| 单词 | 两个意思 |
| 释义 | 〔ravel〕To say that we will ravel the history ofravel is an ambiguous statement, given that history. Ravel comes from the obsolete Dutch verbravelen, "to tangle, fray out, unweave,” which comes in turn from the nounravel, "a loose thread.” We can see the ambiguity ofravel already in the notion of a loose thread, because threads can be loose when they are tangled or when they are untangling.The Dutch verb has both notions present in it,denoting both tangling and unweaving.In one of its earliest recorded uses in English (before 1585)the verb means "to become entangled or confused,”and in 1598 we find a use in the sense "to entangle.”But in 1611 the word is used with reference to a fabricin the sense "to fray out,”and in 1607 in the sense "to unwind, unweave, or unravel.”In 1582 we already have an author using the word in a figurative way to mean "to take to pieces or disentangle,”while in a work written before 1656 we have a figurative instance of the sense "to entangle or confuse.”Clearly there was a need for the wordunravel, which is first found in 1603, but strangely enoughit did not solve the problem,ravel retaining up to this day both "entangling" and "disentangling" senses. 说我们要解开ravel 这个词的历史， 只要“历史”的意思不变，这种说法本来就是含糊的。 Ravel 这个词来源于意为“纠缠，磨损掉，解开”的废荷兰语动词ravelen， 而这个词又是从意为“一束松线”的名词ravel 衍生而来的。 在这个意思中，我们已经能看到ravel 的双重意思， 因为一团线缠起来或被解开后都有可能松散。荷兰语的这个词两个意思都有，既指缠起来又指松开。 (1585年前）这个词在英语中第一次使用时，它是“变得纠缠在一起、和含混不清”的意思，1598年我们又发现了“使缠在一起”的意思。但1611年当这个词用于指纺织品时，它却是“使散开”的意思，1607年它的意思是“倒转，松开，打开。”1582年有一位作家已经使用这个词的比喻义“散成一片片或分开”，而在一部写于1656年前的著作中，又有“缠紧，弄混”的比喻意义。毫无疑问，出现于1603年的unravel 这个词有必要的存在， 但非常奇怪的是,这并没有解决ravel 这个词直到现在还有“缠紧”和“分开”这两个意思 〔slatch〕In New Englandaslatch can be a lull between breaking waves or a lull in a high windstorm.Its use is recorded as far back as the 17th century: "Whan it hath beene a sett of foule weather and that there comes an Interim . . . of faire weather . . . they call it a little Slatch of faire weather" (Nomenclator Navalis).Occurrence of the word in both its senses,formerly in Britainand now in New England,attests continuous use down through the centuries of the Old English wordslæc, which is pronounced today as it was in Old English.Slæc is also the source of modern slack, the relationship ofslatch and slack being evidenced in the use of slatch in 17th-century nautical parlance to denote the slack part of a rope or cable on a ship. 在新英格兰，slatch 可能是中断的波浪之间的平静， 也可能是强烈风暴中的平静。它有记载的使用可以追溯到17世纪： “当一段坏天气中出现一阵…好天气时…他们把它叫做一小强烈风暴间的好天气” （诺曼克莱特·那瓦利斯）。这个词出现在这两个意思中，以前在英国使用，现在是在新英格兰，这证明了古英语中sloc 这个词经历几个世纪的不断的使用， 它现在的发音与它在古英语中的发音一样。Sloc 还是现代英语中 slack 这个词的词源， 17世纪航海用语中用slatch 这个词来表示船上绳索松散的部分，这清楚地表明了 slatch 与 slack 这两个词之间的联系 〔snob〕Snobs look down at their inferiors,but at one timesnobs looked up at their betters.The wordsnob, the ultimate origins of which are uncertain, is first found in 1781in the sense "shoemaker, cobbler,”a regional and informal usage.The word is recorded around 1796in a slang usage particular to Cambridge University, "a townsman as opposed to a gownsman.”Both senses may have fed into the sense first found in 1831, "a member of the ordinary or lower classes.”Along with this sense went another (1838), "a person without proper breeding or taste.”From these two senses arose the sense first recorded in 1848, "a person who looks up to his or her social betters and tries to copy or associate with them.”We can see how this sense could blend into the other familiar sense,"one who looks down on those considered inferior" (1911).势利小人们都瞧不起不如他们的人，但有一段时间，势利小人只是羡慕地位比他们高的人。Snob 这个词最远的起源还不清楚， 它第一次出现于1781年，意为“鞋匠，补鞋人”，这只是一种方言和非正式用法。1796年左右的记录显示，这个词有一个专用于剑桥大学的俚语意思，“与贵族相对应的普通市民”。这两个意思都进入了它第一次出现于1831年的“普通或低下阶层中的一员”这个意思。这个意思与另一个意思平行(1838年）：“没有良好教养和品味的人”。从这两个意思发展来了“羡慕地位高于他（她）的人并尽量与之进行联系的人”这个意思，第一次记录于1848年。然后，我们就能发现怎样又从这个意思中派生出了其它我们熟悉的意思，即“瞧不起被认为地位比自己低者的人”(1911年）〔chortle〕“‘O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’ He chortled in his joy.”Perhaps Lewis Carroll would chortle a bit himself to find that people are still using the wordchortle, which he coined in Through the Looking-Glass, published in 1872. In any case,Carroll had constructed his word well, combining the wordschuckle and snort to create it. This type of word is called a blend or a portmanteau word.InThrough the Looking-Glass Humpty Dumpty uses portmanteau to describe the word slithy, saying, "It's like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word" (the meanings being "lithe" and "slimy").“‘噢，今天真是太棒了’他高兴地大笑着说”。也许刘易斯·卡罗尔发现人们还在使用他1872年出版的透过镜子 一书中创造的 chortle 一词时，他自己会大笑起来。 无论怎样，卡罗尔把chuckle 一词和 snort 一词结合起来创造的这个词，创造得很不错。 这种形式的词称为混合词或合成词。在透过镜子 一书中矮胖子用 portmanteau（合成词） 一词描述 slithy 一词说， “它象个混成词--有两个意思加在一起放进一个词中”（意思是“柔软的”和“粘性的”） |
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