Penelope 的词源

这个名字是女性专有名词，出自《奥德赛》中忠诚妻子的名字，源自希腊语 Pēnelopē 或 Pēnelopeia。它可能与 pēne（“线轴上的线”）有关，来自 pēnos（“织物”），与拉丁语 pannus（“布料”）同源（参见 pane (n.)）。不过，Beekes 更倾向于将其与 pēnelops（“颈部有色的鸭子或野鹅”）联系起来。在英语中，这个名字被用来代表贞洁的妻子（1580年），与拉丁语中的用法相同。

Penelope, the daughter of Icarus, was a rare and perfect example of chastity. For though it was generally thought that her husband Ulysses was dead, since he had been absent from her twenty years; yet, neither the desires of her parents, nor the solicitations of her lovers, could prevail on her to marry another man, and to violate the promises of constancy which she gave to her husband when he departed. And when many noblemen courted her, and even threatened her with ruin, unless she declared which of them should marry her, she desired that the choice might be deferred till she had finished the piece of needle-work about which she was then employed: but undoing by night what she had worked by day, she delayed them till Ulysses returned and killed them all. Hence came the proverb, "To weave Penelope's web;" that is, to labour in vain; when one hand destroys what the other has wrought. [Andrew Tooke, "The Pantheon, Representing the Fabulous Histories of the Heathen Gods and Most Illustrious Heroes, in a Plain and Familiar Method," London: 1824]

佩内洛普是伊卡洛斯的女儿，是贞洁的罕见典范。尽管人们普遍认为她的丈夫尤利西斯已经去世，因为他离开她整整二十年；然而，无论是父母的期望，还是情人的追求，都无法说服她嫁给其他人，违背她对丈夫的承诺。即使许多贵族向她求婚，甚至威胁要毁灭她，除非她选择其中一人，她也希望等到她完成手头的刺绣作品再做决定。她白天工作，夜晚拆解，直到尤利西斯归来并杀死他们。因此，才有了“织造佩内洛普的织物”这个谚语；意思是徒劳无功，一只手毁掉另一只手的成果。[安德鲁·图克，《万神殿：以简单易懂的方式描绘异教神祇和杰出英雄的虚构历史》，伦敦：1824年]