California
英 [,kælɪ'fɔ:njə]
美 [,kælɪ'fɔnjə]
助记提示
原为加利福尼亚半岛的名字（就是现在墨西哥西岸的那个长长的半岛），是首先到达当地的西班牙探险家埃尔南多·科尔蒂斯起的。California这个词是从一本西班牙探险小说里借用的虚构地名。小说里，California是亚洲印度河的一个岛屿，和理想之国离得不远。而再追根朔源，这本小说的作者奥尔多内斯·德·蒙塔尔瓦在创作这部作品时，把该岛定为一个气候炎热且干燥的地方。其地名为西班牙语中Caliente和Fornalla的结合变体，意思为”热的火炉“。埃尔南多·科尔蒂斯来到墨西哥和美国的西海岸，就把下加利福尼亚湾以西的炎热干燥的土地当做了小说中的岛屿，California因此得名。
英文词源
- California
- name of an imaginary realm in "Las sergas de Esplandián" ("Exploits of Espladán"), a romance by Spanish writer Garci Ordóñez de Montalvo, published in 1510. It was a sequel to his "Amadis de Gaula," and was said to have been influential among Spanish explorers of the New World. It could have led them to misidentify Baja California as this mythical land and to mistake it for an island. The Amadis tales are the Iberian equivalent of the Arthurian romances; they are older than 1510 (traces of them have been found mid-14c.) and were wildly popular. That conquistadors and sailors would have known the story in all its imaginative detail is hardly surprising.
Amadis de Gaula ... set a fashion: all later Spanish writers of books of chivalry adopted the machinery of Amadis de Gaula. Later knights were not less brave (they could not be braver than) Amadis; heroines were not less lovely (they could not be lovelier) than Oriana; there was nothing for it but to make the dragons more appalling, the giants larger, the wizards craftier, the magic castles more inaccessible, the enchanted lakes deeper. Subsequent books of chivalry are simple variants of the types in Amadis de Gaula: Cervantes made his barber describe it as 'the best of all books of this kind.' This verdict is essentially just. Amadis de Gaula was read everywhere, especially in the French version of Herberay des Essarts. It was done into Hebrew during the sixteenth century, and attracted readers as different as St Ignatius of Loyola and Henry of Navarre. Its vogue perhaps somewhat exceeded its merit, but its merits are not inconsiderable. [James Fitzmaurice-Kelly, "Spanish Literature," 1922 edition]
Where Montalvo got the name and what it means, if anything, is a mystery. Californian is attested from 1785. The element Californium (1950) was named in reference to University of California, where it was discovered.
双语例句
- 1. He majored in finance at Claremont Men's College in California.
- 他在加利福尼亚州的克莱尔蒙特男子学院主修金融专业。
来自柯林斯例句
- 2. He now controls the largest retail development empire in southern California.
- 他现在掌管着加州南部最大的零售发展企业。
来自柯林斯例句
- 3. The prime example is Macy's, once the undisputed king of California retailers.
- 最典型的例子是梅西百货，它曾经是加利福尼亚无可争辩的零售巨头。
来自柯林斯例句
- 4. An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter Scale struck California yesterday.
- 昨天加利福尼亚发生了里氏6.1级地震。
来自柯林斯例句
- 5. He remains in a critical condition in a California hospital.
- 他在加州的一家医院里，病情仍然十分危急。
来自柯林斯例句
