lent

英 [lent] 美[l?nt]

Lent 大齋期，四旬期

來自古英語Lenten,四旬期，復(fù)活節(jié)（Easter,原為春天女神）前的四十天，來自lencten,春天，詞源同long,因春天白晝時間逐漸變長而得名。

Lent: Lent: [OE] The etymological meaning of Lent is ‘long days’. It comes from *langgitīnaz, a prehistoric West Germanic compound formed from *lanngaz ‘long’ and an element *tīnadenoting ‘day’. This signified originally ‘spring’, an allusion to the lengthening days at that time of year. It passed into Old English as lencten, which became Middle English lenten, but in the 13th century the -en was dropped from the noun, leaving Lenten to function as an adjective. By this time too the secular sense ‘spring’ was fast dying out, having been usurped by the application of Lent to the period between Ash Wednesday and Easter.
=> long
Lent (n.): late 14c., short for Lenten (n.) "forty days before Easter" (early 12c.), from Old English lencten "springtime, spring," the season, also "the fast of Lent," from West Germanic *langa-tinaz "long-days" (cognate with Old Saxon lentin, Middle Dutch lenten, Old High German lengizin manoth), from *lanngaz (root of Old English lang "long;" see long (adj.)) + *tina-, a root meaning "day" (compare Gothic sin-teins "daily"), cognate with Old Church Slavonic dini, Lithuanian diena, Latin dies "day" (see diurnal).

the compound probably refers to the increasing daylight. Compare similar form evolution in Dutch lente (Middle Dutch lentin), German Lenz (Old High German lengizin) "spring." Church sense of "period between Ash Wednesday and Easter" is peculiar to English.

1. Somebody else lent me a pump and helped me mend the puncture.: 別人借給我一個打氣筒，又幫我補好了輪胎。

2. Enthusiastic applause lent a sense of occasion to the proceedings.: 熱烈的掌聲給活動平添了幾分隆重的色彩。

5. My parents lent me the money. Otherwise, I couldn't have afforded the trip.: 我父母借錢給我了。否則，我可付不起這次旅費。