lent

来自古英语Lenten,四旬期，复活节（Easter,原为春天女神）前的四十天，来自lencten,春天，词源同long,因春天白昼时间逐渐变长而得名。

Lent

Lent: [OE] The etymological meaning of Lent is ‘long days’. It comes from *langgitīnaz, a prehistoric West Germanic compound formed from *lanngaz ‘long’ and an element *tīnadenoting ‘day’. This signified originally ‘spring’, an allusion to the lengthening days at that time of year. It passed into Old English as lencten, which became Middle English lenten, but in the 13th century the -en was dropped from the noun, leaving Lenten to function as an adjective. By this time too the secular sense ‘spring’ was fast dying out, having been usurped by the application of Lent to the period between Ash Wednesday and Easter.
=> long

Lent (n.)

late 14c., short for Lenten (n.) "forty days before Easter" (early 12c.), from Old English lencten "springtime, spring," the season, also "the fast of Lent," from West Germanic *langa-tinaz "long-days" (cognate with Old Saxon lentin, Middle Dutch lenten, Old High German lengizin manoth), from *lanngaz (root of Old English lang "long;" see long (adj.)) + *tina-, a root meaning "day" (compare Gothic sin-teins "daily"), cognate with Old Church Slavonic dini, Lithuanian diena, Latin dies "day" (see diurnal).

the compound probably refers to the increasing daylight. Compare similar form evolution in Dutch lente (Middle Dutch lentin), German Lenz (Old High German lengizin) "spring." Church sense of "period between Ash Wednesday and Easter" is peculiar to English.

1. Somebody else lent me a pump and helped me mend the puncture.

别人借给我一个打气筒，又帮我补好了轮胎。

2. Enthusiastic applause lent a sense of occasion to the proceedings.

热烈的掌声给活动平添了几分隆重的色彩。

3. They've just lent me a laser disc player.

他们刚借了我一部激光视盘播放机。

4. I've lent the car to a friend.

我把车借给一位朋友了。

5. My parents lent me the money. Otherwise, I couldn't have afforded the trip.

我父母借钱给我了。否则，我可付不起这次旅费。