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  • Falscher Eintrag

    lily-livered Amer. - feige

    Kommentar
    Die Übersetzung selbst ist natürlich richtig.

    Aber dass lily-livered nur als amerikanisch und als Slang charakterisiert wird, erscheint mir etwas merkwürdig. Zwei Belege, die nicht ganz neu, aber bestimmt nicht amerikanisch sind:

    - William Shakespeare, Macbeth, 5. Akt, 3. Szene:

    Go prick thy face, and over-red thy fear,
    Thou lily-liver'd boy. What soldiers, patch?

    - C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian (The Chronicles of Narnia),
    Kapitel "The High King in command":

    "I see what it is," said Miraz, [...]
    "you are as lily-livered as hares yourselves ..."

    Vielleicht kann das ja mal jemand kommentieren.
    Verfassercz18 Mär. 06, 23:33
    Ergebnisse aus dem Wörterbuch
    lily-livered  Adj. [poet.]   veraltendfeige
    Kommentar
    Agree that this expression is neither exclusive to AE nor slang.

    It appears in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (first published in 1870, I have a copy of the 14th edition, 1989), Cassell Publishers Ltd, London:
    "Liver: In the auspices taken by the Greeks and Romans before battle, if the liver of the animal sacrificed was healthy and blood-red, the omen was favourable; but if pale it augured defeat.
    [...]
    Another superstition was that the liver of a coward contained no blood; hence such expressions as "white-livered", "lily-livered", "pigeon-livered" ..."
    #1VerfasserMarianne (BE)19 Mär. 06, 12:49
    Kommentar
    I agree with Marianne -- it is not exclusively AE.

    I would go a step further and flag it [lit.] or even [veraltet] since I don't consider it to be a current colloquial expression.
    #2Verfasserodondon irl19 Mär. 06, 20:33
    Kommentar
    I agree with the previous posters. None of my sources marks the word as archaic or obsolete, it may be considered [lit.] though.

    Chambers 21st Century Dictionary:
    lily-livered adj cowardly.

    The Macquarie Dictionary:
    lily-livered
    adjective weak; cowardly. [from the ancient belief that the liver was the source of violent passions, and hence a person whose liver was red would love passionately and fight fiercely. Conversely, a person with a liver as white as a lily would be lacking in passion and courage.]

    http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/lilylive...
    lily-livered
    • adjective cowardly.
    #3VerfasserNorbert Juffa19 Mär. 06, 21:06
    Kommentar
    First of all: Thank you for your comments.

    Let me add that while "Macbeth" is from the early 17th century (1606?), "Prince Caspian" was published in 1951. But since Miraz is a king (though not the rightful one), "lily-livered" needn't be colloquial.
    #4Verfassercz19 Mär. 06, 22:45
     
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