quintessence

• 第五元素

quint-、五、本質、エッセンス。古代の物質観で、世界は水、火、空気、土の4つの基本要素から成り、フィフス?エレメントはこれら4つの要素を有機的に結合する最も重要な要素であるが、これら4つの要素とは異なり、フィフス?エレメントは目に見えない。映画『フィフス?エレメント』を参照。

quintessence

quintessence: [15] Just as modern particle physicists search for the ultimate constituent of matter, the common denominator of all known forces, so medieval alchemists tried to find a fifth primary essence, which together with earth, air, fire, and water formed the substance of all heaven and earth. This fifth essence, higher and more ethereal than the other four, was postulated by Aristotle, who called it aithēr ‘either’.

Another Greek term for it was pemptē ousíā ‘fifth essence’, which was translated into medieval Latin as quinta essentia – whence, via French, English quintessence. The metaphorical sense ‘most perfect or characteristic embodiment’ began to emerge in the second half of the 16th century. Other English words based on quintus ‘fifth’, the ordinal form of Latin quinque ‘five’, include quintet [19] and quintuple [16].

quintessence (n.)

early 15c., in ancient and medieval philosophy, "pure essence, substance of which the heavenly bodies are composed," literally "fifth essence," from Middle French quinte essence (14c.), from Medieval Latin quinta essentia, from Latin quinta, fem. of quintus "fifth" (see quinque-) + essentia (see Parousia).

A loan-translation of Greek pempte ousia, the "ether" added by Aristotle to the four known elements (water, earth, fire, air) and said to permeate all things. Its extraction was one of the chief goals of alchemy. Sense of "purest essence" (of a situation, character, etc.) is first recorded 1580s.

1. He was the quintesence of all that Eva most deeply loathed.

彼はエヴァが最も憎んでいる人の典型だ。

2.It was the quintessence of an English manor house.

それは典型的な英国式荘園の邸宅です。

3.John is the quintessence of good manners.

Johnは礼儀正しい模範である。

4.Turning round to look at Gumo Ridge It 'struck me as the quintessence of autumn.

天も、以前よりも少し高くなっています。振り返って古陌嶺の上を見ると、秋の色が濃くなりました。

漢英文学から-現代散文

5.The theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat is the quintessence of Marxism.

プロレタリア独裁の理論はマルクス主義の真髄である。