omertà

缄默法则

发音

UK /ˌəʊmɛːˈtɑː/
其它
US /ˌoʊmɛɹˈtɑ/
US /oʊˈməɹtə/
US /-ɾə/

词形变化

omertàs 复数 omertàs

别名

omerta

释义与例句

n.
  1. 1.

    A code of silence amongst members of the Mafia that forbids divulging insider secrets to law enforcement, often also followed outside of the organization for fear of retaliation.

    缄默法则

    可数 不可数
  2. 2.

    Any code of silence (especially about something illegal or secret), or refusal to talk openly about something.

    可数 不可数 引申义

词源

PIE word *dʰéǵʰōm Unadapted borrowing from Italian omertà; further etymology uncertain—the following have been suggested: * from Spanish hombredad (“manliness”) (archaic), with the spelling aligned with Sicilian omu (“man”). Hombredad is derived from hombre (“man”) + -edad (variant of -dad (suffix forming nouns denoting a state of being)). However, the expected Sicilian output from a Spanish borrowing would have been *ummirità ~ *ummiritati. * from Sicilian umirtà (“humility”) (referring to the Mafia code’s requirement of obedience to the leader), from Latin humilitās (“obedience, submission”), from humilis (“humble; abject, submissive”) + -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns denoting a state of being); with humilis from humus (“floor, ground; earth, soil”) + -ilis (suffix forming an adjective of relation). If so, the English word is a doublet of humility. However, the Oxford English Dictionary takes the view that this is “not well supported by the geographical distribution of the word”.

来源:wiktionary