興味深い題名に引かれてPierre Bayard著の 'How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read' を買って読み始めました。
Books You Have Forgottenの章から引用します。
Montaigne finds a solution to his memory problem through an ingenious system of notations at the end of each volume. Once foregetfulness has set in, he can use these notes to rediscover his opinion of the author and his work at the time of his original reading. We can assume that another function of the notes is to assure him that he has indeed read the works in which they were inscribed, like blazes on a trail that are intended to show the way during future periods of amnesia.
Montaigneは日本語でモンテーニュと呼ぶ有名な哲学者で、英語の発音はモンテインに近い様です。ところで "blaze" だと燃え盛る炎を連想しますが、trailにそんなに明るい "blaze" は普通はないので別の意味があるのでしょう。辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A mark made on a tree by cutting the bark so as to mark a route.: White, rectangular paint blazes mark the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia.
・Infoplease Dictionary: a spot or mark made on a tree, as by painting or notching or by chipping away a piece of the bark, to indicate a trail or boundary.
・A Glossary of Hiking Terms: A mark used to identify a trail, eg a spot of paint on a tree or rock. Originally, a mark made by removing bark from a tree.
なるほど日本の山道では木に赤いペイントの印がついているのを良く見かけますね。黄色の布が付いているのも見たことがあります。 "blaze" はこの意味で動詞の用法もありました。
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to make a new path or way by marking it so that others can follow: It took the Cherokee two years to blaze a trail between Texas and Kansas.
Books You Have Forgottenの章から引用します。
Montaigne finds a solution to his memory problem through an ingenious system of notations at the end of each volume. Once foregetfulness has set in, he can use these notes to rediscover his opinion of the author and his work at the time of his original reading. We can assume that another function of the notes is to assure him that he has indeed read the works in which they were inscribed, like blazes on a trail that are intended to show the way during future periods of amnesia.
Montaigneは日本語でモンテーニュと呼ぶ有名な哲学者で、英語の発音はモンテインに近い様です。ところで "blaze" だと燃え盛る炎を連想しますが、trailにそんなに明るい "blaze" は普通はないので別の意味があるのでしょう。辞書を見ます。
・Oxford English Dictionary: A mark made on a tree by cutting the bark so as to mark a route.: White, rectangular paint blazes mark the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia.
・Infoplease Dictionary: a spot or mark made on a tree, as by painting or notching or by chipping away a piece of the bark, to indicate a trail or boundary.
・A Glossary of Hiking Terms: A mark used to identify a trail, eg a spot of paint on a tree or rock. Originally, a mark made by removing bark from a tree.
なるほど日本の山道では木に赤いペイントの印がついているのを良く見かけますね。黄色の布が付いているのも見たことがあります。 "blaze" はこの意味で動詞の用法もありました。
・Cambridge English Dictionary: to make a new path or way by marking it so that others can follow: It took the Cherokee two years to blaze a trail between Texas and Kansas.
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