inferno: [19] Etymologically, an inferno is that which is ‘below’. The word comes ultimately from Latin infernus, meaning ‘situated below, subterranean’. In ancient mythology, the nether regions were the abode of the dead, so inferna came to be used as the equivalent of Dis, and the Greek Hades. In Jewish and Christian belief, this basement area was the realm of evil spirits, and consequently in late Latin infernus came to cover much the same semantic ground as English hell.
In Italian this became inferno, and English adopted it (strongly under the influence of the Inferno of Dante’s Divine Comedy) in that form in the early 19th century. Its metaphorical use for ‘intense heat’, inspired by the stereotypical flames of hell, is a comparatively recent development. Meanwhile the related infernal [14] (from late Latin infernalis) had long since taken up residence in English, and by the 18th century was being used as an expletive (as in ‘their infernal cheek’).
inferno (n.)
1834, from Italian inferno, from Latin infernus (see infernal).
雙語(yǔ)例句
1. Lucent's Inferno is an entire system, designed for embedded systems.
朗訊公司的Inferno是為嵌入式系統(tǒng)設(shè)計(jì)的完整系統(tǒng).
來(lái)自互聯(lián)網(wǎng)
2. Inferno logically mirrors Java by including a virtual machine, programming language, and communications protocol.