Japan Times OnlineのOct.10の記事タイトルに見慣れない単語がありました。
そのタイトルは "Angela Merkel’s pyrrhic victory" で、この "pyrrhic victory" の "pyrrhic" が初めて見る（多分？）単語です。辞書を引く前に記事を読みます。
As far as Germany is concerned, the drama of the euro crisis is over. The subject was barely discussed in the country’s recent election campaign. Chancellor Angela Merkel did what was necessary to ensure the euro’s survival, and she did so at the least possible cost to Germany -- a feat that earned her the support of pro-European Germans as well as those who trust her to protect German interests. Not surprisingly, she won re-election resoundingly.
そう言えばメルケル氏が率いる党が最近の選挙で圧勝したと言うニュースが流れていたような気がします。（余り関心がないので記憶に自信はない） すると "pyrrhic victory" は圧勝の意味でしょうか？ 辞書で確認します。
"Pyrrhic" は元々戦いの踊り（a war dance of ancient Greece: Collins Dic.）ですが、Online Etymology Dictionaryに 1885 (usually in phrase Pyrrhic victory), from Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who defeated Roman armies at Asculum, 280 B.C.E., but at such cost to his own troops that he was unable to follow up and attack Rome itself, and is said to have remarked, "one more such victory and we are lost." と書かれている様に、 "pyrrhic victory" となると、多くの犠牲を伴った勝利のようです。そこで "pyrrhic victory" 説明を再び辞書で見ます。
・Collins Dictionary: a victory in which the victor's losses are as great as those of the defeated Also called: Cadmean victory: This Pyrrhic victory for Stalin would have another, much greater, cost in the years to come.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a victory that is not worth winning because the winner has lost so much in winning it: She won the court case, but it was a Pyrrhic victory because she had to pay so much in legal fees.
いずれにしても本当の戦争だと大勢の犠牲者がでないはずはありませんね。
そのタイトルは "Angela Merkel’s pyrrhic victory" で、この "pyrrhic victory" の "pyrrhic" が初めて見る（多分？）単語です。辞書を引く前に記事を読みます。
As far as Germany is concerned, the drama of the euro crisis is over. The subject was barely discussed in the country’s recent election campaign. Chancellor Angela Merkel did what was necessary to ensure the euro’s survival, and she did so at the least possible cost to Germany -- a feat that earned her the support of pro-European Germans as well as those who trust her to protect German interests. Not surprisingly, she won re-election resoundingly.
そう言えばメルケル氏が率いる党が最近の選挙で圧勝したと言うニュースが流れていたような気がします。（余り関心がないので記憶に自信はない） すると "pyrrhic victory" は圧勝の意味でしょうか？ 辞書で確認します。
"Pyrrhic" は元々戦いの踊り（a war dance of ancient Greece: Collins Dic.）ですが、Online Etymology Dictionaryに 1885 (usually in phrase Pyrrhic victory), from Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who defeated Roman armies at Asculum, 280 B.C.E., but at such cost to his own troops that he was unable to follow up and attack Rome itself, and is said to have remarked, "one more such victory and we are lost." と書かれている様に、 "pyrrhic victory" となると、多くの犠牲を伴った勝利のようです。そこで "pyrrhic victory" 説明を再び辞書で見ます。
・Collins Dictionary: a victory in which the victor's losses are as great as those of the defeated Also called: Cadmean victory: This Pyrrhic victory for Stalin would have another, much greater, cost in the years to come.
・Cambridge English Dictionary: a victory that is not worth winning because the winner has lost so much in winning it: She won the court case, but it was a Pyrrhic victory because she had to pay so much in legal fees.
いずれにしても本当の戦争だと大勢の犠牲者がでないはずはありませんね。
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