| 单词 | 一封信 |
| 释义 | 〔take〕take a letter.草草地写了一封信〔quiz〕Although we do not know the origin of the wordquiz, just as we may not know the answers to all the questions on a quiz,we can say that its first recorded sense has to do with people,not tests.The term, first recorded in 1782,meant "an odd or eccentric person.”From the noun in this sense came a verbmeaning "to make sport or fun of" and "to regard mockingly.”In English dialects and probably in American Englishthe verbquiz acquired senses relating to interrogation and questioning. This presumably occurredbecausequiz was associated with question, inquisitive, or perhaps the English dialect verb quiset, "to question" (probably itself short for obsoleteinquisite, "to investigate"). From this new area of meaning came the noun and verb senses all too familiar to students.The second recorded instance of the noun sense occurs in the writings of no less an educator than William James,who in a December 26, 1867, letter proffers the hopethat "perhaps giving ‘quizzes’ in anatomy and physiology . . . may help along.”虽然我们不知道quiz 这个词的来源， 正象我们可能并不清楚测试中所有问题的答案一样，但我们可以肯定的是这个词最初被记录时的意义与人有关，而不是测试，这个词第一次被记录下来是在1782年，意思为“一个古怪或行为怪诞的人”。从这种意义的名词派生出一个动词，意思为“嘲笑或戏弄…”和“以嘲讽的态度对待”。在英语并且很可能是在美国英语中，quiz 这个动词形成了有关审问或提问的意思， 据猜测，这一现象的发生是因为quiz 使人联想起 question ， inquisitive 或者可能 quiset 这个英国方言中的动词， 意思为“提问”（很可能是inquisite 这个过时用语的缩写形式，意思为“调查”）。 从这个意思中派生出学生们再熟悉不 过的名词和动词意思。记录下这个名词意义的第二个例子恰好出现在教育家威廉·詹姆斯的笔下。在1867年12月26日写的一封信中，他提出一条希望：或许在解剖学和物理学方面进行测试…可能有些独特的帮助。”〔superman〕Overman and Beyondman hardly seem likely names for a superhero, but perhapsOverman might be "leaping tall buildings at a single bound" had the German word Übermensch been translated differently than it was. However, Nietzsche's term for the ideal superior man was translated into English assuperman, first recorded in a work by George Bernard Shaw published in 1903. Such a term comes to us through a process called loan translation, or calque formation,whereby the semantic components of a word or phrase in one language are literally translated into their equivalents in another language,GermanÜbermensch, made up of über, "super-,” and Mensch, "man,” thus becoming superman. Becauseüber- can also be translated "beyond" and "over,” we also findoverman and beyondman as calques for the word Übermensch, but they did not take root.Shaw, in a letter written before 1917, noted that"some of our most felicitous writers . . . had been using such desperate and unspeakable forms as Beyondman, when the glib Superman was staring them in the face all the time.”Hence, when it came to naming a new comic strip hero,Superman was the logical choice, a name first recorded in 1938. Overman 和 Beyondman 看上去几乎不象超级英雄的名称， 但是，如果将德语中 Übermensch 这个单词译作不同于原有的译法时，那么，也许 Overman 可能是“纵身一跃就能跃过高楼大厦”。 然而，尼采给予理想超人的名称译成英语为Superman ， 这个词最早见于乔治·萧伯纳的出版于1903年的一部作品中。这个词是通过借译而来的，或者说是通过仿造而来的，在以上这样的过程中，一个词或词组的语义成分被直译成另一语言中的与之相对应的成分。德语单词 Übermensch 是由 uber （即英语中"super-”之意）和 Mensch （即英语中"man"之意）组成的，这样的话，此词在英语中就成了 Superman 。 因为 über 也可译为"beyond"和"over"， 所以我们发现 躡ermensch 也被借译为 overman 和 beyondman 。 但是，这两个词并没有在英语中确立下来。萧伯纳在写于1917年之前的一封信中说道：“一些措辞最巧妙的英语作家，竟一直使用象Beyondman这种令人绝望而又无法形容的词，却对一直面对面盯着他们的‘Superman’视而不见”。这样，当要命名一个新的连环漫画中的英雄时，Superman 一词就成了理所当然的选择，这个名称首次记录于1938年 〔yours〕Used often with an adverbial modifier in the complimentary close of a letter:你（们）的：在一封信问候的结尾中，常与副词修饰语连用：〔airmail〕To send (a letter, for example) by air.航空邮寄：航空邮寄（如一封信）〔fire〕To write and send (a letter, for example) in haste.匆忙地写或发送（例如一封信）〔get〕To write and send, as a letter.寄信：写并送出，如一封信〔superscribe〕To write on the outside or upper part of (a letter, for example).在（如一封信的）外部或上面写〔cushy〕Sincecushy has such an informal, breezy, American ring, it is difficult to believe that it is an import, as some etymologists claim.Members of the British army in India are supposed to have picked up the Anglo-Indian version of the Hindi word±hūush, meaning "pleasant,” to which the suffix-y, as in empty and sexy, was added, thus forming a new English word. Cushy, however, is actually first recorded in a letter from the European battlefront during World War I. This fact, in conjunction with our inability to find an Anglo-Indian source,casts some doubt on the Hindi or Anglo-Indian origin ofcushy. Two other possibilities are thatcushy is a shortening of cushion with the -y suffix or that it is a borrowing of Frenchcouchée, "lying down; a bed.” 既然cushy 一词具有如此非正式的、愉快的美国意义， 很难相信某些词源学者所认为的说它是一个外来词。驻印度的英国军队士兵被认为是选用了印度英语±hūush 的英语说法，意思是“愉悦的”， 并如同empty 和 sexy 等词在其上加了 -y 这个后缀，从而形成了一个新英语单词。 然而，事实上cushy 一词却最先被记录在第一次世界大战期间发自欧洲战斗前线的一封信里。 这一事实，再加上我们无法找到其印度英语的词源，使我们对于cushy 一词源于印地语或印度英语的说法产生了某些怀疑。 另两种可能性，一种是cushy ，它是 cushion 的缩略形式再加上后缀 -y ； 另一种是法语couchee “躺下；床”的外来语 〔dash〕dash off a letter; dash down a glass of juice.仓促地写完一封信；匆忙地喝下一瓶果汁〔close〕close a letter; close a bank account.写完一封信；结清银行帐目〔anesthesia〕The following passage, written on November 21, 1846, by Oliver Wendell Holmes,a physician-poet and the father of the Supreme Court justice of the same name,allows us to pinpoint the entry ofanesthesia and anesthetic into English: "Every body wants to have a hand in a great discovery. All I will do is to give you a hint or two as to names—or the name—to be applied to the state produced and the agent. The state should, I think, be called ‘Anaesthesia’ [from the Greek word anaisthēsia, "lack of sensation"]. This signifies insensibility . . . The adjective will be ‘Anaesthetic.’ Thus we might say the state of Anaesthesia, or the anaesthetic state.”This citation is taken from a letter to William Thomas Green Morton,who in October of that year had successfully demonstrated the use of ether at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.Althoughanaesthesia is recorded in Nathan Bailey's Universal Etymological English Dictionary in 1721, it is clear that Holmes really was responsible for its entry into the language.TheOxford English Dictionary has several citations for anesthesia and anesthetic in 1847 and 1848, indicating that the words gained rapid acceptance.下面是奥立佛·万德·霍姆斯写于1846年11月21的一段话。作者是个诗人医生和与其同名的最高法庭法官的父亲。这段话能使我们断定anesthesia 和 anesthetic 进入英语的背景： “每个人都希望能够参与一次伟大的发现。我所要做的是告诉你一两个提示去命名，或能被应用于某种状态的名称。我认为这种状态应该被叫做Anaesthesia ［从希腊词anaisthesia “感觉缺失”发展而来］。 这个词表示无感觉…其形容词应该是‘Anaesthetic’。这样我们可以说感觉缺失的状态或感觉缺失”。这段话是从寄给威廉·托马斯·格林·莫顿的一封信上摘录下的，莫顿同年十月在波士顿的马萨诸塞总医院曾成功使用了醚。尽管南森·巴利于1721年把anaethesia 选入了 通用英语词源词典 ， 但是很显然是霍姆斯首先把这个词引入英语。牛津英语词典 上有几处引用了1847年和1848年有 anesthesia 和 anesthetic 的句子， 说明这两个词很快就被人们所接受 |
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