| 单词 | 关键在于 |
| 释义 | 〔principle〕Despite generations of spelling lessons,the wordsprinciple and principal are still commonly confused. Perhaps an understanding of their history will help in keeping them straight.Both words go back to the same Latin word,prīnceps, meaning "first, as in time, position, or authority.”The split that has caused all the trouble occurred in the next stage of development.Fromprīnceps were derived the noun prīncipium, "start, origin, guiding principle,” the adjectiveprīncipālis, "first in importance or esteem,” and the noun prīncipālis, "a leading citizen.” Clearly the latter two words with theā between the p and the l have given us the adjectiveprincipal (first recorded around 1300) and the noun principal (also first recorded in a work composed around 1300).Perhaps it should not be mentioned that one Middle English spelling for the noun wasprinciple. On the other hand,the Latin wordprīncipium and its Old French descendant principe were involved in the creation of the word principle in Middle English, first recorded in a work written around 1380.Words likemanciple and participle influenced the spelling of this new word, but again perhaps we should keep silent about the fact that we also find the word spelledprincipal and prinsipal in Middle English. A key point to remember about these seemingly aberrant Middle English spellings isthat in Middle English spelling was not nearly as fixed as it usually is today,a development that was much furthered by the invention of printing.When we interchange spellings forprinciple and principal, we are doing something that would have been less of a fault in the days before the conformity imposed on us by this marvelous invention. 尽管在拼写课上反复强调，principle 和 principal 还是被人们搞混。 或许了解一下这两个词的历史有助于我们弄清楚它们的拼写。两个词都可追溯到同一个拉丁词princeps， 意为“在时间，地位或权威上第一的”。引起所有麻烦的分裂出现在发展过程的下一个阶段。从princeps 派生出了名词 principium， 意为“开端，根源，指导性原则，” 形容词principalis “最重要的或最受尊敬的”及名词 principalis 意为“处于领导地位的公民”。 显然，后两个词在p 和 l 之间带有 ā， 这就使我们有了形容词principal （最早记录于1300年左右）和名词 principal （最早记录也是在大约1300年左右创作的作品中）。或许我们不应提到这个名词在中古英语中的一种拼法是principle 。 另一方面，拉丁词principium 和其古法词的派生词 principe 共同作用创造了中古英语单词 principle， 最早记录于写于约1380年的一部作品。象manciple 和 participle 这样的单词都影响了这个新单词的拼写， 但是或许我们应该再一次对于这个单词也曾在中古英语中被拼写成principal 和 prinsipal 这一事实保持沉默。 记住这些在中古英语中貌似反常的拼写的关键在于，在中古英语中的拼写方式几乎不象今天这么固定，因为当时还没有发明印刷术。当这项神奇的发明把拼写一致的原则加到我们头上之前，我们把principle 和 principal 的拼写互相交换，也算不上什么大错 |
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