ptomaine: [19] Ptomaine denotes etymologically ‘matter from a corpse’. It comes via French ptomaïne from Italian ptomaina, which was based on Greek ptōma ‘corpse’. This in turn was derived from the verb píptein ‘fall’, and originally meant literally ‘fallen body’. The term was coined to name substances produced by decomposing flesh.
1880, from Italian ptomaina, coined by Professor Francesco Selmi of Bologna, 1878, from Greek ptoma "corpse," on notion of poison produced in decaying matter. Greek ptoma is literally "a fall, a falling," via the notion of "fallen thing, fallen body;" nominal derivative of piptein "to fall" (see symptom). Incorrectly formed, and Selmi is roundly scolded for it in OED, which says proper Greek would be *ptomatine.
双语例句
1. It is humiliating before others to have a diarrhoea ptomaine poisoning or to vomit from it.
由于食物中毒而腹泻或者呕吐,是在别人面前丢脸.
来自互联网
2. A colorless, foul - smelling ptomaine, NH 2 ( CH 2 ) 4 NH 2 , produced in decaying animal by the decarboxylation of ornithine.
