| 释义 |
▪ I. motif
(məʊˈtiːf, ‖ mɔtif)
[Fr.: see motive n.]
1. a. In painting, sculpture, architecture, decoration, etc.: A constituent feature of a composition; an object or group of objects forming a distinct element of a design; a particular type of subject for artistic treatment. Also used for: The structural principle or the dominant idea of a work.
1848A. Jameson Sacr. & Leg. Art (1850) 87 The motif is simple and not easily mistaken. 1850Ecclesiologist XI. 121 Regular stalls would not have suited the motif of the arrangement. 1881Cornh. Mag. Mar. 309 The main motif of this landscape was the indescribable Carrara range. 1883A. H. Church Prec. Stones 29 Arrangements of precious stones in which the leading motif is either identity, or seriation, or contrast.
b. In literary composition: A type of incident, a particular situation, an ethical problem, or the like, which may be treated in a work of imagination. Also in Folklore, a recurrent character, event, situation, or theme.
1857Kingsley Two Years Ago I. vi. 161, I owe you a debt, sir, for having furnished me with one of the most striking ‘motifs’ I ever had. 1877International Rev. (N.Y.) Jan. 73 Having endeavored to discover the motif and purpose of George Eliot's work. 1884A. Lang in R.M. Dorson Peasant Customs (1968) I. 312 Turning from the Samoyeds and the Epirotes to Africa, we find the motif (escape of brother and sister) in a Kaffir tale. 1897‘Edna Lyall’ Mrs. Gaskell in Women Novelists 125 The difficult subject which forms the motif of ‘Ruth’. 1902W. W. Lawrence in Jrnl. Eng. & Gmc. Philol. IV. 476 Repetition of motifs and consequent disturbance of logical arrangement is characteristic of Anglo-Saxon poetry. 1935A. C. Bartlett Larger Rhet. Patterns Anglo-Saxon Poetry 80 The conception of the hereafter clothed in definite form is, in Germanic poetry, found only in Anglo-Saxon, and..it is a favorite motif in poems not bound by Bible text. 1941G. G. Scholem Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism ii. 67 Some of the oldest mythical motifs are to be found..in an extremely interesting..text. 1968P. Oliver Screening Blues ii. 63 The parody sermons, as Stith Thompson shows, are one of the more popular of folk-tale motifs and they abound in Negro folk-lore. 1971English Studies LII. 501 In addition to the motif of longing, the themes of former happiness and of present estrangement from friends also unify the poem.
c. Music. Used in various senses, respectively = figure n. 24, leitmotiv, and subject n.
1882A. Edwardes Ballroom Repent. I. 189, I feel original. I have got hold of a motif! Oh, if we had..a sheet of scored paper! 1907in Grove's Dict. Mus. II. 377/1.
2. Dressmaking. An ornament of lace, braid, or the like, sewn separately on a dress.
1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework, Motifs, a French term, used to distinguish the pattern of a piece of embroidery from the groundwork or material. 1897Westm. Gaz. 26 Aug. 3/2 Motifs, braces, epaulettes,..may be created from bold patterned guipure lace. 1906Times 4 May 10/2 The skirt was bordered..with large jetted lace motifs.
¶3. Often used instead of motive in senses not specially Fr., in order to avoid the customary associations of the Eng. word as denoting an influence determining volition.
1874Dykes Relat. Kingd. 163 The very motif to such false teaching is a desire to broaden somewhat the excessive straitness of the gospel path to life. 1887G. T. Ladd Physiol. Psychol. 463 The motifs or data which the mind would have for constructing such a surface must be found in the series of sensations of light and color.
4. attrib. and Comb., as motif classification, motif framework, motif research, motif-work; motif-less, motif-like adjs.; motif-index, an index of standard folklore motifs.
1966K. Luomala in M. Jacobs Anthropologist looks at Myth 164 Kirtley's Motif-Index..follows Stith Thompson's system for motif-classification. 1971R. L. Welsch tr. Krohn's Folklore Methodology iii. 31 The fact that it occurs more or less incidentally in other complexes is due to the influence of the motif framework.
1932S. Thompson in Indiana Univ. Stud. No. 96 (heading) Motif-index of folk literature. 1958T. P. Coffin Analytical Index to Jrnl. Amer. Folklore 239 It was deemed advisable not to attempt a complete Thompson-style motif-index of the Journal. 1972Jrnl. Amer. Folklore LXXXV. 278 One would hope this Index would be shelved in every library beside the Thompson Type and Motif indexes. 1973A. Dundes Mother Wit 114 These tools include various tale type indices and motif indices... By using tale type and motif indices, Dorson is able to demonstrate the European provenience of the greater portion of the tales.
1970Daily Tel. 27 June 7 This work, while not..unmotivated, is entirely motif-less—introductory clinking of pebbles, toneless blowing into instruments built for lusher uses.
1964English Studies XLV. 446 Two terms which characterize Christina's..reputation through their motif-like occurrence, caprice and banality, are a source of insight and confusion.
1938P. S. Watson tr. Nygren's Agape & Eros: Part 2 I. 23 The answer can only be supplied by motif-research, that is, by an enquiry which detects the motif behind the formed expression. 1948L. Spitzer Linguistics & Lit. Hist. v. 193 This..movement is incarnated in..the rhythm—as in the verbal motif-work.
▪ II. motif
obs. form of motive. |