中文词源
allay 缓和
古英语前缀a-, 放下，离开，来自PIE *uz, 词源同out ，此处受前缀al- 影响俗化. 单词lay,放置。
英文词源
- allay
- allay: [OE] In Old English, alecgan meant literally ‘lay aside’ (-a ‘away, aside, out’, lecgan ‘lay’). The more recent senses ‘relieve, mitigate’ developed from the 13th to the 15th centuries owing to the influence of two formally similar Old French verbs: aleger ‘lighten’ (from Latin alleviāre, source of English alleviate [15]); and al(e)ier ‘qualify, moderate’ (source of English alloy).
=> lay - allay (v.)
- Old English alecgan "to put down, remit, give up," a Germanic compound (cognates: Gothic uslagjan, Old High German irleccan, German erlegen), from a- "down, aside" + lecgan "to lay" (see lay).
Early Middle English pronunciations of -y- and -g- were not always distinct, and the word was confused in Middle English with various senses of Romanic-derived alloy and allege, especially the latter in an obsolete sense of "to lighten," from Latin ad- "to" + levis (see lever).
Amid the overlapping of meanings that thus arose, there was developed a perplexing network of uses of allay and allege, that belong entirely to no one of the original vbs., but combine the senses of two or more of them. [OED]
The double -l- is 17c., a mistaken Latinism. Related: Allayed; allaying.
中文解释
1. a- "intensive prefix, 这里在单词中受lay(放下)的影响，强化为表示: down, aside" + -l- (由于受ad-同化规律的误导，而产生的误写、误拼，然后就将错就错了) + lay "放下、搁下，lay, put, place".2. => put down. => alleviate.3. “啊累！”，要求“减轻”工作量。
实用例句
- 1. He did what he could to allay his wife's fears.
- 他竭尽所能来消除妻子的各种恐惧。
来自柯林斯例句
- 2. The police tried to allay her fears but failed.
- 警察力图减轻她的恐惧,但是没有收到什么效果.
来自《简明英汉词典》
- 3. They are trying to allay public fears about the spread of the disease.
- 他们正竭力减轻公众对这种疾病传播的恐惧.
来自《简明英汉词典》
- 4. Despite its condescension toward the Bennet family, the letter begins to allay Elizabeth's prejudice against Darcy.
- 尽管这封信对班纳特家的态度很高傲, 但它开始消除伊丽莎白对达西的偏见.
来自《简明英汉词典》
- 5. Father helped to allay her fears.
- 父亲帮助她消除恐惧.
来自辞典例句
