，用密码的；be bound to：必然，必定；oblique：间接的，斜的，拐弯抹角的，不光明正大的；genuflecting：屈膝，跪拜，屈从；shrewd：精明的，明锐的，狡猾的；thesps：【口】thespian，悲剧，悲剧演员；ululate：哀叫，鸣叫，失声痛哭