单词 | 一枚硬币 |
释义 | 〔up〕two cards up, one down; the up side of a tossed coin.两张牌朝上,一张牌朝下;抛出的一枚硬币朝上的一面〔soldier〕Why do soldiers fight?One answer is hidden away in the wordsoldier itself. Its first recorded occurrence is found in a work composed around 1300,the word having come into Middle English (assoudier ) from Old French soudoior and Anglo-Norman soudeour. The Old French word,first recorded in the 12th century,is derived fromsol or soud, Old French forms of Modern French sou. There is no longer a French coin namedsou, but the meaning of the wordsou alerts us to the fact that money is involved. Indeed, Old Frenchsol referred to a coin and also meant "pay,”and asoudoior was a man who fought for pay. This was a concept worth expressing in an era when many men were not paid for fighting but did it in service to a feudal superior.Thussoldier is parallel to the word mercenary, which goes back to Latinmercēnnārius, derived frommerces, "pay,” and meaning "working for pay.”The word could also be used as a noun,one of whose senses was "a soldier of fortune.”士兵们为什么而打仗?其中一个答案就隐藏在soldier 这个单词里面。 在大约1300年的一本著作中发现了这个词的最早记载。这个词由古法语的soudoior 和盎格鲁诺曼底语中的 soudeour 进入中古英语(形式为 soudier )。 古法语中的这个单词,最早记录于12世纪,是由sol 或 soud ,现代法语单词 sou 的古法语形式衍变而来的。 已经没有叫做sou 的法国硬币了, 但是单词sou 的意思使我们意识到这和钱有关。 实际上,古法语中的sol 指的是一枚硬币, 也意味着“报酬”,而soudoior 是一个为了报酬而打仗的人。 在许多人打仗并没有得到报酬而是给封建王服役的时代里,这种概念是值得表达出来的。这样,士兵(soldier) 类似于 雇佣兵(mercenary) , 可以追溯到拉丁文mercennarius , 由merces “报酬”衍变而来, 意思是“为报酬而工作”。这个词也能当名词使用,其中的一个意思是“雇佣兵”〔last〕his last nickel; as a last resort.他的最后一枚硬币;最后的手段 |
随便看 |
英汉汉英双解词典收录301015条英汉双解翻译词条,可根据汉字查询相应的英文词汇,基本涵盖了全部常用汉字的英文读音、翻译及用法,是英语学习及翻译工作的有利工具。