| 单词 | 弱化 |
| 释义 | 〔wear〕To be weakened or eroded gradually:慢慢被弱化或侵独：〔weak〕 Decrepit describes what is weakened, worn out, or broken down by hard use or the passage of time: Decrepit 是描述由于过多使用或时间长而被弱化、磨损或毁坏的东西： 〔fair〕The history of the wordfair illustrates how words can weaken in meaning over time. In Old English the ancestor offair, fæger, had senses such as "lovely, beautiful, pleasant, agreeable,” a far cry from our modern sense "mildly good or satisfying.”The Old English senses passed into Middle English,where the wordfair started to take a slight turn in the direction already alluded to. Fair could mean "highly to be approved of, splendid, good,”but it could also be used ironically,as in Chaucer's observation after a horse threw the Cook on the pilgrimage to Canterbury:"that was a fair feat of horsemanship by the Cook.”This ironic use was probably not responsible for the semantic weakening offair, but it shows how a positive word can have its meaning reversed.The weakening offair was most likely caused by "the determined optimism which led to the use of fair . . . rather than direct expression of discontent,”in the words of George H. McKnight.One might add as another cause the desire to avoid hurting other people's feelings.单词fair 的历史表明随岁月的流逝单词的语意变弱。 在古英语中fair，f?ger 本意是“可爱的，漂亮的，愉快的”， 与我们现在的“比较好或满意的”大相径庭。古英语传到中世纪英语时，fair 已开始在引申的方向上有微小的转变。 Fair 可以表达“被高度赞许的，辉煌的，好的，”但也可用作反语，如在往坎特伯雷朝圣的途中马将科克摔下时后，乔尔斯评论道：“那是科克精湛骑术的体现”。这种反语用法也许对fair 语义学上的弱化没有联系， 但它表明了一个褒义的单词可以变得意思完全相反。fair 的弱化很大程度上缘于“坚决的乐观主义导致 fair 的用法改变， 而不是直接表达不满意的意思，”乔治赫·马克奈特如此评论。人们可以再添上其它原因以免伤害别人的感情〔enthusiasm〕When the English philospher Henry More stated in a work published in 1660 that "If ever Christianity be exterminated, it will be by Enthusiasme,”he clearly used the word differently from the way we do now.He was also using a meaning that differed from the first sense, "possession by a god,” recorded in English (1603). Enthusiasm and this sense of the word go back to the Greek wordenthousiasmos, which ultimately comes from the adjectiveentheos, "having the god within,” formed fromen-, "in, within,” and theos, "god.” Henry More in 1660 was referring to belief, either mistaken or unsupported by evidence, in one's own inspiration by the Christian God. Enthusiasm, as now most frequently used,has become secularized and at times weakened,so that one can speak of an enthusiasm for fast cars.当英国哲学家亨利·摩尔在其1660 年出版的一部书中宣称“如果基督教会消亡，那必因宗教的狂热”时，他使用该词显然不同于当今的用法。他所用的意思与第一种含义，英语中的“神灵感应”(1603年）也有所不同。 Enthusiasm 及其含义可追溯到希腊词enthousiasmos， 该词完全由形容词entheos 而来， 意为“心中有神灵，它由en-， 表“在…里”，和 theos-， 意为“神”构成。 亨利·摩尔在1660 年所指的是错误地或毫无根据地相信得到了基督教上帝的启示。 Enthusiasm 现在被经常使用，它的含义已脱离宗教的影响并不断弱化，现在我们可以说对开快车的狂热 |
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