| 单词 | 意思 |
| 释义 | 〔provoke〕"The oceangoing steamers . . . roused in him wild and painful longings" (Arnold Bennett).Tostir is to prompt to activity, to arouse strong but usually agreeable feelings, or to provoke trouble or commotion: “出海的汽船…在他心中激起了狂热且痛苦的渴望” （阿诺德·贝内特）。Stir 意思是使活跃、引起强烈但令人愉快的情感或引起麻烦或骚动： 〔vum〕A New Englander expressing surprise is liable to say,"Well, I vum!” This odd-sounding word is in fact an alteration of the verbvow that goes back to the days of the American Revolution.It is also heard simply as"Vum!” or as a sort of past participle: "I'll be vummed!” A southern equivalent isswanny, also meaning "swear": Now, I swanny! According to theOxford English Dictionary, the word swanny derives from the dialect of the North of England: Is' wan ye, "I shall warrant ye.” 一个新英格兰人表示惊讶时会说“嗯，我发誓!” 这个听起来有些古老的词实际上是vow 这个动词的变体， 它可以上溯到美国独立战争时期。也可以仅用"Vum!"（“发誓!”） 或作为过去分词： "I'll be vummed!"（“我可以发誓!”） 南方相同的词是Swanny， 也是“发誓”的意思： Now, I swanny!（现在，我起誓!） 按照牛津英语字典， swanny 一词由北英格兰方言派生而来： Is' wan ye， “我向你保证” 〔bistro〕According to a popular story,bistro came into existence as a French word when Russian soldiers entered Parisian restaurants and cafés after the fall of Napoleon in 1815 shouting "bystro, bystro,” Russian for "quickly, quickly.” Bistros seem to have been named not for this desire for quick servicebut possibly for a commodity to be found in at least some of them,since the French wordbistro may be related to the word bistouille, "raw spirits, rotgut.” Another possibility is that the wordbistro comes from the dialectal word bistraud, "young cowherd.” In Standard French the term may have come to mean "wine merchant's helper" and then "an establishment selling wine.”Although the French wordbistro is first recorded in 1884, evidence for the English wordbistro is not found until the early 1920's. 根据传说，bistro 原是一个法国词而产生的，当1815年拿破仑失败后俄国士兵进入巴黎饭馆和咖啡店，就叫嚷着 "bistro，bistro，” 俄语的意思为“快点，快点”。 “酒馆”似乎是因这种要求快速服务的愿望而得名，但可能是源于在酒馆中至少可以找到的一种商品，因为法国词bistro 可能与另一个意为“生酒，劣等烧酒”的词 bistouille 有关。 另一种可能是bistro 一词来自方言 bistrand， 意为“年轻的放牛娃”。 在标准法语中该词可能指“酒商的助手”，后来指“卖酒的企业。”虽然法语bistro 一词在1884年最先有记载， 但英语bistro 一词直到19世纪20年代初期才有出现的迹象 〔ask〕Query usually suggests questioning to settle a doubt: Query 常含有询问以解除疑团的意思： 〔gift〕Gift has a long history of use as a verb meaning "to present as a gift; endow.” The practice appears to provide a useful distinction,in as much as the verbgive can sometimes be ambiguous between "to transfer physical possession" and "to transfer ownership"; and in fact a verb analogous togift is found in a number of other languages (for example, Italianregalare, "to give as a gift,” from regalo, "gift, present"). Unfortunately the verbal use ofgift in Modern English is irredeemably tainted (as is its derivative giftable ) by its association with the language of advertising and publicity (as in Gift her with this copper warming plate ). In an earlier surveythe usage was rejected by a large majority of the Usage Panel.Where clarity is required, substitutessuch asgive as a gift, bestow, or donate are recommended. · The phrasefree gift should, of course, be considered redundant. But the increasing currency of its use is indicative mainly of the degree to which the wordgift itself has been expropriated by advertisers to refer to merchandise offerings to which an obligation is attached—if not a direct price, then taking a test drive,sitting through a sales pitch, or enrolling in a book club.It is perhaps to this use ofgift, rather than to the redundancy free gift, that critics ought most strenuously to object. Gift 作动词意为“赠送礼物，赠予”的用法已有很长的历史了， 这种惯用法的出现提供了有用的区分，因为作为动词give 可能有时会在“传递有形财产“和”传递所有权“之间有模棱两可的意思； 但事实上类似于gift 的词是在其它语言上建立起来的 （如意大利语的regalare “作为礼物给予”来自于 regalo “礼物，礼品”）。 不幸的是gift 在现代英语中动词性质的用法由于广告语言和公众语言的联系而不可挽回地被污染了（如它的派生词 giftable ）（又如在 给她这个铜暖盘作为礼物 ）。 在较早的一个调查中，这种用法被大部分的用法专题使用小组的成员所反对。为了在此处的用法更清晰的一些替代词，如give as a gift, bestow 或 donate 被采纳了。 词组free gift 自然是应该被认为是多余的， 但是这种用法的迅速使用主要表示了gift 这个词被广告商所侵用而用来指提供商品优惠是一种附加的义务——如果不是直接的价格， 那么就参加一次竞赛活动，等待商品广告宣传或在一个读书俱乐部中报名登记。也许gift 的这种用法应该比冗余的 free gift 更为批评家所坚决反对 〔save〕Reclaim, applied to people,means to bring back,as from error to virtue or to right or proper conduct;it can also mean to return a thing to usefulness or productivity: Reclaim 适用于人，意思是改过，如从谬误到美德或正义或正当的行为的改过；也指将某物转变为有用的或有生产能力的事物： 〔mosquito〕Flies will never be popular creatures,in spite or because of their omnipresence.Two examples of the fly's influence on our lives can be found in the etymologies of the wordsmosquito and musket, both of which can be traced back tomusca, the Latin word for fly.This Latin word becamemosca in Spanish and Portuguese, Romance languages that developed from Vulgar Latin. Mosquito, the diminutive of mosca, was borrowed into English (first recorded around 1583) with the same sense "mosquito" that it had in Spanish and Portuguese. The Romance language French was the source of our wordmusket (first recorded around 1587), which came from Frenchmousquet, but this word entered French from yet another Romance language, Italian.From the descendant of Latinmusca, Italian mosca, was formed the diminutive moschetta with the senses "bolt for a catapult" and "small artillery piece.” Frommoschetta came moschetto, "musket,” the source of Frenchmousquet. The use ofmoschetta, literally "little fly,” to mean "bolt from a crossbow"can be ascribed to the factthat both bolt and insect fly, buzz, and sting.苍蝇将永远不会成为受人欢迎的动物，尽管或也许正因为它们无处不在。苍蝇影响我们生活的两个例子可在两个单词mosquito 和 musket 词源中找到， 两者都可追溯到musca， 拉丁文中是“苍蝇”的意思。这个拉丁文单词在西班牙语、葡萄牙语和其他由拉丁文演变而来的语言中变为mosca 。 Mosca 的小词 mosquito 被借入英语中（大约于1583年首次出现）跟它在西班牙语和葡萄牙语中一样，都表示“蚊子”。 从拉丁文演变来的法语是单词musket （大约在1587年首次出现）的词源， 这个词来自一个法语词mousquet ， 但这一词仍然是从另一个由拉丁语演变而来的意大利语中借入法语的。起源于拉丁语musca 的意大利单词 mosca 形成了一个小词 moschetta ， 意思是“弹弓上使用的螺钉”和“小炮弹”。 从moschetta 中产生了 moschetto 意为“火枪”， 是法语词mousquet 的词源。 moschetta 的字面意思是指“小苍蝇”， 用来比喻“弩上的弓箭”，这可以归因于一个事实，那就是弓箭和苍蝇都会飞，并且都能发出嗡嗡声而且会刺伤人〔referent〕Something that refers, especially a linguistic item in its capacity of referring to a meaning.能指事物：能指称之物，特指有能够指称某种意思的能力的一语言成份〔verbalism〕Abundant use of words without conveying much meaning.空话，套话：大量地使用言辞却不含有什么意思〔origin〕"Man with all his noble qualities . . . still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin" (Charles Darwin).Whenorigin refers to people, it means parentage or ancestry: “人尽管有着他所有的高贵品质…但仍在其身上有出身低微的抹不掉的烙印” （查尔斯·达尔文）。当origin 指人时，它的意思是父母双亲或出身： 〔replete〕re- [re-] re- [表示“重复”等意思的前缀] 〔responsible〕Some critics have maintained thatresponsible should not be used to describe things, since only persons can be held accountable.The application to things is justifiable, however, whenresponsible is used to mean "being the source or cause of.” In an earlier survey,a majority of the Usage Panel accepted the sentence 一些批评家坚持认为responsible 不应用于描述事物， 因为只有人才能负担责任。但是当responsible 被用来表示“归因于…”的意思时，用它叙述事物是合理的。 在更早期的调查中，用法专题小组中的大部分成员都接受句子 〔politics〕But in its other sensespolitics can take either a singular or plural verb. Many other nouns that end in-ics behave similarly, and the user is advised to consult specific entries for precise information.但用于其它意思上时，politics 则既可接单数形式的动词也可接复数形式的动词。 许多其它以-ics 结尾的名词用法也是如此， 使用者最好是查阅具体的词项以获取准确的信息〔gringo〕The wordgringo is an offensive term in Latin America for a foreigner, particularly an American or English person.But the word existed in Spanish before this particular sense came into being.In fact,gringo may be an alteration of the word griego, the Spanish development of LatinGraecus, "Greek.” Griego first meant "Greek, Grecian,”as an adjective and "Greek, Greek language,” as a noun.The saying "It's Greek to me" exists in Spanish,as it does in English,and helps us understand whygriego came to mean "unintelligible language" and perhaps, by further extension of this idea,"stranger, that is, one who speaks a foreign language.”The altered formgringo lost touch with Greek but has the senses "unintelligible language,” "foreigner, especially an English person,”and in Latin America, "North American or Britisher.”Its first recorded English use (1849) is in John Woodhouse Audubon'sWestern Journal: "We were hooted and shouted at as we passed through, and called ‘Gringoes.’”在拉丁美洲，gringo 一词是对外国人， 尤其是英美人的不尊敬的称呼。但在有这一特定含义之前这个词已存在于西班牙语之中。事实上，gringo 也许是 griego 一词的变体， 而后者则是西班牙语对拉丁语中Graecus “希腊的”一词的发展。 Griego 开始作形容词时意为“希腊的”； 作名词时意为“希腊，希腊语”。在西班牙语中也有“这对我来说象希腊语一样”的说法，这同英语中一样。这就帮我们理解为什么griego 开始有“胡说八道”的意思， 随着这层意思地延伸，就指“陌生人，即一个讲外语的人”。gringo 的变体已与希腊毫无关系而却有了“胡说八道”、 “外国人，尤指讲英语的人”等含义；在拉丁美洲它更指“北美人或英国人”。此词有记载的第一次在英语中的运用（1849年）是在约翰·伍德豪斯·奥杜邦的西部游记 中： “我们走过时四周都是叫喊声、怪叫声和‘外国佬’的叫骂声”〔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）〔assign〕We allot a half hour a day for recreation. Toapportion is to divide according to prescribed rules and implies fair distribution: 我们每天留出半小时为文体活动的时间。 词apportion 是指根据已定规则划分并含有公平分配的意思： 〔worry〕"Don't worry" is a much milder injunction than it once would have been,for the wordworry has softened its sense greatly over the course of its history. Its Old English ancestor,wyrgan, meant "to strangle.” Its Middle English descendant,worien, kept this sense and developed the new sense "to grasp by the throat with the teeth and lacerate" or "to kill or injure by biting and shaking.” This is the way wolves or dogs might attack sheep, for example.In the 16th centuryworry began to be used in the sense "to harass, as by rough treatment or attack,” or "to assault verbally,” and in the 17th century the word took on the sense "to bother, distress, or persecute.”It was a small step from this sense to the main modern senses "to cause to feel anxious or distressed" and "to feel troubled or uneasy,” first recorded in the 19th century.与过去相比，“别担心”这句话的命令意味减少了许多，因为随着历史的变迁worry 这个词的“攻击性”意味大大削弱了。 其古英语中的前身wyrgan, 意为“扼杀”。 在中世纪英语中的worien 保留了这个意思并衍生出一个新意思“用牙齿咬住喉咙并且撕裂”或“咬住并来回甩动以杀死或伤害”。 例如，这是狼或狗袭击羊的方式。16世纪，worry 开始含有“以粗暴手段或袭击方式来骚扰”，“口头攻击”的意思， 到了17世纪这个词产生了“干扰、使焦虑和烦扰”的意思。19世纪，这个词义向前发展了一点，产生了适用于当代的主要意思“使感到焦虑或痛苦”和“感到烦恼或不安”〔defeat〕These verbs mean to get the better of an adversary.这些动词都表示战胜对手的意思。〔defeat〕Subdue suggests mastery and control achieved by overpowering: Subdue 含有因为力量过于强大而打败和控制的意思： 〔criticize〕 Censure refers to open and strong expression of criticism;often it implies a formal reprimand: Censure 指的是公开和强烈的批评之意；它通常含有正式谴责的意思： 〔mince〕Don't mince words: say what you mean.不要忌讳：把你的意思直说出来〔mill〕Industrial mill towns are a far cry from the small water mill grinding grain near an Anglo-Saxon settlement,but the same wordmill is used in both contexts, showing how the meaning of a word can be generalized.The Old English wordmylen, "water mill for grinding grain,” is itself adopted from Late Latinmolīna or molīnum, "mill,” just as the Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxons, adopted the water mill from the Romans.In Middle Englishmilne, the descendant of the Old English word, was generalized to refer to a windmill, any power-driven mill for grinding grain, and a fulling mill.But it was left for the postmedieval,increasingly industrialized world really to generalize the meaning ofmill, applying it to machines such as pepper mills and cider millsand buildings such as textile mills and steel mills.Mill town is first recorded in 1847. 工业化的制造区与原来盎格鲁-撒克逊人居住地附近那种靠水力推动来磨谷物的小型磨臼大不相同，但mill 这个词对这两种情况都适用， 这可以体现出某一词汇的意思是可以有概括性的。古英语中mylen 一词有“磨谷物的水磨”的意思， 这个词由后期拉丁语中的molina 或 molinum 而来，意为“磨臼”， 正如日尔曼民族中的盎格鲁-撒克逊人从罗马人那里引进了水磨。中古英语中milne 一词由古英语词而来， 它的词义已扩大，可指风车、任何靠动力驱动来磨谷物的磨以及缩洗机。不过在中世纪晚期，不断发展的工业化世界真正使mill 这个词在意义上有所扩大， 它可以指胡椒研磨机或苹果榨汁机等机器，也可以指纺织厂或钢铁厂等工厂。Mill town 这个词最早见载于1847年 〔pueblo〕The identity of the Pueblo peoples is undeniably connected to the stone and adobe dwellings they have occupied for more than 700 years—especially from an etymological point of view.Originally coming from the Latin wordpopulus, "people, nation,” the Spanish wordpueblo, meaning "town, village,” as well as "nation, people,”was naturally applied by 16th-century Spanish explorers to villages that they discovered or founded in the Southwest.The English wordpueblo is first recorded in an American text in this sense in 1808, marking it as an Americanism.The distinctive adobe or stone villages of the Pueblo peoples,with some buildings rising as high as five stories,must have impressed the Spaniards considerably,becausepueblo came to be transferred from a name for the village to a name for its inhabitants, perhaps in honor of their architectural achievements or simply as an obvious way to distinguish the Pueblo from other Native American peoples.The first recorded usage of this sense is found in 1834.无可质疑，普埃布洛族的象征是与他们已经居住了700年的土石结构房屋联系在一起的——尤其是从词源学的角度来看。最初源于意为“民族，国家”的拉丁语populus， 意为“城镇，村庄”的西班牙语pueblo ， 同时也有“民族，国家”的意思，16世纪的西班牙探险家们很自然地用这个词来称呼他们在西南部发现或建立的村庄。英语中pueblo 的这个含义最早记载于1808年的一篇美国课文中， 这标志着它成了一个美语词。普埃布洛族有特色的石造和土造村庄，有些建筑高达五层，肯定给西班牙人留下了深刻的印象，因为pueblo 这个词是从这个村庄的名字转变成村庄中居民的名字的， 这可能是出于对他们建筑成就的敬仰或仅仅作为将普埃布洛族和其它美洲土著民族区分开的明显途径。这个词义是在1834年最早有使用记载的。〔burn〕These verbs mean to injure or alter by means of intense heat or flames.这些动词的意思是通过高温或火焰的方式伤害或使改变。〔Hoosier〕As the fame of Indiana basketball grows ever greater,perhaps a larger number of people have become curious about the origins of the wordHoosier, the nickname for a native or resident of Indiana. As more than one of the curious has discovered,the origins are rather opaque.The most likely possibility is thatHoosier is an alteration of hoozer, an English dialect word recorded in Cumberland,a former county of northwest England, in the late 19th century and used to refer to anything unusually large.The transition betweenhoozer and Hoosier is not clear. The first recorded instance ofHoosier meaning "Indiana resident" is dated 1826; however, it seems possible that senses of the word recorded later in theDictionary of Americanisms, including "a big, burly, uncouth specimen or individual; a frontiersman, countryman, rustic,”reflect the kind of use this word had before it settled down in Indiana.随着印第安纳州篮球的名声越来越响，也许很多人对Hoosier， 印第安纳州人或定居者的别称这个词的来源感到好奇。 正如若干好奇者所发现的那样，其来源非常隐晦。最大的可能性是Hoosier 是 hoozer 的变体， 这是记录于坎伯兰的英格兰方言，19世纪后期英格兰西北部以前的一个郡，用来指特别巨大的东西。Hoozer 和 Hoosier 之间的过渡并不清楚。 意思是“印第安那州居住者”的Hoosier 的首次记载是在1826年； 但是可能该词的解释后来收录于美国俗语词典 中， 包括“一个庞大的、粗壮的、野蛮的种类或个体；拓荒者，乡巴佬，庄稼人，”可能反映了它在落户印第安那之前所有的用法〔behalf〕Traditionally,in behalf of and on behalf of have distinct senses. In behalf of means "for the benefit of,” as inWe raised money in behalf of the earthquake victims. On behalf of means "as the agent of; on the part of,” as inThe guardian signed the contract on behalf of the minor child. The two senses are quite close, however,and are often confused, even by reputable writers.传统上in behalf of 和 on behalf of 有着不同的意思。 In behalf of 意为“为了…的利益”， 如我们为地震受灾者筹款。 On behalf of表示“作为…的代理人；代表…”， 如监护人代表那个小孩签了合同。 但这两种意思相当接近，因此经常被弄混，连一些名作家也时常混用〔equal〕It has been argued thatequal is an absolute term— two quantities either are or are not equal—and hence cannot be qualified as to degree.Therefore one cannot logically speak ofa more equal allocation of resources among the departments. However, this usage was accepted by 71 percent of the Usage Panel in an earlier survey.What is more, objection to the usage betrays a widespread but questionable assumptionthat it is in mathematics and logic that we find the model of accuracy most appropriate to the everyday use of language,a supposition that also underlies traditional grammatical discussions of words such asunique, parallel, and center. According to this account,the "precise" or "literal" meaning ofequal is realized in the use of the equal sign in an arithmetic expression such as 5 + 2 = 7; and the ordinary-language uses of the term,though they may be permissible,represent "loose" or "imprecise" extensions of that sense.But in fact the mathematical concept of equality is a poor model for using the wordequal to describe relations between things in the world. As applied to such things,statements of equality are always relative to an implicit standard of tolerance.When someone saysThe two boards are of equal length, we assume that the equality is reckoned to some order of approximation determined by the context;if we did not,we would be required always to usenearly equal when speaking of the dimensions of physical objects. What is more,we often want to predicate equality of things that do not admit of quantitative measurement,as when we sayThe college draft was introduced in an effort to make the teams in the National Football League as equal as possible, orThe candidates for the job should all be given equal consideration. In all such cases,equality is naturally a gradient notionand so is amenable to modification in degree.This much is evident from the existence of the wordunequal. The prefixun- attaches only to gradient adjectives: we sayunmanly but not unmale; and the worduneven can be applied to a surface (whose evenness may be a matter of degree) but not to a number (whose evenness is an either-or affair). ·The adverbequally is generally regarded as redundant when used in combination with as, and the following examples employingequally as were termed unacceptable by 63 percent of the Usage Panel in an earlier survey: 单词equal 一向被认为是一个很绝对的词语—— 两个数量要么相同要么不同——这样就不能有程度上的差别。所以，如果有人说在各部门间对资源更公平的分配 ，那么就不合逻辑了。 但是这种用法在早先的用法调查中被百分之七十一用法使用小组的人接受。而且，对这种用法的反对体现出了一种很流行但却值得怀疑的假设，那就是我们从数学和逻辑中得出适用于日常语言准确性的实例，而这种假设也可从我们对一些词，如unique，parallel 和 center 传统的语法讨论中体现出来。 根据这个解释，equal “准确”或“书面”的意思则是由在算术表达式，如5+2=7中所运用的相同的符号而表达清楚的； 而该词在日常语言中的用法，虽然被允许，但却代表了其含意“松散”或“不严谨”的引申。但是实际上用数学概念上的相等来运用equal 这个词描述世上各种事物之间的关系是一个很差劲的例子。 当该词应用于生活中的事物时，相等的观念往往与暗含的容忍相关联。当有人说两块木板同样长 时， 我们会认为由于上下文的关系，相等可以被看作大约近似；如果我们不这样想，那么当我们谈到物体的尺寸时，就要经常使用nearly equal 。 另外，我们常常会预测和数量无关的事物的相同性，比如我们会说，引入大学的要求是为了使全国足球联合会中的各队尽可能平等 ， 或者应给予该项工作的应征者同等的考虑 。 在所有这些例子中，相等是个可变化的概念，所以可在程度有所不同。Unequal 这个词的存在就是很好的证明。 un- 这个前缀只附加于有程序变化的形容词， 我们说unmanly 但不说 unmale ； 而uneven 这个词只能用于某物的表面（其平坦可有程度上的差别）， 而不能用于数目（数目只能说相等或不相等）。Equally 这一副词在与 as 连用时通常被认为是多余的， 在早先的用法调查中，以下这些使用equally as 的句子遭到百分之六十三使用小组的人反对： 〔surprise〕Dumbfound adds toastound the suggestion of perplexity and often wordlessness: Dumbfound 除有astound 的意思外，还表示困惑及无话可说： 〔brute〕"the brutal amusements of the bullbaiting or the cockpit" (William Howitt).Bothbeastly and bestial imply degeneracy or moral degradation: “纵狗咬牛或斗鸡的残酷娱乐” （威廉·豪威特）。beastly 和 beastial 含有堕落，道德腐化的意思： 〔disband〕des- [dis-] des- [表示“除去”的意思] 〔cruel〕Inhuman means markedly deficient in those qualities such as kindness and sympathy that are proper to a human being: Inhuman 的意思是明显缺乏适宜于人类的诸如仁慈和同情之类的那些素质的： 〔dishabille〕des- [dis-] des- [表示“不，去除”的意思] 〔immaterial〕The wordimmaterial, meaning "of no importance or relevance,” has made its way in the world in spite of the opposition of no less a figure than Samuel Johnson. Johnson stated that "this sense has crept into the conversation and writings of barbarians; but ought to be utterly rejected.”More than two centuries laterit is difficult for us to recover Johnson's strength of feeling,and this tale might in fact serve as a warning to those who believe that the usages they abominate will not survive and become standard.Although Johnson was a man of immense learning,he did not have the lexicographical resources available today.If Johnson had had access to theOxford Latin Dictionary and the Middle English Dictionary, among other works, he would have seen that frommāter, meaning "a mother,” "a plant as the source of things such as cuttings or fruit,” and "a source,”was derived the wordmāteria, meaning "wood as a building material,” "any substance of which a physical object is made,” "the subject matter of a speech or book,” and "the condition whereby an action is effected.”The adjectivemāteriālis derived from māteria only meant "of or concerned with subject matter" in Classical Latin, but its descendant in Late and Medieval Latin and its descendants in Old French (materiel ) and Middle English ( material ) developed other meanings, such as "consisting of matter.”One Middle English sense, "important, relevant,”that probably harks back to senses of Classical Latinmāteria such as "subject matter" continued in existence after Middle English times. So it was natural for the English wordimmaterial, first recorded in the 15th century, to come to mean "not important,” in spite of Johnson's wrath.尽管不只塞缪尔·约翰逊一个人反对意思为“不重要的，无关紧要的”，immaterial 这个词还是产生了。 约翰逊声明：“这个意思偷偷出现在野蛮民族的对话和写作中；但应该遭到完全抵制。”两个多世纪之后，我们很难重新找到约翰逊强烈的感受。这个故事实际上可以算是对那些认为他们厌恶的用法不可能生存和标准化的人的一种警告。尽管约翰逊是一个博学的人，但是他没有今天可以得到的词汇学的资料。如果约翰逊除了其他著作外能得到牛津拉丁语词典 和 中古英语词典 的话， 他就能从中认识到这一点：mater ， 意思为“母亲”，“作为诸如剪下的东西或水果来源的一株植物”和“来源”，是由materia ， 意思为“建筑用的木材”，“用于制造物体的任何材料”，“讲话或著作的主题”和“影响一个行动的条件”而衍变而来的。形容词materalis 是由在古典拉丁语中仅仅意味着“和主题有关的” materia 衍变而来的， 但它在中古拉丁语和后期拉丁语中的衍生词和古法语中的衍生词(materiel )以及中古英语中的衍生词( material )继续发展有了其他的意思， 如“由物质组成的”。中古英语的一个意思“重要的、有关的”，很可能追溯到古典拉丁语materia 的意思如“主题”在中古英语时期之后继续存在。 因此，最早在15世纪被记录下来的英语单词immaterial 至今仍有“不重要的”的意思是很自然的， 尽管约翰逊对此很愤怒〔difficulty〕dis- [dis-] dis- [前缀，表相反的意思] 〔chance〕Random implies the absence of a specific pattern or objective and suggests a lack of direction that might or could profitably be imposed: Random 含指没有特定的模式或目的，并含有缺少原本能有益定向意思： 〔impeach〕Nothing hobbles a President so much as impeachment,and there is an etymologicalas well as procedural reason for this.The wordimpeach can be traced back through Anglo-Norman empecher to Late Latin impedicāre, "to catch, entangle,”from Latinpedica, "fetter for the ankle, snare.” Thus we find that Middle Englishempechen, the ancestor of our word,means such things as "to cause to get stuck fast,” "hinder or impede,” "interfere with,” and "criticize unfavorably.”A legal sense ofempechen is first recorded in 1384. This sense, which had previously developed in Old French,was "to accuse, bring charges against.”A further development of the sense had specific reference to Parliament and its formal accusation of treason or other high crimes,a process that the United States borrowed from the British.Although we have used it rarely at the federal level,impeachment stands as the ultimate snare for those who would take advantage of the public trust.没有事能象弹劾那样会使总统陷入窘境了，这既有词源的原因，又有程序上的原因。impeach 这个词能够通过英国法语中的 empecher 追溯到后期拉丁语中的 impedicare ， 意思为“抓住，牵连”，源自拉丁语中的pedica ，意思是“脚镣，圈套”。 于是我们发现中古英语中的empechen ， 我们现在这个词的前身，有着诸如“使牢牢困住”，“妨碍或阻止”，“干涉”和“令人不利地批评”等意思。empechen 在法律方面的意思最早在1384年被记录下来。 这个意思，原先在古法语中有一定发展，意思是“控告，指控。”这个意思的进一步发展到议会和议会对叛国罪或其他重大罪行的指控，这一程序是美国从英国那里借鉴而来的。尽管我们在联邦一级上很少使用，但是弹劾对于那些滥用公众信任的人来说是最终的陷阱〔envy〕 Envy is wider in range than the others since it combines discontent, resentment, and desire: Envy 较其它词具有更广的范围，因为它包含了不满、憎恶和渴望几个意思： 〔punish〕 Punish is the least specific: Punish 的意思是最不具体的： 〔decrease〕Diminish implies taking away or removal: Diminish 含有拿走或除去的意思： 〔coupon〕A Roman might have had difficulty predicting what would become of the Latin wordcolaphus, which meant "a blow with the fist.” In Old French, a language that developed from Latin,Late Latincolpus, from Latin colaphus, became colp, or modern French coup, with the same sense. Coup has had a rich development in French, gaining numerous senses, participating in numerous phrases,such ascoup d'état (a term that we have borrowed), and giving rise to many derivatives, includingcouper, "to cut; literally, to divide with a blow or stroke.” Couper yielded the word coupon, "a portion that is cut off,” which came to refer to a certificate that was detachable from a principal certificate.The detachable certificate could be exchanged for interest or dividend payments by the holder of the principal certificate.Coupon is first recorded in English in 1822 with this sense and then came to apply to forms or tickets, detachable or otherwise,that could be exchanged for various benefits or used to request information.罗马人大概很难想象拉丁词colaphus 意为“拳头的一击”所发生的变化。 在由拉丁文发展而来的古法语中，由拉丁词colaphus 转变为后期拉丁文中的 colpus ，变为了 colp 或现代法语中的 coup ，意思未变。 Coup 在法语中变化发展很多， 具有了许多意思，组成了许多短语，如coup d'ètat （英语中已借用的单词），并生成许多派生词， 包括couper “切；字面上的意思是用一击或一打使分开。” Couper 又产生了 coupon 一词，意思是“切掉的一部分”， 并且还用来指可从主要证书中分开的票证。这个可分票证可以由主证书的持有者为得利息或分期付款进行交换。Coupon 有这个意思的最早记录是在1882年， 然后被用来指格式或门票，可分离的或其他样式，它可以用来交换不同的利益或用来获取信息 |
| 随便看 |
|
英汉汉英双解词典收录301015条英汉双解翻译词条，可根据汉字查询相应的英文词汇，基本涵盖了全部常用汉字的英文读音、翻译及用法，是英语学习及翻译工作的有利工具。