変わった複数形（５） ― stigmata

今週のテーマ、”変わった複数形”の最終日、今日の単語は、"stigmata"です。

単数形は、"stigma"で、色々な意味があります。よく使われるのは、"social stigma"という表現です。”不名誉、不面目”という意味です。


WHILE WEIGHT LOSS potions and gizmos have been in existence since the 1800s, the modern day weight loss business has ballooned into a multi-billion-dollar industry. It is impacting individuals' health negatively, promoting social stigma and discrimination against fat people, and generating unconscionable conflicts of interest among public health policymakers.
(Sally Smith. The great diet deception. USA Today Magazine. 1995.)


この意味での"stigma"は、複数形では通常の"-s"を付けた"stigmas"という複数形ですが、別の意味では複数形"stigmata"が使われます。（病気の）徴候や症状、という意味での"stigma"は複数形が"stigmata"とされます。


First characterized by Gorlin and Goltz in 1960, (n5) the syndrome is an autosomal-dominant disorder characterized by the occurrence of numerous basal cell carcinomas in childhood, keratocysts of the jaw, ectopic calcifications, palmar and plantar pits, various other neoplasms, and other stigmata of maldevelopment.
(Nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome and fetal rhabdomyoma: A case study. Ear, Nose & Throat Journal. 2004.)