hubris

今日はThe Japan Times Online May 28, 2016の記事タイトルにあった単語を覚えたいと思います。
100 years of hubris in Middle East
One hundred years ago this month, a British aristocrat and a French diplomat drew a line across a map of the Middle East that is blamed for the chaos that dominates that region today. The Sykes-Picot agreement is faulted for its naivete, its imperialism, its betrayal of promises to Arab nationalists and its secrecy. It is a convenient scapegoat for the instability that reigns in the Middle East, but responsibility for the region’s tragedy is more diffuse.
中近東やアフリカの政情が不安定な元々の原因は西洋の大国が昔自分達の都合に良いように利用していたことから来ているのが上の記事でも分かりますね。しかし、"hubris" の意味がまだはっきりしません。
記事を更に読み続けると "hubris" が次の様に出て来ました。
Yet even if Sykes-Picot itself is not the cause of the Middle East’s trouble, the mentality that it represents, the hubris of the West and its readiness to meddle, has been and continues to be a problem for the region.
ここで辞書を引いて "hubris" を調べます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: Excessive pride or self-confidence.: Arrogance, hubris, blind patriotism, and good old fashioned fear are our real enemy!
・Vocabulary.com: Hubris is an excess of confidence: a boxer who shouts "I'm the greatest!" even though he's about to get pummeled by a much stronger opponent is displaying a lot of hubris.
Hubris is from Greek, where it meant "excessive pride, violating the bounds set for humans" and was always punished by the gods. We no longer have the Greek gods, so in English it just refers to over-the-top self-confidence. If you call yourself the best in something, you better have the goods to back it up, since too much hubris can lead to embarrassment and humiliation. It's an age-old human failing: pride goeth before the fall.