candle: [OE] Candle is one of the earliest English borrowings from Latin. It probably arrived with Christianity at the end of the 6th century, and is first recorded in a gloss from around the year 700. Latin candēla was a derivative of the verb candēre ‘be white, glow’, also the source of English candid and related to incandescent and incense. Candelabrum [19] is a Latin derivative. The Christian feast of Candlemas [OE] (February 2) gets its name from the blessing of church candles on that day. => candelabrum, candid, incandescent, incense
candle (n.)
Old English candel "lamp, lantern, candle," an early ecclesiastical borrowing from Latin candela "a light, torch, candle made of tallow or wax," from candere "to shine," from PIE root *kand- "to glow, to shine, to shoot out light" (cognates: Sanskrit cand- "to give light, shine," candra- "shining, glowing, moon;" Greek kandaros "coal;" Welsh cann "white;" Middle Irish condud "fuel").
Candles were unknown in ancient Greece (where oil lamps sufficed), but common from early times among Romans and Etruscans. Candles on birthday cakes seems to have been originally a German custom. To hold a candle to originally meant "to help in a subordinate capacity," from the notion of an assistant or apprentice holding a candle for light while the master works (compare Old English taporberend "acolyte"). To burn the candle at both ends is recorded from 1730.
例文
1. The tramp produced a stump of candle from his deep pockets.
ホームレスは深いポケットからろうそくを取り出した。
2.Under the pretence of lighting a candle ，she evades him and disappears.
彼女はろうそくを灯したふりをして、彼が消えるのを避けた。
3.The light from my candle threw his elongated shadow on the walls.
私のキャンドルライトは彼の長く伸びた影を壁に投影した。
4.Another of his lucky finds was a pair of candle ?holders.
彼のもう一つの幸運な発見は一対の燭台だった。
5.Girls today can 't hold a candle to the beauties of the Fifties.