asylum: [15] Greek sulon meant ‘right of seizure’. With the addition of the negative prefix a- ‘not’ this was turned into the adjective ásūlos ‘inviolable’, which in turn was nominalized as āsūlon ‘refuge’. When it first entered English, via Latin asylum, it was used specifically for ‘place of sanctuary for hunted criminals and others’ (a meaning reflected in modern English ‘political asylum’), and it was not until the mid 18th century that it came to be applied to mental hospitals.
asylum (n.)
early 15c., earlier asile (late 14c.), from Latin asylum "sanctuary," from Greek asylon "refuge," noun use of neuter of asylos "inviolable, safe from violence," especially of persons seeking protection, from a- "without" + syle "right of seizure." So literally "an inviolable place." General sense of "safe or secure place" is from 1640s; meaning "benevolent institution to shelter some class of persons" is from 1776.
双语例句
1. Fewer than 7% of asylum seekers are accepted as political refugees.
寻求避难者中有不到7%的人被视作政治难民。
来自柯林斯例句
2. He applied for asylum in 1987 after fleeing the police back home.
1987年他在本国逃脱警察追捕后，就申请了政治庇护。
来自柯林斯例句
3. France had agreed to his request for political asylum.
法国已经同意了他寻求政治庇护的请求。
来自柯林斯例句
4. The government divides asylum-seekers into economic migrants and genuine refugees.
政府把寻求避难者划分为经济移民与真正的难民。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Mendoza is here pending his request for political asylum.