今日の単語 Effigy

Effigy

【音節】ef・fi・gy　【発音記号】éfədʒi

１．今日は名詞です。簡単ですが、知っておくと便利です。例文を見てみましょう。

Riots, effigies and a guillotine: Capitol attack could be a glimpse of violence to come. A Democratic governor burned in effigy in Oregon. (from the Guardian)

Medieval effigy found hidden beneath English Church’s pipe organ. The newly restored carving is the oldest alabaster effigy of a priest discovered in the U.K. to date(from Smithsonian Magazine ) alabaster: 雪花石膏

２．英英辞典等の説明はこのようになっています

a representation or image, especially sculptured, as on a monument

a crude representation of someone disliked, used for purposes of ridicule

An effigy is an often life-size sculptural representation of a specific person, or a prototypical figure. Lately, the term is mostly used for the make-shift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certain traditions around New Year, Carnival and Easter. Additionally, “effigy” is used for certain traditional forms of sculpture, namely tomb effigies, funeral effigies and coin effigies.

3. 英和辞典には、、、

何かをかたどった物

著名人などの肖像、彫像

人を呪うため等に作った人形、似姿

4.　意味がわかったところでそのほかの例文を確認してみます。意外と面白いですね。

Since her coronation in 1953, six effigies of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II have appeared on the obverse of Australian coins. (from the Royal Australian Mint)

A Tomb Effigy of a Lady: Probably representing Margaret of Gloucester, the wife of Robert II, baron of Neubourg, this effigy is shown in the aristocratic costume of the period. (from THE MET)

After her death on 24th March 1603, the body of Queen Elizabeth I was placed inside a lead coffin and carried by night in a torchlit barge along the Thames from Richmond Palace to Whitehall. There, the Queen was to lie in state until her funeral, giving time for the new king, King James I (VI of Scotland) to travel down to London. While the coffin lay in state, a life-size effigy of the Queen, dressed in her royal robes, was placed on top of it to act as a symbol of the monarchy while there was no monarch in England. (from the Tudor Society)

5. Effigy について

政治関連のデモなどで使われる張りぼての印象がありましたが、歴史ある単語だったのが興味深いです。硬貨の肖像も、お墓の上の彫刻も、effigy なんですね。

もともとは身代わり人形という（ex:外＋figure 姿）ちょっと怖い使われ方だったようですが、用途ではなくてモノ自体にネーミングをするところは英語らしいですね。

今日の単語は

Effigy

でした

1週間前にとりあげた単語は、Imperative でした。

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