apocryphal: [16] Apocryphal is a ‘secondgeneration’ adjective; the original adjective form in English was apocrypha (‘The writing is apocrypha when the author thereof is unknown’, John de Trevisa 1387). This came, via ecclesiastical Latin, from Greek apókruphos ‘hidden’, a derivative of the compound verb apokrúptein ‘hide away’, which was formed from the prefix apo- ‘away, off’ and the verb krúptein ‘hide’ (source of English crypt and cryptic).
It was applied as a noun to writings in general that were of unknown authorship, and in the 16th century came to be used specifically as the collective term for the uncanonical books of the Old Testament. It was perhaps confusion between the adjectival and nominal roles of apocrypha that led to the formation of the new adjective apocryphal towards the end of the 16th century. => crypt, cryptic
apocryphal (adj.)
1580s, "of doubtful authenticity," from Apocrypha + -al (1). Middle English had apocrive (late 14c.) in same sense.
双语例句
1. Most of the stories about him are apocryphal.
关于他的传闻多属虚构。
来自《权威词典》
2. Most of the story about his private life was probably apocryphal.
有关他私生活的事可能大部分都是虚构的.
来自《简明英汉词典》
3. The apocryphal story of Columbus and the egg is very interesting.
哥伦布竖蛋这个真伪不明的故事十分有趣.
来自《简明英汉词典》
4. There is a story, probably apocryphal, about a British motorcyclist on holiday in America.
