temerity: [15] Someone who behaves with temerity is etymologically acting in the ‘dark’. The word was adapted from Latin temeritās ‘rashness’, a derivative of temere ‘blindly’, hence ‘rashly’. This in turn was formed from an unrecorded *temus ‘darkness’, a relative of tenebrae ‘darkness’, and hence originally denoted ‘acting in the dark, so that one cannot see’.
temerity (n.)
late 14c., from Latin temeritatem (nominative temeritas) "blind chance, accident; rashness, indiscretion, foolhardiness," from temere "by chance, at random; indiscreetly, rashly," related to tenebrae "darkness," from PIE root *teme- "dark" (cognates: Sanskrit tamas- "darkness," tamsrah "dark;" Avestan temah "darkness;" Lithuanian tamsa "darkness," tamsus "dark;" Old Church Slavonic tima "darkness;" Old High German dinstar "dark;" Old Irish temel "darkness"). The connecting notion is "blindly, without foreseeing."
双语例句
1. He had the temerity to call me a liar!
他竟敢说我撒谎！
来自《权威词典》
2. He had the temerity to call me a liar.
他竟胆敢说我撒谎.
来自《简明英汉词典》
3. He had the temerity to ask for higher wages after only a day's work.
只工作了一天,他就蛮不讲理地要求增加工资.
来自《简明英汉词典》
4. He has even had the temerity to invoke the names of Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X in defence of his actions.
