| 释义 |
Brahmin, Brahman|ˈbrɑːmɪn, -mən|
Forms: 5–7 bragman, 6 bramane, 7–9 brachman(e, -min, 7 brackman, braman, -men, -mine, -miny, 8–9 bramin, 8– brahmin, 9 brahman.
[ad. Skr. brāhmana, f. brahman praise, worship; some of the older Eng. forms were derived from or influenced by the Greek spelling βραχµᾶνες (pl.), L. brachmāni, -es, and med.L. corruptions; the form Brahmin, a corruption of the Indian vernacular pronunciation, is still all but universal in popular use; during the present century Orientalists have adopted the more correct Brahman, which (often written Brâhman or Bráhman) is employed by most writers on India.]
a. A member of the highest or priestly caste among the Hindus.
1481Caxton Myrr. ii. v. 70 Other peple whiche ben callyd..bragman whiche ben fayrer than they to fore named. 1553Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 17 Their Priestes (called Bramini). 1599Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 252 The Bramanes which are their priests. 1634Sir T. Herbert Trav. 50 An ancient Braminy, a devout Wretch. 1650Bulwer Anthropomet. iii. 66 The Bramines of Agra mark themselves in the Forehead. 1656Blount Glossogr., Brackmans, a sect of Philosophers in India. 1676Dryden Aurengz. iii. i, Take the preaching Brachman hence. 1684Burnet Th. Earth iii. iii. 17 The modern Indian philosophers, the reliques of the old bragmans. 1711Pope Temple F. 100 And Brachmans, deep in desert woods rever'd. 1753Hanway Trav. (1762) II. xv. i. 406 note, He was fond of the brachmins or indian priests. 1835–41Thirlwall Greece liv. (L.) A whole community of Brahmins may have preserved the purity of their blood. 1842Prichard Nat. Hist. Man 163 Aryavarta was the Holy Land of the Brahmans.
b. fig. spec. A member of the upper class of Boston, Mass., U.S.A.
1823Byron Juan xiii. lxxxiii, Thirty-three Of highest caste—the Brahmins of the ton. 1859O. W. Holmes Elsie V. i. Title, The Brahmin caste of New England. 1881Homes & Haunts of our Elder Poets 155 To be a missionary of Boston culture..must have pleased the anxious thought of this medical Brahmin. 1931J. T. Adams Epic of Amer. viii. 219 The West..was dominating the American outlook, in spite of the smug Boston Brahmins. 1963M. McCarthy Group ii. 45 Their exact social position in Boston, which Kay greatly over estimated—they were not ‘Brahmins’, horrid word, at all.
c. attrib., as in Brahman-slayer; also Brahmin beads, the corrugated seeds of Elæocarpus, used by the Brahmins and others as necklaces; Brahmin ox (cf. Brahminee a.), a humped variety of the ox; † Brahmin-pope, a chief Brahmin (obs.).
1613Purchas Pilgr., Descr. India, All men, and the King himselfe, adore the Bramen-Pope. 1847Carpenter Zool. §269 The Zebu or Brahmin Ox. 1856Farmer's Mag. Jan. 10 There were also some other crosses..between the Brahmin and our own native races. 1858Muir Sanskr. Texts I. 161 The city had been robbed of its glory by those Brahman-slayers.
Hence Brahmanhood |ˈbrɑːmənhʊd|, the rank or position of a Brahmin.
1840H. H. Wilson Vishnu Purána 405 Who..obtained Brahmanhood through devotion. 1866Reader 17 Mar. 269 The issue of such marriage being admissible to the Bráhmanhood in the seventh generation. |