dismal

• adj.暗い、憂鬱な、陰気な
• n. 低い気分

ラテン語のdies mali「悪意のある日」から。後に形容詞として使われ、dismal「陰気な」、gloomy「陰鬱な」。

dismal

dismal: [13] Etymologically, dismal means ‘bad day’. It comes, via Anglo-Norman dis mal, from Latin diēs malī, literally ‘evil days’, a term used to denote the two days in each month which according to ancient superstition were supposed to be unlucky (these days, of set date, were said originally to have been computed by Egyptian astrologers, and were hence also called Egyptian days). The term dismal thus acquired connotations of ‘gloom’ and ‘calamity’. Its earliest adjectival use, somewhat tautologically, was in the phrase dismal day, but in the late 16th century it broadened out considerably in application.

dismal (adj.)

c. 1400, from Anglo-French dismal (mid-13c.), from Old French (li) dis mals "(the) bad days," from Medieval Latin dies mali "evil or unlucky days" (also called dies ?gyptiaci), from Latin dies "days" (see diurnal) + mali, plural of malus "bad" (see mal-).

Through the Middle Ages, calendars marked two days of each month as unlucky, supposedly based on the ancient calculations of Egyptian astrologers (Jan. 1, 25; Feb. 4, 26; March 1, 28; April 10, 20; May 3, 25; June 10, 16; July 13, 22; Aug. 1, 30; Sept. 3, 21; Oct. 3, 22; Nov. 5, 28; Dec. 7, 22). Modern sense of "gloomy, dreary" first recorded in English 1590s, in reference to sounds. Related: Dismally.

1. My prospects of returning to a suitable job are dismal .

私は適切な職場を再発見する希望は薄い。

2.You can 't occupy yourself with dismal thoughts all the time.

暗い思いに終日陥ってはいけない。

3.It was a dismal failure.

がっかりする失敗でした。

4.The singer gave a dismal performance of some old songs.

その歌手は古い歌を何曲か歌っていて、あまり上手ではありません。

5.That is a rather dismal melody.

それはかなり憂鬱な曲です。