get one's own back について
I was the middle child of three, but there was a gap of five years on either side, and I barely saw my father before I was eight. For this and other reasons I was somewhat lonely, and I soon developed disagreeable mannerisms which made me unpopular throughout my schooldays. I had the lonely child’s habit of making up stories and holding conversations with imaginary persons, and I think from the very start my literary ambitions were mixed up with the feeling of being isolated and undervalued. I knew that I had a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts, and I felt that this created a sort of private world in which I could get my own back for my failure in everyday life. (Why I Write by George Orwell)
*この英文の最後の方に"get my own back"という部分が出てきますが、
(I felt that this created a sort of private world in which I could get my own back for my failure in everyday life.)
辞書を引くと「・・・復讐する」とありました。
イディオムとして覚えてしまえばそれまでですが、語源的に自分自身のbackを得る(?)ことがなぜ「復讐する」という意味になるのでしょうか?
解説をお願い致します。
お礼
回答ありがとうございます。 held backとrefrainedで状況が変わるのですね。 またどちらを使ってもいいという状況もあるのですね。 >※こういう質問の際は、できれば使用される状況をお伝えください > 英文・日文の1対1で比較していると、細かなニュアンスは学習できません 今後質問するときは状況についても考慮した上で質問いたします。 助言ありがとうございます。