| 释义 |
‖ prolegomenon|prəʊlɪˈgɒmɪnən|
Pl. -mena |-ə|.
[a. Gr. προλεγόµενον, neut. of pres. pple. pass. of προλέγειν to say beforehand, f. πρό, pro-2 + λέγειν to say.]
A preliminary discourse prefixed to a literary work; esp. a learned preface or preamble; chiefly in pl. introductory or preliminary observations on the subject of a book.
a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. i. i. (1821) 11 As a prolegomenon or preface to what we shall afterward discourse. 1659Bp. Walton Consid. Considered 40 Not at all impeached by any thing maintained in the Prolegomena. 1697Evelyn Numism. ii. 19 His Prolegomenon to the Polyglotte Bible. 1729Pope (title) The Dunciad; with Notes Variorum and the Prolegomena of Scriblerus. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. To Rdr., Therefore have I chosen, in this prolegomenon, to unload my burden of thanks at thy feet. 1869Kingsley Let. to F. D. Maurice 16 Jan., They are meant..as prolegomena to natural theology.
b. (pl.) Spoken preliminaries; prefatory remarks.
1892Stevenson & L. Osbourne Wrecker xix, He, after some ambiguous prolegomena, roundly proposed I should go shares with him.
Hence proleˈgomenal, proleˈgomenary adjs., prefatory, introductory; proleˈgomenist, one who writes prolegomena; proleˈgomenous a., (a) = prolegomenary; (b) given to making tedious preliminary statements; long-winded.
1897Rhys Davids in Mind Apr. 249 To have collected and expanded these in one *prolegomenal essay.
1846Worcester, *Prolegomenary (citing Eclectic Rev.). 1907Daily Chron. 30 Aug. 2/6 Mr. Parsons staggers us..by a prefatory sentence of five hundred words and a mass of prolegomenary notes.
1731Hist. Litteraria II. 583 There is also an Epistle from Joan. Gratian to the *Prolegomenist.
1749Fielding Tom Jones viii. i, It may not be amiss in the *prolegomenous or introductory chapter, to say something of that species of writing which is called the marvellous. 1822Blackw. Mag. XI. 162 On the title-page ominous, And in prose prolegomenous. 1881Stevenson Virg. Puerisque iv. 80 A wordy, prolegomenous babbler will often add three new offences in the process of excusing one.
Add:c. fig. Something that forms an introduction (to a subject, event, etc.); a preliminary.
1964I. L. Horowitz in I. L. Horowitz New Sociol. 43 Exhaustion of all relevant statistical..knowledge was a necessary prologemena [sic] to set forth key classifications. 1973Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Apr. 401/5 ‘The War of 1812’, remembered, if at all, as a prolegomenon of the launching, as a national hero, of General Andrew Jackson. 1974R. Quirk Linguist & Eng. Lang. iv. 70 The often unexciting data which must constitute a prolegomenon to full critical appraisal. 1984A. Carter Nights at Circus i. v. 89 The clock coughed up the prolegomena to its chime.
¶d. The pl. form prolegomena used as the sing.
1964[see sense c above]. 1972L. S. Hearnshaw in Cox & Dyson 20th-Cent. Mind I. vii. 232 His book was a prolegomena to..social psychology. 1981Ld. Annan Politics of Broadcasting Enquiry 3 This prolegomena is not, I hope, the product of old age and garrulous egotism. |