| 单词 | 可否定 |
| 释义 | 〔yes〕The wordyes is a good example of how an ordinary and frequently used word can have a complex etymology. We can traceyes back to two Indo-European roots, .i-, a pronominal stem, and .es-, "to be.” From two extended forms of.i-, .yām and .yāi, came the prehistoric Common Germanic forms.jā and jai, which gave us Old Englishgeā, an affirmative particle, the source of Modern Englishyea. The Indo-European root.es- is the source of our forms am and is. From the stem.sī- used to make verb forms in the optative mood, a mood used to express a wish, came the Germanic form.sijai-, which gave us Old Englishsīe, "may it be so.” This form, unlike the sources ofam and is, died out, but before disappearing it had combined with Old Englishgēa to form the compound gēse, the ancestor of our wordyes. Thissīe was destined to have even more of a triumph. Until around 1600yea was used to respond to positive expressions, whereasyes was used to respond to negative expressions. After that timeyes became a response to both positive and negative expressions, yea surviving primarily in voice votes. yes 一词是说明一个普通常用词如何拥有一复杂词源的极好例证。 我们可以追溯yes 到两个印欧语词根， 代名词词干i- 和 es- “是”。 从i-的两种扩展形式，yam 和 yai， 形成了史前普通日耳曼语形式ja 和 jai, 它们又带来了古英语中的肯定虚词gea ， 这便是现代英语yea 的来源。 而印欧语词根es- 是我们 am 和 is 两形式的源头。 以is- ，一个用于制造祈愿语气动词的词干， 产生出日尔曼形式sijai-， 并由此形成了古英语sie, “希望如此”。 这种形式不象am 和 is 的词源，已经灭绝了， 但在消失之前，它已经和古英语gea 混合形成复合词 gese， 即我们的单词yes 的前身。 这个sie 注定要获取更大的胜利。 直至1600年左右，yea 还被用于回答肯定的陈述； 而yes 则用于回答否定陈述。 此后，yes 既可作肯定也可否定表达的回答， yea 则主要在口头投票时使用 |
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