critic: [16] Critic and crisis both come ultimately from the Greek verb krínein ‘decide’ (a relative of Latin cernere ‘decide’, which produced English certain, crime, decree, discern, discrete, discriminate, excrement, riddle ‘sieve’, secret, and secretary). The Greek derived noun krísis ‘judgment’ was used by the physicians Hippocrates and Galen for the ‘turning point of a disease’.
It passed as a medical term via Latin crisis into English in the 15th century, where it was not used in the more general modern sense until the 17th century. The Greek derived noun krités ‘judge’ produced in turn kritikós ‘able to make judgments’; this came to be used as a noun, ‘one who makes judgments’, which passed via Latin criticus into English.
1580s, "one who passes judgment," from Middle French critique (14c.), from Latin criticus "a judge, literary critic," from Greek kritikos "able to make judgments," from krinein "to separate, decide" (see crisis). Meaning "one who judges merits of books, plays, etc." is from c. 1600. The English word always had overtones of "censurer, faultfinder."
To understand how the artist felt, however, is not criticism; criticism is an investigation of what the work is good for. ... Criticism ... is a serious and public function; it shows the race assimilating the individual, dividing the immortal from the mortal part of a soul. [George Santayana, "The Life of Reason," 1906]
A perfect judge will read each work of wit
With the same spirit that its author writ;
[Pope, "An Essay on Criticism," 1709]
双语例句
1. He was a stern critic but an extremely kindly man.
他是个苛刻的批评家，但却是个非常善良的人。
来自柯林斯例句
2. I left Oxford in 1961 hungry to be a critic.
我于1961年离开牛津，渴望成为一名评论家。
来自柯林斯例句
3. He was also for a time the art critic of "The Scotsman"
有相当长的一段时间他为《苏格兰人》报撰写艺术评论。
来自柯林斯例句
4. Malaysia has emerged as the toughest critic of the North's environmental attitudes.
马来西亚已成为对北方发达国家环保态度最严厉的批评者。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Alexander Lazarus is a food critic for the newspaper.
