palliate 的词源

在15世纪初，“减轻（疾病或其症状）而不治愈”，源自中世纪拉丁语 palliatus，字面意思是“披上斗篷”，来自晚期拉丁语 palliare，意为“用斗篷覆盖，掩盖”，而这一词又源自拉丁语 pallium，意为“斗篷”（参见 pall (n.)）。到了1630年代，这个词又引申出“通过辩解或提出减轻罪责的理由来借口或减轻（罪行）”的意思。相关词汇包括：Palliated（已减轻），palliating（正在减轻），palliation（减轻）。

Palliate and extenuate come at essentially the same idea through different figures : palliate is to cover in part as with a cloak; extenuate is to thin away or draw out to fineness. They both refer to the effort to make an offense seem less by bringing forward considerations tending to excuse; they never mean the effort to exonerate or exculpate completely. [Century Dictionary]

Palliate 和 extenuate 在本质上表达了相似的概念，但通过不同的方式：palliate 是像斗篷一样部分覆盖；而 extenuate 则是将某物变薄或细化。它们都指努力通过提出借口来使罪行看起来不那么严重，但从来不意味着完全免除或洗脱罪责。[世纪词典]