asylum: [15] Greek sulon meant ‘right of seizure’. With the addition of the negative prefix a- ‘not’ this was turned into the adjective ásūlos ‘inviolable’, which in turn was nominalized as āsūlon ‘refuge’. When it first entered English, via Latin asylum, it was used specifically for ‘place of sanctuary for hunted criminals and others’ (a meaning reflected in modern English ‘political asylum’), and it was not until the mid 18th century that it came to be applied to mental hospitals.
asylum (n.)
early 15c., earlier asile (late 14c.), from Latin asylum "sanctuary," from Greek asylon "refuge," noun use of neuter of asylos "inviolable, safe from violence," especially of persons seeking protection, from a- "without" + syle "right of seizure." So literally "an inviolable place." General sense of "safe or secure place" is from 1640s; meaning "benevolent institution to shelter some class of persons" is from 1776.
雙語例句
1. Fewer than 7% of asylum seekers are accepted as political refugees.
尋求避難者中有不到7%的人被視作政治難民。
來自柯林斯例句
2. He applied for asylum in 1987 after fleeing the police back home.
1987年他在本國逃脫警察追捕后，就申請了政治庇護。
來自柯林斯例句
3. France had agreed to his request for political asylum.
法國已經同意了他尋求政治庇護的請求。
來自柯林斯例句
4. The government divides asylum-seekers into economic migrants and genuine refugees.
政府把尋求避難者劃分為經濟移民與真正的難民。
來自柯林斯例句
5. Mendoza is here pending his request for political asylum.