| 释义 |
protomartyr|prəʊtəʊˈmɑːtə(r)|
Forms: 5 prothomartir, -er, 5–6 prothomartyr, 6– protomartyr.
[Late ME. prothomartir, a. OF. prothomartir (1326 in Godef.), mod.F. protomartyr, or a. med.L. prōtomartyr (in Beda), a. eccl. Gr. πρωτόµαρτυρ: see proto- and martyr n.]
The first martyr; the earliest of any series of martyrs (for Christianity, or for any cause); spec. applied to St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr.
1433Lydg. St. Edmund iii. 43 The prothomartir seyn Steuene with his stonys. Ibid. 58 Seynt Albon Prothomartyr off this regioun. a1555Ridley in Coverdale Lett. Martyrs (1564) 73 Agayne I blesse God in our deare brother and of thys tyme protomartyr Rogers, that he was also..a prebendarye preacher of London. 1594Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits (1616) 187 That [declaration] which S. Stephen the Prothomartyr made in his discourse to the Iewes. c1661Mrq. Argyle's Last Will in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 508 Archibald, Marquis of Argyle, the Devil's viceroy in the Highlands, and the most sacred covenant's protomartyr in the Low. a1749Boyse Triumphs Nat. Poems (1810) 537/1 With Hampden firm assertor of her laws, And protomartyr in the glorious cause. 1877Shields Final Philos. 205 As early as the twelfth century Arnold of Brescia,..proto-martyr of civil liberty, had perished. |