Cruxとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From Latin crux (“cross, wooden frame for execution”), possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, to bend”). Doublet of cross and crouch (“cross”).

発音

• (英国発音, 米国発音) IPA: /kɹʌks/
• 韻: -ʌks

名詞

crux (plural cruxes or cruces)

1. The basic, central, or essential point or feature.

   Synonyms: core, gist; see also Thesaurus:gist

   The crux of her argument was that the roadways needed repair before anything else could be accomplished.

2. The critical or transitional moment or issue, a turning point.
   • 1993, Laurence M. Porter, “Real Dreams, Literary Dreams, and the Fantastic in Literature”, in Carol Schreier Rupprecht, editor, The Dream and the Text: Essays on Literature and Language, pages 32–47:

     The mad certitude of the ogre, Abel Tiffauges, that he stands at the crux of history and that he will be able to raise Prussia "to a higher power" (p. 180), contrasts sharply with the anxiety and doubt attendant upon most modern literary dreams.

   • 2024 September 11, Richard Brody, ““Winner” Takes Political Comedy Seriously”, in The New Yorker‎:

     The movie hits its dramatic crux an hour in, when Reality [Winner], at work at the contractor’s facility in Georgia, discovers what she deems a tragic scandal.

3. A puzzle or difficulty.
   • 1775, Thomas Sheridan, Lectures on the Art of Reading:

     What I have advanced upon this species of verse will contribute to solve a poetical problem, thrown out by Dryden as a crux to his brethren

   • 1860, Marian Evans (translator), The Life of Jesus, Critically Examined (originally by David Strauss)

     The perpetual crux of New Testament chronologists.

4. (climbing) The hardest point of a climb.
   • 1907, The Alpine Journal‎, volume 23:

     the real crux of the climb was encountered

   • 1973, Pat Armstrong, "Klondike Fever: Seventy Years Too Late", in Backpacker, Autumn 1973, page 84:

     The final half-mile was the crux of the climb.

   • 2004, Craig Luebben, Rock Climbing: Mastering Basic Skills, The Mountaineers Books, →ISBN, page 179:

     Most pitches have a distinct crux, or tough spot; some have multiple cruxes. […] ¶ Climb efficiently on the "cruiser" sections to stay fresh for the cruxes.

   • 2009, R. J. Secor, The High Sierra: Peaks, Passes, and Trails, Third Edition, The Mountaineers Books, →ISBN, page 51:

     Continue climbing the groove; the crux is passing some vegetation on the second pitch.

5. (heraldry) A cross on a coat of arms.

派生語

関連する語

• cross
• crucial

派生した語

• → French: crux

語源

From Proto-Italic *kruks or *krukis (it is uncertain whether the original form was an i-stem), of unclear origin. Pokorny connected Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, to bend”) with an assumed extension in *-k-; compare Latin circus (“circle”) and curvus (“curve”). This explanation suffers phonetic, morphological and semantic problems. A modern hypothesis connects Irish crúach (“heap, hill”), Gaulish *krouka (“summit”), Proto-Brythonic *krʉg (“small hill; pillar”), Old Norse hrúga (“heap, pile”), and Proto-Germanic *hraukaz (“heap, pile”) and *hrugjaz (“back, spine, ridge”), pointing to Proto-Indo-European *krewk- (“~ heap, hill; back, spine?”), albeit with an unusual root structure and shaky semantics. Alternatively, a loanword from an unidentified or substrate language.

発音

• (Classical Latin) IPA: [ˈkrʊks]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: [ˈkruks]

名詞

crux f (genitive crucis); third declension

1. wooden frame on which criminals were crucified, especially a cross

   ī/abī in malam crucem! ― go and get crucified! (an expression often used in Plautus)

2. (derogatory) gallows bird; one who deserves to be hanged
3. (figuratively) torture; misery
4. cross (symbol)

   Ave Crux alba ― Hail thou white Cross

語形変化

Third-declension noun.

派生語

関連する語

派生した語

参考

参照

Further reading

• “crux”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “crux”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "crux", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “crux”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to threaten some one with death, crucifixion, torture, war: minitari (minari) alicui mortem, crucem et tormenta, bellum
    
  • to crucify: in crucem agere, tollere aliquem
    
  • to crucify: cruci suffigere aliquem
    
• “crux”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “crux”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin