leprechaun: [17] Leprechaun means literally ‘little body’. It comes from an Irish compound noun made up of the adjective lu ‘little’ and corp ‘body’ (a borrowing from Latin corpus). Its original Old Irish form was luchorpán, and in modern Irish this became leipracán. The first record of its use in English is in Thomas Middleton’s Honest whore 1604: ‘as for your Irish lubrican, that spirit whom by preposterous charms thy lust hath rais’d in a wrong circle’. => corpse
leprechaun (n.)
c. 1600, from Irish lupracan, metathesis of Old Irish luchorpan literally "a very small body," from lu "little" (from PIE *legwh- "having little weight;" see light (adj.)) + corpan, diminutive of corp "body," from Latin corpus "body" (see corporeal). Commonly spelled lubrican in 17c. English. Leithbragan is Irish folk etymology, from leith "half" + brog "brogue," because the spirit was "supposed to be always employed in making or mending a single shoe."
实用例句
1. The when persuaded with burning iron the leprechaun revealed his treasure trove.
通过一些灼热的铁棍的“劝说”,他告诉了你他的秘密宝藏的地点.
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2. At Notre Dame, the mascot is a little creature of Irish imagination, a leprechaun.
在圣母玛利亚队, 吉祥物是一个爱尔兰小妖精.
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3. She's got that fey look as though she's had breakfast with a leprechaun ( Dorothy Burnham )
