disaster: [16] The word disaster has astrological connotations. It comes, perhaps via French désastre, from Italian disastro; this was a backformation from disastrato, literally ‘ill-starred’, a compound adjective formed from the pejorative prefix dis- and astro ‘star’, a descendant of Latin astrum ‘star’. This in turn came from Greek astron ‘star’, source of English astronomy and related to English star. So the underlying meaning of the word is ‘malevolent astral influence’. Provençal has the parallel malastre ‘misfortune’.
disaster (n.)
1590s, from Middle French désastre (1560s), from Italian disastro "ill-starred," from dis-, here merely pejorative (see dis-) + astro "star, planet," from Latin astrum, from Greek astron (see star (n.)). The sense is astrological, of a calamity blamed on an unfavorable position of a planet.
双语例句
1. An airliner came close to disaster while approaching Heathrow Airport.
一架大型客机在飞近希思罗机场时差点儿发生空难。
来自柯林斯例句
2. We were in a disaster situation that defies description.
我们陷入了难以言表的糟糕处境。
来自柯林斯例句
3. The President described the disaster as an act of God.
总统将这场灾难说成是天灾。
来自柯林斯例句
4. An investigation is underway to find out how the disaster happened.
调查已经展开，以查明灾难是如何发生的。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Investors were storing up a lot of cash in anticipation of disaster.