Question of the Day #574

"Bihar: RJD faces herculean task to satisfy allies on seat sharing"

From the headline of this article at The Times of India.

上記の文で、herculean taskの意味は？
In the sentence above, what does "herculean task" mean?

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Write your answer in the Comments.

明日、ここに答えを書きます。
I will add the answer and other remarks here tomorrow.

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解答

意味：
英辞郎によると、

非常に困難な［骨の折れる］仕事

Herculean effortやHerculean featとも言います。

Answer

According to Idioms Online:

A herculean task is an extremely difficult task; an almost impossible undertaking.

Etymology/語源

Herculean taskは、ハーキュリーズ（ギリシア名ヘラクレス）に由来します。The Idiomsによると、

ヘラクラスは、ゼウスの妻ヘラをなだめるために12の功業をあたえられたことから、herculean taskが「非常に困難な仕事」という意味になった。

（上記は、かなり省略した解説なので、興味のある方はヘラクレスの「12の功業」をググってください。

According to The Idioms:

A Herculean Task requires superhuman amounts of physical strength or mental effort in honour of the Greek God Hercules. The word Herculean describes Hercules himself and he is famous for his strength and labours in the Greek myths.
Hercules (known to the Greeks as Heracles) was given 12 labours that he had to complete to appease Hera (essentially for being born to Zeus and someone other than Hera. Zeus slept around a lot). Each of these tasks was considered to be nigh impossible including defeating the Hydra and retrieving Cerberus from the Underworld (without dying). Thus, an extremely difficult task is often described as "herculean."

Examples

• It will be a Herculean task to get through to the quarter-finals, but this untested team is up for the challenge.
• It was a Herculean task for me, but I tried my best.
• “The President informed the people that they had a Herculean task before them.”
• “The building of the Great Pyramids of Egypt must have been a Herculean effort.”
• It would be a measured and constructive gesture in the herculean task of providing more employment.

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