disaster: [16] The word disaster has astrological connotations. It comes, perhaps via French désastre, from Italian disastro; this was a backformation from disastrato, literally ‘ill-starred’, a compound adjective formed from the pejorative prefix dis- and astro ‘star’, a descendant of Latin astrum ‘star’. This in turn came from Greek astron ‘star’, source of English astronomy and related to English star. So the underlying meaning of the word is ‘malevolent astral influence’. Proven?al has the parallel malastre ‘misfortune’.
disaster (n.)
1590s, from Middle French désastre (1560s), from Italian disastro "ill-starred," from dis-, here merely pejorative (see dis-) + astro "star, planet," from Latin astrum, from Greek astron (see star (n.)). The sense is astrological, of a calamity blamed on an unfavorable position of a planet.
例文
1. An airliner came close to disaster while approaching Heathrow Airport.
大型旅客機がヒースロー空港に接近している間に空難が発生するところだった。
2.We were in a disaster situation that defies description.
私たちは何とも言えないひどい立場に陥った。
3.The President described the disaster as an act of God.
大統領はこの災難を天災と言った。
4.An investigation is underway to find out how the disaster happened.
調査は、災害がどのように発生したのかを明らかにするために展開されている。
5.Investors were storing up a lot of cash in anticipation of diaster .