scapegoat

• n. 替罪羊，替人頂罪者；替身
• vt. 使成為…的替罪羊

縮寫自 escape,逃跑，goat,羊。來自圣經中的宗教典故，古猶太人將每年的七月十日定為“贖 罪日”，并在這一天舉行贖罪祭。其中通過拈鬮決定兩只公羊的命運，一只殺了作祭品，另 一只由大祭司將雙手按在羊頭上，宣稱猶太民族在一年中所犯下的罪過，已經轉嫁到到這頭 羊身上。接著，使把這頭替罪羊放逐到曠野，即將人的罪過帶入無人之境，最后，把那贖罪 的羊燒死，因而引申詞義替罪羊。見百度百科。

scapegoat

scapegoat: [16] In biblical times the ritual of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, included a ceremony involving two goats: one was sacrificed to God, and the other was sent off into the wilderness as the symbolic bearer of the people’s sins. This second goat was termed ‘azāzēl. That appears to have been a proper name, said in Jewish tradition to be that of a demon to whom the goat was sent, and may be linked with Aziz, the name of a Canaanite god.

Later commentators, however, interpreted it as equivalent to Hebrew ‘ēz ōzēl, which means ‘goat that departs’. In the Latin of the Vulgate, that was rendered as caper emissarius (whence the French expression bouc émissaire, literally ‘goat sent forth’), and William Tindale, in his 1530 translation of the Bible, expressed it as scapegoat (the first part, scape, is a shortened form of escape).

The modern metaphorical application to someone who takes the blame for others’ faults dates from the early 19th century.

scapegoat (n.)

1530, "goat sent into the wilderness on the Day of Atonement, symbolic bearer of the sins of the people," coined by Tyndale from scape (n.1) + goat to translate Latin caper emissarius, itself a translation in Vulgate of Hebrew 'azazel (Lev. xvi:8,10,26), which was read as 'ez ozel "goat that departs," but which others hold to be the proper name of a devil or demon in Jewish mythology (sometimes identified with Canaanite deity Aziz).

Jerome's reading also was followed by Martin Luther (der ledige Bock), Symmachus (tragos aperkhomenos), and others (compare French bouc émissaire), but the question of who, or what (or even where) is meant by 'azazel is a vexed one. The Revised Version (1884) simply restores Azazel. But the old translation has its modern defenders:

Azazel is an active participle or participial noun, derived ultimately from azal (connected with the Arabic word azala, and meaning removed), but immediately from the reduplicate form of that verb, azazal. The reduplication of the consonants of the root in Hebrew and Arabic gives the force of repetition, so that while azal means removed, azalzal means removed by a repetition of acts. Azalzel or azazel, therefore, means one who removes by a series of acts. ... The interpretation is founded on sound etymological grounds, it suits the context wherever the word occurs, it is consistent with the remaining ceremonial of the Day of Atonement, and it accords with the otherwise known religious beliefs and symbolical practices of the Israelites. [Rev. F. Meyrick, "Leviticus," London, 1882]

Meaning "one who is blamed or punished for the mistakes or sins of others" first recorded 1824; the verb is attested from 1943. Related: Scapegoated; scapegoating. For the formation, compare scapegrace, also scape-gallows "one who deserves hanging."

1. She felt she had been made a scapegoat for her boss's incompetence.

她覺得，本是老板無能，但她卻成了替罪羊。

來自《權威詞典》

2. He has been made a scapegoat for the company's failures.

他成了公司倒閉的替罪羊.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

3. The old curmudgeon found a new scapegoat and that let me out.

那個老守財奴找到一個新的替罪羊,這樣我就脫身了.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

4. I don't deserve to be made the scapegoat for a couple of bad results.

我不應該為一些不好的結果頂罪。

來自柯林斯例句

5. They ask me to join the party so that I'll be their scapegoat when trouble comes.

他們想叫我入伙,出了亂子,好讓我替他們墊背.

來自《現代漢英綜合大詞典》