mosaic: [16] Mosaic work is etymologically work ‘of the muses’. The word comes ultimately from Greek mouseion, which originally meant literally ‘place of the muses’, and has also given English museum. Somehow in medieval Latin it became altered to mūsaicus or mōsaicus, and passed via early modern Italian mosaico and French mosa?que into English as mosaic. It has no etymological connection, incidentally, with Mosaic ‘of Moses’ [17]. => muse, museum
mosaic (n.)
c. 1400, from Old French mosaicq "mosaic work," from Italian mosaico, from Medieval Latin musaicum "mosaic work, work of the Muses," noun use of neuter of musaicus "of the Muses," from Latin Musa (see muse). Medieval mosaics were often dedicated to the Muses. The word formed in Medieval Latin as though from Greek, but the (late) Greek word for "mosaic work" was mouseion (Klein says this sense was borrowed from Latin). Figurative use is from 1640s. As an adjective in English from 1580s. Related: Mosaicist.
Mosaic (adj.)
"pertaining to Moses," 1660s (earlier Mosaical, 1560s), from Modern Latin Mosaicus, from Moses.
雙語例句
1. a design in mosaic
馬賽克圖案
來自《權威詞典》
2. The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.
今天早上的天空是幅藍白相間的畫面.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
3. I was admiring the exquisite workmanship in the mosaic.
我當時正在欣賞鑲嵌畫的精致做工.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
4. Archaeologists have worked for years to piece together the huge mosaic.
考古學家經年累月拼組這幅巨大的馬賽克.
來自《簡明英漢詞典》
5. Major works of painting, sculpture, mosaic and architecture were examined in situ in Venice.