那些“母親”演化的詞

本周日（5月13日）就是“母親節”了，你想好用什么方式向母親表達愛意了嗎？要是還沒想好，不如就跟小編一起學幾個由mother（母親）一詞演化出來的英語單詞吧。然后講給媽媽聽，媽媽看到這么好學的孩子一定很開心的！

Metropolis 大都市

Nowadays, it refers to a large city — particularly an important one.

這個詞現在多指大都市，尤其是地位比較重要的城市。

In ancient Greece, metropolis referred to the mother city of a colony. Metropolis comes from the Greek mētēr ("mother") + polis ("city").

在古希臘，metropolis指殖民地的宗主城市。Metropolis一詞源于希臘語的mētēr（母親）和polis（城市）。

Matrix 母體，背景，模型

The term originates in the Latin mater, meaning "mother."

這個詞源于拉丁語中的mater一詞，意為“母親”。

The original (now-archaic) meaning of matrix was "uterus." Today the word usually refers to a situation or set of conditions in which something develops or forms.

Matrix一詞最早的意思為“子宮”（如今該用法已棄用）。現在，這個詞通常指形勢或者事物發展或成形的條件。

Alma Mater 母校

Alma mater refers either to a school one attended, or to that school's song.

Alma mater指“母校”或者母校的校歌。

The ancients used alma mater as a title for such goddesses as Ceres, the Roman goddess of the growth of food plants, and Cybele, who was worshipped as the universal mother of gods, humans, and animals.

古代的人用alma mater來指代谷神星（古羅馬掌管谷物生長的女神）和希比利神（亦稱“眾神之母”，是宇宙中一切神、人類和動物之母）。

Matrimony 婚姻

Matrimony joins two people, but that pairing is rooted in one word: mother.

婚姻讓兩個人走到一起，不過這種聯姻源自于一個詞：mother（母親）。

Matrimony comes from mater, Latin for "mother." This reflects the traditional role of marriage in legalizing motherhood – allowing women to produce legitimate children and heirs.

Matrimony也源自于拉丁語中的mater（母親）一詞。這也反應了母系合法化過程中婚姻的傳統地位，即婚姻讓女人能夠繁衍合法的子嗣。

Matter 物質

The fact of the matter is this: the Latin word for "mother," mater, is this word's distant ancestor.

Matter一詞怎么會出現在這里？事情是這樣的，拉丁語中的mater（母親）一詞是matter一詞的遠祖。

Mater was shaped into materia, meaning "physical substance" or "matter." Materia eventually developed into matter.

Mater一詞后來演化成materia，即“物質”。而materia一詞最終演化成了matter這個詞。

Why did mother lead to matter? The connection is uncertain, but perhaps it's because matter is the substance from which something is made; and it is mother from which we all are made.

“母親”和“物質”之間有什么因果關系呢？答案尚不明確。或許因為物質是構成所有事物的成分，也是我們所有人成形之源頭吧。

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（英文及圖片來源：Merriam-Webster Online，編輯：Helen）

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