标题: Princess Mako's Engagement? [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 7-23-2018 15:45 标题: Princess Mako's Engagement? Motoko Rich, Japan's Princess Is Soon to Marry. But How soon, and What to Call Him? New York Times, July 21, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/ ... fiance-fordham.html
Excerpt in the window of print: Heading abroad to study before a formal betrothal ceremony.
Note:
(a) The online title ("He's Supposed to Marry a Japanese Princess. Just Don’t Call Him Her Fiancé") explains the print title: "What to Call Him?"
(b) "Ordinarily, Fordham University Law School in New York does not publicize an incoming student who is about to matriculate. But Kei Komuro is no ordinary student. He is the fiancé of Princess Mako, the eldest grandchild of Japan’s Emperor Akihito 明仁, head of the world’s oldest monarchy. Or is he?"
(i) matriculate (vi): "to be enrolled at a college or university <She matriculated at the state university>" (There is another definition for TRANSITIVE verb.) https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/matriculate
(A) The above link has a "Did You Know?" segment that states in full: "Anybody who has had basic Latin knows that alma mater, a fancy term for the school you attended, comes from a phrase that means 'fostering mother.' If mater is 'mother,' then matriculate probably has something to do with a school nurturing you just like good old mom, right? Not exactly. If you go back far enough, matriculate is distantly related to the Latin mater, but its maternal associations were lost long ago. It is more closely related to Late Latin matricula, which means 'public roll or register,' and it has more to do with being enrolled than being mothered."
What does it means? "If you go back far enough, matriculate is distantly related to the Latin mater, but its maternal associations were lost long ago." See the next two.
(B) matriculate (v). Online Etymology Dictionary, undated https://www.etymonline.com/word/matriculate
(" * * * from Late Latin matriculatus, past participle of matriculare 'to register,' from Latin [noun feminine] matricula 'public register,' diminutive of matrix (genitive matricis) 'list, roll,' also 'sources, womb' (see matrix). The connection of senses in the Latin word seems to be via confusion of Greek metra 'womb' (from meter 'mother;' see mother (n.1)) and an identical but different Greek word metra meaning 'register, lot' (see meter (n.2)). Evidently Latin [noun feminine] matrix was used to translate both, though it originally shared meaning with only one")
I have no idea what the last clause means, by "it originally shared meaning with only one." Because not only en.wikitionary.com but many other online Latin-English dictionaries demonstrates both definitions.
(C) matriculate (v; etymology: "late 16th century: from medieval Latin matriculat- 'enrolled,' from the verb matriculare, from late Latin matricula ‘register’, diminutive of Latin matrix") https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/matriculate
The Latin matrix is what www.merriam-webster.com in (A) above calls "distantly related to the Latin mater."
(ii) Kei KOMURO 小室 圭 (The kei is Chinese pronunciation of 圭, which means square jewel" in Japan. Compare 說文解字 for the same character: "上圜下方.")
(c) "The relationship of Mr Komuro and Princess Mako 眞子, a 26-year-old doctoral student at International Christian University [ICU 国際基督教大学; 1949- ; private] in Tokyo, where the couple first met as undergraduates, was at first celebrated when the pair came out publicly in May of last year. But public opinion curdled late last year when several tabloid magazines reported that Mr. Komuro’s mother had borrowed 4 million yen, or about $36,000, from an ex-boyfriend and then failed to repay it. * * * the princess, the niece of Crown Prince Naruhito 皇太子徳仁親王, who will ascend to the throne when his father abdicates next spring"
(i) curdle (vi):
"1 : to form curds
2 : to go bad or wrong : SPOIL" https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/curdle
(ii) Princess Mako is the first child of Fumihito 文仁親王 (the second child of Emperor Akihito, whose first child is Naruhito).
(d) Japan's Imperial Household Agency 宮内庁 (does not report to prime minister; one of Independen Administrative Institutions 独立行政法人] "indefinitely delayed a formal royal engagement ceremony, known as Nosai no gi, for the princess and Mr Komuro."
(i) nōsai no gi 納采の儀
(ii) Japanese-English dictionary:
* nōssai 納采 【のうさい】 (n): "betrothal gift"
(e) There is no need to read the rest.