| 释义 |
Tophet|ˈtəʊfɪt|
Also 4 tofeth, 4–9 topheth.
[a. Heb. topheth pr. name, of uncertain etymol.
For conjectures, see references in Oxford Heb. & Eng. Lex. s.v., One of the most ancient sought to connect it with toph2, or its vb.: see quots. 1388, 1749, 1865.]
1. orig. Proper name of a place near Gehenna or the Valley of the Son or Children of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem, where, according to Jer. xix. 4, etc., the Jews made human sacrifices to strange gods. Later it was used as a place for the deposit of refuse, and became symbolic of the torments of hell.
1382Wyclif 2 Kings xxiii. 10 Forsothe he defoulide Topheth, that is in the valeye of the sone of Ennon, that no man schuld sacryn his sone or his douȝtre thorȝ fyr to Moloch [1388 has marg. note..Tophet signefieth tympan..for the prestis of this idol, maden noyse with timpans, lest fadres and modris schulden here the cry of her sones, diynge bi fier in the hondis of the idol]. 1535Coverdale ibid., He suspended Tophet also in the valley of the children of Ennon [etc.]. 1611Bible ibid., He defiled Topheth. 1667Milton P.L. i. 404 [Moloch] made his Grove The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence And black Gehenna call'd, the Type of Hell. 1749Stackhouse Hist. Bible vi. iv. II. 911 note, It is the general Opinion of the Jews, that the Word Tophet comes from Thoph, which, in their Language, signifies a Drum. 1865Grosart Lambs all Safe 117 (tr. Pintus 1582) That the parents of the child might not hear its wailing, the priests beat drums, from which cause the place was called Tophet, or a drum.
2. The place of punishment for the wicked after death; the place of eternal fire; hell, Gehenna.
1388Wyclif Isa. xxx. 33 For whi Tophet [1382 Tofeth], that is, helle, deep and alargid, is maad redi of the kyng fro ȝistirdai. 1611Bible ibid., For Tophet [1885 R.V. a Topheth] is ordained of olde..the breath of the Lord, like a streame of brimstone doeth kindle it. 1678Bunyan Pilgr. i. 2, I fear that this burden..will sinck me lower then the Grave; and I shall fall into Tophet. a1708Beveridge Priv. Th. i. (1816) 95, I never did see..the flaming tophet that is below. 1825Scott Talism. xviii, Whose ashes, when this earthly fuel is burnt out, must yet be flung into Tophet.
3. fig. A place, state, condition, or company likened to hell.
a. A ‘hell upon earth’.
1618J. Taylor (Water P.) Pennyles Pilgr. E ij b, Yet all I saw was pleasure mixt with profit, which prou'd it to be no tormenting Tophet. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 498 The chief of this Tophet [Claverhouse], a soldier of distinguished courage and professional skill, but rapacious and profane. 1883M. E. Braddon Gold. Calf xxv, If she could..lead her husband's footsteps out of this Tophet into which he had sunk himself.
b. A place or state of wild chaos and warring elements; a roaring furnace; a raging whirlpool, a maelstrom.
1837Hawthorne Twice-told T. (1851) I. x. 172 Converted quite to steam, in the miniature tophet, which you mistake for a stomach. 1856Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh i. 418 Shuffling off The hearer's soul through hurricanes of notes To a noisy Tophet. 1912Daily News 4 July 1 The officer barked out the short order, ‘Load twelve-inch gun’... Instantly tophet was let loose in the turret.
4. Comb., as Tophet-black, Tophet-red adjs.
1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. v. iv, Simultaneously with this Tophet-black aspect, there unfolds itself another aspect, which one may call a Tophet-red aspect, the Destruction of the Catholic Religion; and indeed, for the time being, of Religion itself.
Hence (nonce-wds.) Toˈphetic, -ical adjs., of, pertaining to, or of the nature of Tophet; ˈTophetize v., trans. to make a Tophet or hell of; ˈTophetism, hellishness.
1684N. S. tr. Crit. Enq. Edit. Bible xxv. 226 All the stratagems of Popery, all the tophitical Tyranny of the School-men. 1698C. Mather Magn. Chr. vii. (1702) 105 A Room Tophetized with Smoke, and Rhume, and Spittle, and Malice, and Lies. 1859M. Napier Mem. Visct. Dundee I. 20 It is brutality rendered dangerous and Tophetical by excessive bumptuousness. [Cf. quot. 1849 in 3 a.] Ibid. 38 The idealized Tophetism of a trooper's ‘damning’. |