| 单词 | 其意 |
| 释义 | 〔maroon〕The history of the wordmaroon, which we associate with desert islands, takes us back to the days of slavery, when the nounmaroon was a term in English for a Black person who lived in the mountains and forests of Dutch Guiana (Suriname) and the West Indies, a term that is still used in parts of the Caribbean.These were plantation slaveswho had run away to live free in uncultivated parts.The English word is taken from the French wordmarron, "runaway Black slave,”which in turn was an alteration of American Spanishcimarrón, meaning "runaway slave.”Cimarrón is perhaps from cima, "summit.” Having come into English (first recorded in 1666),maroon took on a life of its own and came to be used as a verbmeaning "to be lost in the wilds,”from which our sense "to put ashore on a deserted island or coast" evolved.单词maroon 与荒岛有关联，其历史可追溯到奴隶制时代， 当时英语中的maroon 这个词指的是生活在荷属圭亚那（苏里南）和西印度群岛的黑人， 在加勒比的某些地区这个词仍在使用。这些人本是种植园里的奴隶，他们逃到未开发的土地上自由自在地生活。英语中的这个词源于法语中的marron ， 意思是“逃亡的黑奴”，它又是美洲西班牙语cimarron 的变形， 其意为“逃亡的奴隶”。Cinmarron 可能源于 cima ，“顶峰”。 进入英语之后（最早的记载在1666年），maroon 具有了自己的内涵， 而且开始被作为动词使用，意思是“在荒野中迷失方向”，我们的“将…置于一个荒凉的岛上或海岸边”这个意思就是从这里发展而来〔graffito〕The formgraffiti, based on the Italian plural, is far more common than the singular form graffito. Graffitiis often used as a singular noun. When the reference is to a particular inscription (as inThere was a bold graffiti on the wall ), the formgraffito would be etymologically correct but might strike some readers as pedantic outside an archaeological context.There is no substitute for the singular use ofgraffiti when the word is used as a mass noun to refer to inscriptions in general or to the related social phenomenon. The sentenceGraffiti is a major problem for the Transit Authority Police cannot be rewordedGraffito is . . . (since graffito can refer only to a particular inscription) or Graffiti are . . . , which suggests that the police problem involves only the physical marks and not the larger issue of vandalism.In such contexts,the use ofgraffiti as a singular is justified by both utility and widespread precedent. 基于意大利语的复数形式graffiti 远比单数形式 graffito更普遍。 Graffiti常用作单数名词。 当意指一特定涂鸦物（如在墙上有一处下流的涂鸦 中）， graffito 的形式在词形变化上是正确的， 但可能会在古文化语境外使一些人显得迂腐。graffiti 的单数作物质名词使用来指涂鸦的总称或相应的社会现象时，是没有替代词的。 句子：涂鸦是公共交通警察局遇到的主要难题 ， 不能用Graffito is … 来替换（因为 graffito 只能指一具体的涂鸦）或用 Graffiti are … 来替换， 因其意指警察的问题只涉及存在的标记而不是破坏公物的大问题。在这些语境中，graffiti 作为单数形式的使用是被广泛使用的先例所证实的 〔copacetic〕We know very little about the origin of the wordcopacetic, meaning "excellent, first-rate.” Is its origin to be found in Italian, in the speech of southern Black people, in the Creole French dialect of Louisiana, or in Hebrew?John O'Hara, who used the word inAppointment in Samarra, later wrote thatcopacetic was "a Harlem and gangster corruption of an Italian word.” O'Hara went on to say, "I don't know how to spell the Italian,but it's something like copacetti.” His uncertainty about how to spell the Italian is paralleled by uncertainty about how to spellcopacetic itself. Copacetic has been recorded with the spellings copasetic, copasetty, copesetic, copisettic, and kopasettee. The spelling is now more or less fixed, however, ascopacetic or copasetic, even though the origin of the word has not been determined.The Harlem connection mentioned by O'Hara would seem more likely than the Italian,sincecopacetic was used by Black jazz musicians and is said to have been Southern slang in the late 19th century. Ifcopacetic is Creole French in origin, it would also have a Southern homeland.According to this explanation,copacetic came from the Creole French word coupersètique, which meant "able to be coped with,” "able to cope with anything and everything,” "in good form,”and also "having a healthy appetite or passion for life or love.”Those who support the Hebrew or Yiddish origin ofcopacetic do not necessarily deny the Southern connections of the word. One explanation has it that Jewish storekeepers used the Hebrew phrasekol bĕṣedeq, "all with justice,”when asked if things were O.K. Black children who were in the store as customers or employees heard this phrase ascopacetic. No explanation of the origin ofcopacetic, including the ones discussed here, has won the approval of scholars, as is clearly shown by the etymology ofcopacetic in the first volume of the Dictionary of American Regional English, published in 1985: "Etym unknown.” 我们对copacetic 这个词的词源所知甚少，其意为“极好的、一流的”。 它是起源于意大利语、南方黑人口语、路易斯安那州的克里奥耳人的法语方言还是希伯来语？约翰·奥哈拉在撒马拉的约会 中用到这个词， 他后来写到copacetic 是“变成哈莱姆黑人居住区和强盗土语的意大利词”。 奥哈拉还说，“我不知道原来的意大利词是如何拼写的，但是有点象copacetti"。与他不敢肯定如何拼写这个意大利词一样，他对copacetic 一词本身的拼法也不敢肯定。 Copacetic 曾经被拼写成 copasetic, copasetty, copesetic, copisettic 以及 kopasettee。 现在它的拼法多少已经固定成copacetic 或 copasetic， 尽管这个词的词源仍未被确定。奥哈拉所提及的它与哈莱姆黑人居住区的关系看上去比它和意大利语的关系更有可能，因为黑人爵士歌手曾用过copacetic 这个词，并且据说在19世纪晚期它曾是南方的俚语。 如果copacetic 在词源上是克里奥耳人的法语， 那么它也是从南方来的。根据这一解释，copacetic 来自克里奥耳人法语中 coupersetique 一词， 表示“有能力与人竞争的”、“有能力处理任何事情及一切事情的”、“以好的方式的”，还表示“对生活或爱情有正常的欲望或激情的”。那些认为copacetic 来自希伯来语或意第绪语的人并不一定否认这个词与南方的关系。 一种解释认为，犹太店主们在被询问是否一切都好时用了希伯来语中的短语kol bĕṣedeq 即“一切太平”之意， 在店里作工或买东西的黑人儿童将这个短语听成了copacetic。 在关于copacetic 词源的解释中，包括以上讨论的这些，没有一种得到学者们的认可， 这一点我们可以在美国方言英语辞典 （1985年出版）第一册关于 copacetic 一词的词源解释中清楚地看到：“词源不知” 〔chaperon〕The chaperon at a high-school dance seems to have little relationship to what was first signified by the English wordchaperon, "a hood for a hawk,” and not even that much to what the word later meant, "a protectress of a young single woman.”The sense "hood for a hawk,” recorded in a Middle English text composed before 1400,reflects the original meaning of the Old French wordchaperon, "hood, headgear.” In order to understand why ourchaperon came to have the sense "protectress,” we need to know that in French the verbchaperonner, meaning "to cover with a hood,” was derived from chaperon and that this verb subsequently developed the figurative sense "to protect.”Under the influence of the verb sensethe French nounchaperon came to mean "escort,” a meaning that was borrowed into English,being found first in a work published in 1720.In its earlier useEnglishchaperon referred to a person, commonly an older woman, who accompanied a young unmarried woman in public to protect her. The English verbchaperon, "to be a chaperon,” is first recorded in Jane Austen'sSense and Sensibility, begun in 1796 as a sketch called "Elinor and Marianne"and published as a novel in 1811.中学舞会上的年长监护者似乎与英语词chaperon 的最初含义关系极微，（当时其意为“鹰的羽冠”）， 与后来该词的意思“年轻单身女子的伴护人”，关系也不甚大。“鹰的羽冠”的意思，最初见于作于1400年以前的一个中古英语文本，反映了这个古法语词chaperon 的最初的“羽冠”的含义。 为了理解为什么我们所用的chaperon 一词具有了“女伴护人”的意思， 我们需要知道法语中表示“覆以羽冠”意思的动词chaperonner 是从 chaperon 派生出来的， 这个词后来逐渐发展具有了“保护”的意思。受动词意义的影响，法语名词chaperon 也有了“伴护”的含义， 英语借用了这个含义，首见于1720年发表的一部作品。在早期用法上，英语词chaperon 是指一个在社交场合陪伴并保护一名未成婚少女的人，尤指年长妇女。 英语动词chaperon “做伴护人”， 最初见于简·奥斯丁的理智与情感 ， 此作品开始是1796年动笔的一部名为“艾利诺和马利恩”的文学速写，1811年作为一部小说出版〔Florio〕English lexicographer noted for his Italian-English dictionary (1598) and his translations of Montaigne's essays (1603).弗罗里奥，约翰：(1553?-1625) 英国词典编纂者，以其意-英词典(1598年）和他蒙田散文的译著(1603年）而著名〔bigot〕A bigot may have more in common with God than one might think.Legend has it that Rollo, the first duke of Normandy, refused to kiss the foot of the French king Charles III,uttering the phrasebi got, his borrowing of the assumed Old English equivalent of our expressionby God. Although this story is almost certainly apocryphal,it is true thatbigot was used by the French as a term of abuse for the Normans, but not in a religious sense. Later, however, the word, or very possibly a homonym,was used abusively in French for the Beguines, members of a Roman Catholic lay sisterhood.From the 15th century on Old Frenchbigot meant "an excessively devoted or hypocritical person.” Bigot is first recorded in English in 1598 with the sense "a superstitious hypocrite.” 一个偏执的人往往比人们想象的更接近上帝。传说第一位诺曼底公爵罗洛拒绝亲吻法国皇帝查理三世的脚时，说了bi got 这个词， 他是借用了假设的古英语里的词。其相当于我们今天的by God （老天作证）这一用法。 尽管这个故事肯定不足为信，但bigot 一词是确实是法国人对诺曼底人的蔑称， 然而无宗教色彩。后来，这个词，很可能是同音异义词，在法语中用来蔑指女修道者──罗马天主教姐妹会成员。从15世纪起，在古法语中，bigot 一词意为“过分虔诚或伪善的人”。 Bigot 首次以英语记载是在1598年，其意为“迷信的伪君子。” 〔banquet〕The linguistic stock of the wordbanquet has been fluctuating for a long time. The Old French wordbanquet, the likely source of our word, is derived from Old Frenchbanc, "bench,” ultimately of Germanic origin. The sense development in Old French seems to have changed from "little bench" to "a meal taken on the family workbench" to "feast.”The English wordbanquet is first recorded in a work possibly composed before 1475 with reference to a feast held by the god Apollo, and the word appears to have been used from the 15th to the 18th century to refer to the feasts of the powerful and the wealthy.Perhaps this association led a 19th-century newspaper editor to label the word "grandiloquent"because it was being appropriated by those lower down on the social scale.单词banquet 的词根很长时间来一直有变化。 古法语中的词banquet 可能是我们所使用的词的来源， 是由古法语banc 一词衍生而来的，在日耳曼族语中表“长凳”之意。 而在古法语中其意已由“小椅子”演变为“全家围坐在一起吃的一顿饭”，再演变为“宴席”。英语中的banquet 一词首次记载于1475年前一部描写阿波罗神举行的一次宴席的作品中。 从15世纪至18世纪该词一直用于特指权贵们举行的筵宴。也许正是由于这个原因，19世纪一位报纸编辑将该词归为“大言不惭的”一类，因为当时一些中下层人士也开始使用该词了〔gallivant〕Ladies' men and gambling are no strangers,as the history of the wordgallivant may attest. Gallivant, which is first recorded in English in 1819, is thought possibly to be an alteration of the wordgallant, "to play the gallant or dandy, flirt,”under the influence of the wordlevant, "to leave quickly and secretly, especially as a gambler might do to avoid payment of debts.”The wordlevant may hark back to the notion of the Levant, the countries of the Near East, as a far-off place where someone might go to hide. In French the phrasefaire voile en Levant, which means literally "to sail into the Levant,” actually means "to be stolen.”When a person gallivanted,the person was at one time playing the gallant, perhaps with the intention of stealing away with a heart or two.One can still gallivant with others or simply gallivant on one's own.好向女人献殷勤的男人和赌博并不是不相干，就如同gallivant 的历史所表明的一样。 Gallivant 一词于1819年第一次收录进英语， 被认为可能是gallant 的变体， 意为“调情；卖弄风情”，并受到词语levant 的影响， 其意为“迅速而秘密地离去，尤指一个赌徒为了逃避赌债可能做的。”单词levant 可追溯到黎凡特的概念，指作为有人想要躲藏的遥远地方的近东一些国家。 在法语中短语faire voile en Levant 字面含义为“航行到黎凡特，” 实际意思为“被偷了。”当一个人调情时，他调一次情却可能有意偷走一两颗心。一个人可能还会与别人调情或只是与自己的情人调情〔retire〕Despite the upbeat books written about retiringand the fact that it is a well-earned time of relaxation from the daily rigors of work,many people do not find it a particularly pleasant prospect.Perhaps the etymology ofretire may hint at why. The ultimate source of our word is the Old French wordretirer, made up of the prefixre-, meaning in this case "back,” and the verb tirer, "to draw,” together meaning "to take back or withdraw.” The first use of the English wordretire is recorded in 1533 in reference to a military force that withdraws.It is not until 1667 that we find the word used to mean "to withdraw from a position for more leisure.”In regard to the sting in all thiswe need to look at the source oftirer, "to draw, draw out, endure,”which ultimately may be from Old Frenchmartir, "a martyr,” probably reflecting the fact that martyrs had to endure the torture of being stretched up to and beyond the point of dislocating their bones.尽管有关于退休的乐观书籍，以及退休是从日常工作的严酷中解放出来的极好时光的事实，许多人并没有发现它特别令人愉悦的地方。也许retire 的语源学暗示了原因。 这个词最早的来源是古法语单词retirer ， 由在此意指“向后”的前缀re- 及意为“拉”的动词 tiver 合在一起组成，意为“撤回或退回”。 英语单词retire 的使用则最早记录于1553年， 指撤退的军队。直到1667年我们才发现该词用于表达“为得到更多的闲暇而退出职位。”考虑到所有这些词的负面含义，我们有必要看看tirer 的词源， 其意为“拉，拉出，容忍，”它可能最初源于意为“殉道者”的古法语martir ， 这可能反映了一个事实，即殉者不得不忍受四肢被拉直至骨肉脱离的酷刑〔Read〕British writer known for his imagistic poetry and works of literary and art criticism.里德爵士，赫伯特：(1893-1968) 英国作家，以其意像派诗歌以及文学艺术评论而出名〔jungle〕One might be surprised to learn that the wordjungle is not African in origin nor does it come from a word that only meant "land densely overgrown with tropical vegetation and trees.” Jungle goes back to the Sanskrit word jaṅgalam, meaning "desert, wasteland,”and also "any kind of uncultivated area, such as heavily forested land.”The Sanskrit wordjaṅgala- passed into various Indian languages and from one or more of these languages into English.In Englishjungle was used for land overgrown with vegetation, for the vegetation itself,and for such land outside India.The word was also extended figuratively in various ways.We have, for example, asphalt jungles, concrete jungles, blackboard jungles, academic jungles, corporate jungles,and, in a February 1972 issue of theGuardian, the government official who "lit up some lurid corners of the taxation jungle.”jungle 一词的词源不是非洲语，也不是来自仅仅意为“长满茂密的热带植物和树木的地带”的单词；知道这一点也许会让人吃惊。 Jungle 可追溯到梵语词 jangalam ， 其意为“荒漠，荒原”，也指“任何未开垦的地域，如茂密的森林”。梵语词jangala- 传入多种印度语中， 又从这其中的一种或多种语言再传入英语。在英语中jungle 用来指长满植物的地带， 指植物本身，也指印度以外的类似地带。该词也在多方面引申为比喻意义。例如，我们有柏油丛林、水泥丛林、黑板丛林、学术丛林、公司丛林，此外在1972年2月发行的一期卫报 上， 还出现了“揭露税收丛林中鲜为人知的龌龊勾当”的政府官员 |
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