heaven

来自古英语heofon,天空，苍穹，上帝之所，词源不详。可能来自PIE*skeu,覆盖，隐藏，词源同hide,house,sky.

heaven

heaven: [OE] The precise origins of the word heaven have never been satisfactorily explained. Could it perhaps be related in some way to Greek kamára ‘vault, covering’, and thus originally have denoted ‘sky thought of as arching over or covering the earth’ (‘sky’ is at least as ancient a meaning of heaven as ‘abode of god(s)’, although it now has an archaic air)? Are the tantalizingly similar German, Swedish, and Danish himmel and Dutch hemel related to it (going back perhaps to a common Germanic source *hibn- in which the /b/ sound, which became /v/ in English, was lost – as in e’en for even – and a suffix *-ila- was adopted rather than the *-ina- that produced English heaven), or are they completely different words? The etymological jury is still out.

heaven (n.)

Old English heofon "home of God," earlier "sky, firmament," probably from Proto-Germanic *hibin-, dissimilated from *himin- (cognates Low German heben, Old Norse himinn, Gothic himins, Old Frisian himul, Dutch hemel, German Himmel "heaven, sky"), perhaps from a PIE root *kem- "to cover" (also proposed as the source of chemise). [Watkins derives it elaborately from PIE *ak- "sharp" via *akman- "stone, sharp stone," then "stony vault of heaven"].

Plural use in sense of "sky" is probably from Ptolemaic theory of space composed of many spheres, but it also formerly was used in the same sense as the singular in Biblical language, as a translation of Hebrew plural shamayim. Heaven-sent (adj.) attested from 1640s.

1. They would move heaven and earth to stop me if they could.

可能的话，他们会千方百计地阻止我。

2. "For heaven's sake!" Dot expostulated. "They're cheap and they're useful."

“拜托！”多特反驳道，“它们又便宜又管用。”

3. Well, for Heaven's sake, you don't need to apologize.

噢,看在上天的份上,你不用道歉.

4. Heaven forbid that he should leave because of me!

但愿他不会因为我而离开！

5. It will be a heaven-sent opportunity to prove himself.

这将是他证明自己的天赐良机。