dormer window

久しぶりに大人向けの本を読み始めました。 "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller です。この本も薄いので借りたものです。
ACT ONE の最初に舞台の説明があります。次の文はその一部です。
Behind the kitchen, on a level raised six and a half feet, is the boy's bedroom, at present barely visible. Two beds are dimly seen, and at the back of the room a dormer window.
"dormer window" がどんな窓なのか分かりません。"dormer" からは "dormitory" とか "dormant volcano" を連想しますが、関係はあるのでしょうか？ 辞書を見ます。
・American Heritage Dictionary:
1. A window set vertically into a small gable projecting from a sloping roof.
2. The gable holding such a window.
・Dictionary.com:
1.Also called dormer window. a vertical window in a projection built out from a sloping roof.
2.the entire projecting structure.
イメージがはっきりしてきました。屋根裏部屋の窓ですね。語源も確認します。
・Online Etymology:
1590s, originally "window of a sleeping room," from M.Fr. dormeor "sleeping room," from dormir "to sleep" (see dormant).
なるほど "dormitory" と "dormant" とも "sleeping" が共通点なのですね。

seminal

Reader's Digest 11月号にあった "The Brain in the World, A burgeoning science explores the deep imprint fo culture" と言う記事からの抜粋です。
A few years ago, Shinobu Kitayama and colleagues at the University of Michgan conducted a seminal study that highlighted some of the differences between Eastern and Western thinking that Gladwell observed in the Korean Air case.
Korean Air caseと言うのはこの記事の冒頭にあるのですが、１９９７年に操縦士のミスで起きたKorean Air Flight 801のグァムの空港着陸時の事故の事で、操縦士がミスを冒していることをfirst officerとflight engineerが気が付いていたのにも関わらず、韓国人の年上の人に極端に敬意を払う性格が原因で操縦士に注意しなかったと報告された事件です。その原因を解明したのが "seminal study " なのですが、この"seminal" が分かりません。
・American Heritage Dictionary: Highly influential in an original way; constituting or providing a basis for further development: a seminal idea in the creation of a new theory.
・V2 Vocabulary Building Dictionary: original and influential, especially of ideas revolutionary for their time; It was a seminal movie that changed the way people looked at the use of technology in filmmaking. (creative, original); He played a seminal role in finding the cure for the disease. (influential, important)
Tips: Seminal is derived from semen, which means "seed." Seminal still means "full of semen or seeds" in a biological sense, but has also come to mean "creative and influential," possibly out of the notion that seeds bring a growth of possibilities and influence change. Something seminal is important because of its ability to influence change.
私には "seminal idea" を出す能力はありませんが、せめてこの単語の意味だけでもしっかりと覚えたい。

stall

カモメのジョナサンが一人で飛行の練習をしている個所から引用します。
The curve meant that he would fly slowly, and now he slowed until the wind was a whisper in his face, until the ocean stood still beneath him. He narrowed his eyes in fierce concentration, held his breath, forced one... single... more... inch... of... curve... Then his feathers ruffled, he stalled and fell.
Seagulls, as you know, never falter, never stall. To stall in the air is for them disgrace and it is dishonor.
But Jonathan Livingston Seagull, unashamed, stretching his wings again in that trembling hard curve - slowing, slowing, and stalling once more - was no ordinary bird.
"stall" が何度も出てきますが、私は名詞の "stall" の意味の内、家畜小屋内の仕切られた区画とか屋台などの様な意味しか知りませんで、そこから上の文の動詞としての "stall" の意味は連想できません。　早速辞書を見ます。
・American Heritage Dictionary: To lose forward flying speed, causing a stall. Used of an aircraft.
・Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary:
1. to come to a standstill (as from mired wheels or engine failure)
2. to experience a stall in flying
・Cambridge Advanced Learner's English Dictionary: If an engine stalls, or if you stall it, it stops working suddenly and without you intending it to happen.; A car may stall due to the driver braking too suddenly.; I stalled the car twice during my driving test but still managed to pass.
辞書では鳥での例は見つかりませんでしたが、車や飛行機のエンジンが止まり、当然走行が急に減速し、ついには止まることになるので、カモメなら失速し、その状態が続けば落下してしまう事になります。　ここでやっと気が付きました。　日本語でもエンストと言いますが、これは "engine stop" の事か "engine stall" から来たのか疑問がわきました。　今日は時間が無いので後で調べましょう。

"Jonathan Livingston Seagull" は本自体も薄く、カモメの写真のページも途中に沢山あったので直ぐに読み終わりましたので、この本から取り上げる単語はこれで終わりです。

brush with

Reader's Digest 11月号にあった、岩に激突して転覆し命拾いした経験談、The Raging River "whitewater rafting"からです。
Soaking wet and short of breath, we exchanged details and assessed our wounds. My dad showed us his bleeding knees. I was unhurt, save a few bruises and scrapes. When we finally collected ourselves, we received a stern word from our guide.
It has been over two years since my brush with death and I am still shaken at the memory.
"brush with death" は文脈からすると、絶命寸前の経験ですが、その様な意味になるのか辞書で調べます。
"brush with" の検索では何もリストに引っ掛かりませんでしたが、"brush" の名詞の意味は以外と沢山あり、ＲＤの記事と全く同じ表現 "brush with death" の例文もありました。
・Macmillan Dictionary: a short experience of a dangerous or unpleasant situation: brush with: He’d had a few brushes with the law, but nothing serious.; We’d had a brush with death that left us terrified.
・Cambridge Advanced Learner's English Dictionary: when you experience something, or almost experience something, especially something unpleasant; Jim had a brush with death (= was nearly killed) on the motorway.; Was that your first brush with the law (= experience of being in trouble with the police)?
なるほど、"brush with" を使う経験はない方が良いようです。

chum

"How to Live on 24 Hours a Day" はHow to物にしては内容がやや抽象的で、もともと期待はしていませんでしたが、余り得るところのない本でした。２日間で読み終えたので次に、やはり図書館から "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" by Richard Bachを借りて読み始めました。カモメのジョナサンと言うのは聞いた事はありますが、どんな話か全く知りません。次ぎの文は最初に引っ掛かった単語があった個所です。
A mile from shore a fishing boat chummed the water, and the word for Breakfast Flock flashed through the air, till a crowd of a thousand seagulls came to dodge and fight for bits of food. It was another busy day begining.
親友の意味の "chum" は知っていますが、上の文の "chummed" は何の事だかさっぱり分からないので辞書を引きます。
・Wiktionary: To cast chum into the water to attract fish.: Small live baitfish are effective, and they will take bits of fresh cut fish when chummed strongly.
・Infoplease Dictionary:
1. to dump chum into (a body of water) so as to attract fish.
2. to lure (fish) with chum: They chummed the fish with hamburger.
撒き餌を撒く意味があるのですね。　語源辞典のEtymology Onlineによると：
"fish bait," 1857, perhaps from Scottish chum "food."
とあり、friend の意味とは語源も異なり、後から使われるようになった事が分かります。

anniversary

旅行から帰ってからなんだかんだと忙しかったので気が付きませんでしたが、先日の２月６日は２００７年にBLOG English Collectionを始めた日でした。つまりEnglish Collectionは４年が過ぎた事になり、私の記録では先日の６日は１２５１回目の投稿でした。　そこで今日の日曜日恒例ジョーク紹介はAnniversary Jokeです。
A man was talking to his friend about what to do for his 50th wedding anniversary. The friend asked, “What did you do for your 25th?”
He said, “I took my wife to Hawaii.”
The friend then asked, “What are you thinking about for your 50th?”
He said, “Well I was thinking of bringing her back.”

cordial

Reader's Digest 11月号の単語クイズのテーマはWords of Yesteryear、つまり昔の言葉（由来が古い単語を含む）なので、今の言葉もろくに知らない私が特に覚えるべき単語はない様ですが、ほんの少し知っている単語があり、その一つ "cordial" に私の知らなかった意味があるのを知りました。
RDの問題は "cordial" の意味は次ぎのどれでしょうかと言う選択枝です。
A: garden party
B: fruit-flavoured liqueur
C: flower for buttonhole
私のやまかんはＣでしたが、はずれで、正解はＢ。出ていた例文は：
Only favoured guests were offered Aunt Millie's homemade raspberry cordial.
例によって辞書で "cordial" の意味を確認します。
・WordNet:
noun: strong highly flavored sweet liquor usually drunk after a meal
adjective: sincerely or intensely felt ("A cordial regard for his visitor's comfort")
adjective: showing warm and heartfelt friendliness ("Gave us a cordial reception")
adjective: diffusing warmth and friendliness ("Cordial relations")
形容詞の意味は知っていましたが名詞の用法は知りませんでした。しかし、この名詞の意味から形容詞の意味が発生した事が推測できます。　次ぎの説明がV2 Vocabulary Building Dictionary にありました。
The word cordial comes from ancient medical usage, when warming beverages were believed to be beneficial to one's health. More than polite, cordial describes sincere warmth, kindness, and regard for the welfare of others.

Chinese box/boxes

図書館から "How to Live on 24 Hours a Day"(by Arnold Bennett)を借りて読みました。何せ私が本を借りる基準が本の厚さなので中身は余り期待していませんが、この本の中で気になった英語の表現が一つだけありました。
Chapter 4) The Cause of the Troubles
If any typical man wishes to live fully and completely he must, in his mind, arrange a day wtihin a day. And this inner day, a Chinese box in a larger Chinese box, must begin at 6 p.m. and end at 10 a.m.
"Chinese box" とは何でしょう？　早速辞書を引きます。
"Chinese box" で載せている辞書は見あたりませんでしたが "Chinese boxes" なら説明がありました。
・American Heritage Dictionary: A set of boxes of graduated size, each fitting inside the next larger one.
・Wiktionary:
A set of boxes, of different sizes, each fitting inside the next larger one.
Something that resembles a set of Chinese boxes, especially in complexity.
なるほど、一つでは "Chinese boxes" にならないので "Chinese box" の項が無い訳です。　ロシアのマトリョーシカを連想しますが、Wikipedia はその事に言及しています。
以下はWikipediaからの引用です。
A traditional style in Chinese design, nested boxes have proved a popular packaging option in the West for novelty or display reasons.
The Russian matryoshka doll is a modern interpretation of this form. Invented as an 'authentic' folk toy by crafter Sergey Malyutin in 1891, this first Russian doll set was actually created on commission from a noble family to make a Russian version of a similar Japanese doll.
As with the above example, such Chinese nested boxes have inspired similar forms of packaging around the world, but also have found use as a figurative description, providing an illustrative example to demonstrate situations of conceptually nested or recursive arrangements.
In literature a Chinese box structure refers to a novel or drama that is told in the form of a narrative inside a narrative (and so on), giving views from different perspectives.
さすがWikipediaは辞書より詳しいですね。

ATM

今日の話題もＲＤ１０月号の記事からです。次ぎの文は携帯電話を持たない女性が "I have decided I need to keep abreast of SMS language." と言うようになったきっかけを説明しています。（文中のKevinは著者の夫です）
Earlier this year, Kevin received a text message from our eldest son, who was out four-wheel-driving in the bush. "Lost ATM" it read. I immediately started to panic that he had lost his ATM card. "Please explain," Kevin texted back. "Lost - at the moment," came the reply for the sake of his SMS-illiterate parents.
私もこの記事を読むまでは "ATM" に "at the moment" の意味がある事は知りませんでした。
Wikipediaで "SMS language" の項を見ると色々例が載っていましたが、既に知っている、見たことのある略語（ASAP, FYI, lol, omg, ttyl）もありましたが、その他の略語はいずれも覚えたい、使いたいとは特に思わないません。誰でも使うようになったら覚えれば良いと思います。

fashion

"The Piano" のSc 148INT SEA NEAR BEACH DAY から、最後の引用です。
I teach piano now in Nelson. George has fashioned me a metal finger tip, I am quite the town freak which satisfies!
名詞の "fashion" しか知りません。動詞の "fashion" は初めてです。　早速辞書を見ます。
・American Heritage Dictionary: To give shape or form to; make: fashioned a table from a redwood burl.
・Macmillan Dictionary: to make something, often using a lot of skill or care; Softley has fashioned a satisfying movie out of Henry James’ novel.; toy guns fashioned from bits of wood
・Cambridge Advanced Learner's English Dictionary: to make something using your hands; He fashioned a hat for himself from/out of newspaper.
アルファベットだけでは表示できないフランス文字とラテン文字が使われているので全文は引用しませんが、 "fashion" には元々　“form, make, outw" の意味があったようです。
"The Piano" のシナリオを読み終えましたが、この映画を見る気はしません。STEWARTが斧でADAの指を叩き切る場面があるからです。文章で読んでもゾクッとするのにこれを映像では見たくありません。