| 释义 |
physiognomy|fɪzɪˈɒgnəmɪ, -ˈɒnəmɪ|
Forms: see below.
[ME. fisnomye, fis-, phisonomye, etc., a. OF. (13th c.) fiz-, phis-, phizonomie, -anomie, in mod.F. physionomie = Pr. phizonomia, Sp. fisonomía, Pg. physionomia, It. fisio-, fisonomia, ad. med.L. phisonomia, physionomia, *physiognōmia, ad. Gr. ϕυσιογνωµονία the judging of a man's nature (by his features), f. ϕύσις nature (physio-) + γνώµων, γνωµον- judge, interpreter: wrongly written ϕυσιογνωµία in Stob. Ecl. (Liddell and Scott), whence the med.L. form. As will be seen, the word shows contraction in all the Romanic langs., and still more in Eng., where in vulgar use it has even been abridged to physiog., phizog., and phiz. The pronunciation (fɪzɪˈɒnəmɪ) which formerly prevailed (see A. γ, quots. 1783, 1840) is now somewhat old-fashioned.]
A. Illustration of Forms.
(α) 4–5 fysnomye, -namye, fyss-, 5–6 fisnamy, phis-, physnomie, 5–7 -nomy, 6 phis-, phys-, fis-, fys, fiz-, -nomy, -namy (-ye, -ie), phisnami, (-nom, physnome), 6–7 (9) visnomy, -ie, 7 fisnomie.
a1400Morte Arth. 1114 He feyed his fysnamye with his foule hondez. 1450–80tr. Secreta Secret. 38 The mervelous science of ffysnomye. c1470Henryson Mor. Fab. xiii. (Frog & Mouse) viii, Ane thrawart will, ane thrawin phisnomy. 1513Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 2765 His fysnamy restaured to his kynde agayne. 1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark ix. 3 His face, whiche before seemed not to diffre from the common phisnami of others, shone as brighte as the sunne. a1585Montgomerie Flyting w. Polwart 490 With flirting and flyring, their physnome they flype. a1652Brome Love-sick Court v. i, I can read guilty lines Palpably on this villans visnomy. 1660J. S. Andromana iv. v. in Hazl. Dodsley XIV. 253 If he have not rogue writ in great letters in's face, I have no physnomy. [1822Lamb Elia Ser. i. Distant Corr. (1823) 245 A pun is reflected from a friend's face as from a mirror. Who would consult his sweet visnomy, if the polished surface were two or three minutes..in giving back its copy?]
(β) 4–6 phisonomie, 5 phiso-, phizo-, physonomye, (physynomye, fysenamye), 6 vysonamy, visenomy, 6–7 phisognomie, -y, 7 -gminy.
1390Gower Conf. III. 5 Thou scholdest be Phisonomie Be schapen to that maladie Of lovedrunke. c1425Seven Sag. (P.) 1072 The childe couthe of fysenamye That he saw evyl with hys eye. 1489Caxton Faytes of A. i. x. 27 By the phizonomye of y⊇ yongmen..they knowe whiche were moost able. 1532Tindale Wks. (Parker Soc.) II. 127 The false prophets do well to paint God after the likeness of their own visenomy. a1562G. Cavendish Wolsey (1893) 33 A dosyn of other maskers,..with visors of good proporcion of vysonamy. 1642S. W. Parl. Vind. agst. Pr. Rupert 3 Not new in Phisognomy. 1678W. Strother in Lauderdale Papers (1885) III. xciii. 161 We think Welsh was amongst them, by the discription of his phisogminy.
(γ) 6– physiognomy, (6 phisionomie, visionogmi, 6–7 phisio-, physiognomie, 6–8 phisio-, 7 visiognomy).
1569J. Sandford tr. Agrippa's Van. Artes 50 b, Physiognomie..doth presume that shee is able to finde out..by vewing of the whole bodie, the dispositions of the minde and body. 1660A. Durer Revived 2 The Visiognomy or Circumference of a Face. 1783Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thrale 21 Oct., Physiognomy, as it is a Greek word, ought to sound the G; but..G, I think, is sounded in formal, and sunk in familiar language. 1840A. R. Webster Oxf. Songs, Town & Gown, You'll find it bad economy To carry home a tattered gown and battered physiognomy.
B. Signification.
I.
1. a. The art of judging character and disposition from the features of the face or the form and lineaments of the body generally.
1390[see A. β]. 1422tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 219 One lyght manere and general of Phisnomye is to deme vertues and maneris of man aftyr the conpleccion. c1450Lydg. & Burgh Secrees 2467 The excellent science..I mene phisonomye, Be which thou shalt..knowe disposicion in ech degree and signe, Of al thy peple. 1591Greene Farew. Follie Wks. (Grosart) IX. 327, I haue not..such assured sight in Phisognomie, as I dare auouch it for truth. 1638R. Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. III) 19 The reputation of my skill in Physnomie and Prognosticating. a1720Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.) Wks. (1753) II. 60 An illustrious exception to all the common rules of Physiognomy. 1853C. Brontë Villette vii. (1876) 60, I want your opinion. We know your skill in physiognomy... Read that countenance.
†b. transf. A judging of the form of a living body from the skeleton. Obs.
1658Sir T. Browne Hydriot. ii. 30 Since Bones afford..Figure unto the Body, it is no impossible Physiognomy to conjecture at Fleshy Appendencies.
†2. The foretelling of destiny or future fortune from the features and lines of the face, etc.; the fortune so foretold: loosely, fortune foretold (or character divined) by astrology. Obs.
1531Act 22 Hen. VIII, c. 12 §4 Physyke, Physnamye, Palmestrye or other craftye scyences wherby they beare the people in hande that they can tell theire destenyes deceases & fortunes. 1577Harrison England ii. x. (1877) i. 220 Roges..practisers of physiognomie and palmestrie, tellers of fortunes [etc.]. 1589Nashe Martins Months Mind Ep. Ded., Wks. (Grosart) I. 146 For that it seemeth you have some skill in Astrologie,..let vs haue a glimpse at the least of the fooles phisnomies. 1651Baxter Inf. Bapt. 242 According to my little skill in Physiognomy, I hope he may live yet many a yeer.
II.
3. a. The face or countenance, especially viewed as an index to the mind and character; expression of face; also, the general cast of features, type of face (of a race); vulgarly, the face or countenance (formerly very common, esp. in the α form, now rare).
c1400Beryn 3196, I knowe wele by thy fisnamy, thy kynd it were to stele. 1555W. Watreman Fardle Facions i. iv. 39 Dyuers peoples of sondry phisonomy and shape. 1575G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 98 Eies glauncinge, fisnamy smirkinge. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. iii. iii. i. ii. (1651) 605 She did abhorre her husbands phisnomy. 1623–33Fletcher & Shirley Night-Walker v. i, I haue seen that physiognomy: Were you never in prison? a1718Rowe Biter ii. i, That Blow upon your Forehead has decompos'd your Phisiognomy strangely. 1754Richardson Grandison (1781) I. ii. 8 The grace which that people call Physiognomy, and we may call Expression. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Race Wks. (Bohn) II. 21 Each religious sect has its physiognomy. The Methodists have acquired a face; the Quakers, a face; the nuns, a face. 1869H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey II. 305 The distinctive Greek physiognomy was no longer to be found.
†b. A representation of a face; a portrait. Obs.
1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 339/2 Oure lord..toke fro the payntour a lynnen clothe and set it upon his vysage and enprynted the very physonomye of his vysage therin. 1587in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. III. 52 note, One little Flower of gold with a frogg thereon, and therein Mounsier his phisnamye. 1603H. Crosse Vertues Commw. (1878) 130 Apelles would not loose a day without shadowing a phisnomie.
4. a. transf. The general appearance or external features of anything material; e.g. the contour or configuration of a country.
1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 7 Efestides [a kind of stone] is in colour and Phisiognomie verie shamefast and childish. 1819Shelley Let. Pr. Wks. 1888 II. 294 Its physiognomy indicates it to be a city, which..yet possesses most amiable qualities. 1830Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 362 The most grand and original feature in the physiognomy of Etna. 1863Hawthorne Our Old Home (1879) 159 The old highways..adapted themselves..to the physiognomy of the country.
b. spec. in Ecol. The general appearance, form, or characteristics of a community of plants.
1909Groom & Balfour tr. Warming's Oecol. Plants vi. 25 The temperature and length of the vegetative season affect the physiognomy of the individual plant and the whole vegetation. 1926Tansley & Chipp Study of Vegetation ii. 11 The physiognomy or ‘look’ of an association is primarily determined by the life form of its dominant species. 1951Ecology XXXII. 278/2 Gillman..produced an excellent map of the physiognomy of the vegetation of Tanganyika. 1973W. B. Clapham Nat. Ecosystems vii. 230 Many of the basic variables of the microhabitat, such as temperature, humidity, and the like, are functions of the physiognomy of the climax community.
5. fig. The ideal, mental, moral, or political aspect of anything as an indication of its character; characteristic aspect.
a1680Butler Rem. (1759) II. 494 There is a Kind of Physiognomy in the Titles of Books, no less than in the Faces of Men, by which a skilful Observer will as well know what to expect from the one as the other. c1796T. Twining Trav. Amer. (1894) 91 The moral physiognomy of certain sections of the United States. a1854H. Reed Lect. Eng. Lit. iii. (1878) 93 You may discover the physiognomy, that is in speech, as well as in face. 1879Echo No. 3374. 2 The utter change in the political physiognomy of the new Landtag. |