narcissus: [16] The plant-name narcissus goes back via Latin to Greek narkissos. Writers of ancient times such as Pliny and Plutarch connected it with Greek nárkē ‘numbness’ (source of English narcotic), a tempting inference given the plant’s sedative effect, but in fact it probably came from an unknown pre- Greek Aegean language. In Greek mythology the name passed to a vain youth who was punished by the gods for spurning the love of Echo.
They made him fall in love with the reflection of his beautiful features in a pool. He died gazing at his own image and was changed into a narcissus plant. In the 19th century his story inspired the word narcissism. At first it was just a general term for excessive self-admiration and self-centredness, but in the 1890s (probably at the hands of the sexologist Havelock Ellis) it became a technical term for a specific personality disorder marked by those traits.
narcissus (n.)
type of bulbous flowering plant, 1540s, from Latin narcissus, from Greek narkissos, a plant name, not the modern narcissus, possibly a type of iris or lily, perhaps from a pre-Greek Aegean word, but associated with Greek narke "numbness" (see narcotic) because of the sedative effect of the alkaloids in the plant.
双语例句
1. The myth of Narcissus is described in Ovid's work.
有关那喀索斯的神话故事在奥维德的作品中有过描述。
来自柯林斯例句
2. The daffodil belongs to the genus Narcissus.
黄水仙是水仙属植物.
来自《简明英汉词典》
3. Now I still do not know what a blooming Narcissus looks like.
知道现在我也不知道一朵盛开的水仙花是什么样子的.
来自互联网
4. The narcissus is becoming more and more lively under mom's careful attendance.
水仙花在妈妈的精心调养下越发水灵灵的了.
来自互联网
5. She was like a narcissus trembling in the wind.
