| 单词 | 拼写 |
| 释义 | 〔form〕The external aspect of words with regard to their inflections, pronunciation, or spelling:字的形式变化：因词形、发音或拼写变化的一个词的不同形体之一：〔mayday〕"Mayday, mayday!” comes the international distress signal over the radio,and nobody stops to ask why the first of May is being mentioned at a time of crisis.Mayday, in fact, has nothing to do with the first of May. Instead, it is a spelling that represents the pronunciation of Frenchm'aidez, "help me,” or the latter part of the phrase venez m'aider, "come help me,” either of which are quite appropriate at such a critical juncture.“救命，救命!”无线电接收机中传来国际遇险呼救信号，总有人询问为何在危急时刻使用五月的第一天作为信号。实际上，Mayday 和五月份的第一天没有任何关系。 相反，它只是和法语中m'aidez “帮助我”或短语 venez m'aider “来帮助我”的后半部分的读音相同的一种拼写， 均适用于指紧要关头〔phonics〕A method of teaching elementary reading and spelling based on the phonetic interpretation of ordinary spelling.读音法：以一般拼写的语音解释为基础教授基本拼读的方法〔respell〕To spell again or in a new way, especially by using a phonetic alphabet.重拼：重新或以新的方式拼写，尤指通过使用音标〔avocado〕The history ofavocado takes us back to the Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs) word ahuacatl, "fruit of the avocado tree" or "testicle.”The wordahuacatl was compounded with others, as inahuacamolli, meaning "avocado soup or sauce,” from which the Spanish-Mexican wordguacamole derives. In trying to pronounceahuacatl, the Spanish who found the fruit and its Nahuatl name in Mexico came up with aguacate, but other Spanish speakers substituted the formavocado for the Nahuatl word becauseahuacatl sounded like the early Spanish word avocado (now abogado ), meaning "lawyer.” In borrowing the Spanishavocado, first recorded in English in 1697 in the compound avogato pear ( with a spelling that probably reflects Spanish pronunciation),we have lost many of the traces of the more interesting Nahuatl word.词avocado 的历史将我们带回那瓦特尔语（阿兹特克人的语言）单词 ahuacatl， “鳄梨树的果实”或“睾丸”。单词ahuacatl 与其它词结合， 如ahuacamolli 表示“鳄梨汤或调味汁，” 西班牙-墨西哥语单词guacamole 即源于此。 当试图读出ahuacatl 时，西班牙人发现了鳄梨果实及其在墨西哥的那瓦特尔语名称并提出了 aguacate ， 但另一些讲西班牙语的人以avocado 替代了这个那瓦特尔语单词， 因为ahuacatl 的发音听起来象早期西班牙单词 avocado， （现在的 abogado ），表示“律师。” 英语中首次借用这个西班牙单词avocado， 记录于1697年，在复合词 鳄梨 （ 其拼写可能反映了西班牙语发音），我们已经失落了很多更有趣的那瓦特尔语单词的踪迹〔mammoth〕The mammoth was introduced to the English-speaking world after mammoth skeletons were discovered in Siberia,so it is no surprise that this creature's name is taken from Russian,even though the animal roamed over Eurasia and North America.The Russian word, nowmamant' but formerlymamot as well, was borrowed into English in variant spellings.It was first recorded in 1706in the formMammuth, but in 1763 we find the formmammon. It is said that the Russian word is a borrowing of an Ostyak word (the Ostyak people live in western Siberia),but this has not been proved.猛犸这个词是在西伯利亚发现猛犸骨骼之后才引入英语的，所以这种动物的名称起源于俄语也就不足为奇了，尽管这种动物曾在欧亚大陆和北美到处游荡。俄语中的这个词，现在是mamant' ， 但以前为mamot ， 被引入英文时出现了不同的拼写方法。最早的记载是1706年，其形式是Mammuth， 但在1763年，其形式就变成了mammon。 据说俄语这个词也是源于一个奥斯加克语中一个词（奥斯加克人居住于西伯利亚西部），但这种说法还没有得到证实〔ballyhoo〕The origin ofballyhoo has been the subject of much speculation. This spelling has actually graced four different words:ballyhoo, "sensational advertising"; ballyhoo, a spelling of balao, a kind of fish; ballyhoo, a part of the name ballyhoo bird, about which more later; andballyhoo, a sailor's epithet for a disliked ship. This lastballyhoo (first recorded in 1836) was thought to be related to, or the same as, the word ballahou, from Spanishbalahú, "a type of schooner common in the Antilles.” First recorded in 1867,ballahou, besides being a term for a specific kind of ship, was also used contemptuously of inferior ships.But the connection between these sailing terms or the name of the fish and our wordballyhoo, first recorded in 1901, has not been established. There may, however, be a tie betweenballyhoo and the creature called a ballyhoo bird. According to a July 1880 article inHarper's, the bird had four wings and two heads and could whistle through one bill while singing through the other.Anyone who has ever hunted a snipe will know what hunting ballyhoo birds was like.单词ballyhoo 的来源一直存在种种推测。 这个词的拼写实际上包含有四个不同的词：ballyhoo， 意为“耸人听闻的广告”； ballyhoo， 是 balao 的一种拼写，是一种鱼； ballyhoo， 是 ballyhoo bird 的一部分,其出现更晚； 还有一个是ballyhoo， 是水手对不喜欢的船的称呼。 这最后一个ballyhoo （最早记载于1836年）被认为与 ballahou 有关或相同， 该词来自西班牙语balahu， 意为“流行于安的列斯群岛的一种纵帆船。” 首次记载于1867年，ballahou 一词除表示一种特殊的船外， 还表示同时代的劣等船。但这些与航海有关的词或鱼类名称的词与我们所使用的、首次记载于1901年的一词ballyhoo 之间尚未建立联系。 然而也许ballyhoo 一词与被称为 ballyhoo bird 的生物之间有某种联系。 根据1880年7月哈帕斯 杂志中一篇文章的描写， 这种鸟有四翅双头，可以用其中一张嘴吹哨，同时用另一张嘴唱歌。任何曾经猎过鹬鸟的人将会知道捕猎“巴里嗬”鸟是怎样的一种情景〔stateside〕Especially since World War II,the adverbstateside has commonly been used by Americans traveling abroad to mean "to, toward, or in the United States.” During the postwar period the term gained currency among Alaskans,familiar with the feeling of being far removed from the rest of the continental United States.They adoptedstateside into their vocabularies as a way of referring to their fellow Americans to the south.Russell Tabbert of the University of Alaska observesthatstateside "has some currency primarily as a noun modifier, but also as an adverbial,” as in this instance: "Most of the owners live in Anchorage; some 14 1045384764ve stateside" (Alaska Magazine).It may or may not be capitalized.Stateside, the lower states, the South, and ( the ) Outside are all used in Alaska to denote "the 48 contiguous states.” All these terms, however, are losing out tothe Lower 48, which, as Tabbert points out,is always spelled in Alaska with a capital L and with Arabic numerals.尤其从二战以来，副词stateside 已普遍被旅行在外的美国人用于指“到、去或在美国”。 战后时期这一词语在阿拉斯加人中广为使用，他们对远离美国大陆其它各州的感觉再熟悉不过了。他们将stateside 纳入他们的词汇， 用作指南边的美国同胞。阿拉斯加大学的鲁赛尔·塔贝特发现，stateside “主要用作名词修饰语，但也用作副词”， 如下例： “大部分所有者住在隐居之处；大约占14的人们住在美国大陆” （《阿拉斯加杂志》）。它可以大写也可以不大写。Stateside，the lower states，the South 和( the ) Outside 在阿拉斯加都被用于指"48个美国本土的州”。 但是所有这些说法都没有the lower 48 使用普遍， 塔贝特指出，这个用法在阿拉斯加州总是被拼写成带大写L和阿拉伯数字的形式〔spell〕To name or write in order the letters constituting (a word or part of a word).拼写：依次说出或写出组成（一个字或字的一部分）的字母〔style〕A customary manner of presenting printed material, including usage, punctuation, spelling, typography, and arrangement.体例：印刷时以采用的习惯方式，包括铅字、标点、拼写、字体及排版〔ferninst〕Ferninst, meaning "opposite, next to, against,” has been attributed to Irish English, brought over during the peak years of Irish immigration to the United States in the mid-19th century. However, other, earlier citations with various spellings date further back: "I walked with them to a room nearly fornent the old state-house" (Davy Crockett). These variant forms are traceable to the American colonial period, when the source of ferninst was probably Scotland or other parts of the British Isles. The term is now dying out; Craig M. Carver, in his book American Regional Dialects, reports that "only nine [ DARE ] informants, all well over sixty-five years of age, used this term.” A derived noun ferninster, meaning "someone who is deliberately contrary,” is also used: "The trouble with the Republican leaders in Congress . . . is that they are just ferninsters" (William Allen White). Ferninst 的意思是“在…对面、附近或旁边，”该词曾被认为属于爱尔兰英语，是19世纪中期爱尔兰人迁移到美国的高峰期带来的。然而，其它或更早的不同拼写的引证可追溯到更远： “我和他们走到几乎正对着那个旧客舱的一个屋子里” （戴维克·罗克特）。这些不同的形式可追溯到美国殖民时期， ferninst 的起源可能是苏格兰或英国小岛的其他部分。这个词条现在消失了；克瑞格·M·卡文，在他的书 美国地区方言 中记述了“仅九个[ 美国方言 资料提供者，年纪都已过了六十五岁，用这个词条”。派生的名词 ferninster， 意思是“故意相反的人，”也用于： 共和党领导在议会中的麻烦…是因为他们只是些自相矛盾的人 （威廉·艾伦·怀特） 〔normalize〕To make (a text or language) regular and consistent, especially with respect to spelling or style.使标准化：使（课文或语言）标准或与特别是拼写或形式相符〔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 〔posthumous〕The wordposthumous is associated with death, both in meaning and in form. Our word goes back to the Latin wordpostumus, meaning "last born, born after the death of one's father, born after the making of a will,” and "last, final.”Postumus was largely used with respect to events occurring after death but not exclusively so,since the word was simply one of the superlative forms of the adverbpost, "subsequently, afterward.” Because of its use in connection with death,however, later Latin writers decided that the last part of the word must have to do withhumus, "earth,” or humāre, "to bury,” and began spelling the wordposthumus. This form of the Latin word was borrowed into English,being first recorded in a work composed before 1464.Perhaps the most telling use of the word appears in the poet Robert Southey's comment on the rewards of an author:"It was well we should be contented with posthumous fame, but impossible to be so with posthumous bread and cheese.”Posthumous 这个词在意义和形式上都与死亡有关。 英语中这个词可追溯到拉丁语postumus ， 意为“最后生的，父亲死后生的，立遗嘱之后出生的”和“最后的，最终的。”Postumus 绝大多数情况下用来指死后所发生的事情， 但也并非仅此一种用法，因为这个词只是意为“随后地，后来地”副词post 的最高级形式之一。 由于其用法与死亡有关，因此后来的拉丁语作者们决定该词的后半部分应与humus “土地”或 humare “埋葬”有关， 并开始将这个词拼写成posthumus。 这个拉丁词的拼写形式后来被借用到英语中，在英语中首次记录于1464年前所著的一部作品中。也许这个词最显著的使用出现在诗人罗伯特·骚塞对一个作者所得奖励的评论中：“我们满足于死后得到的声名，而不可能满足于死后所得到面包与奶酪，这样很好”〔Ouija〕A trademark used for a board with the alphabet and other symbols on it, and a planchette that is thought, when touched with the fingers, to move in such a way as to spell out spiritualistic and telepathic messages on the board.灵应牌：一种写着的字母和其他符号的木板和扶乩板的商标，人们认为用手指与其接触时，它就会以某种方式移动并在板上拼写出通神的或传心术的信息〔chirren〕The linguistic process of ellipsis allows for the deletion within words of some internal sounds, such as weakly stressed syllables and less prominent consonants.This process caused Old Englishheafod ultimately to become Modern English head, losing its internal v sound (spelled f in Old English). Ellipsis is still an active process in American regional dialects.For example, inchirren both the l and the d of children are omitted in favor of the more conspicuous r. 轻音和次要辅音等语言上的省略过程造成单词某些内部音素的缺乏。这一过程导致古英语中的heafod 省略词中内部音素 V （古英语中拼写成 f ）而最终变成现代英语中 head 一词。 在美国的地区方言中活力过程仍然起着作用。例如，为了在chirren 一词中突出更显著的音素 r ，将 children 中的 l 和 d 两个音素都省略了 〔purty〕Purty is probably the most common American example of metathesis, a linguistic process in which two adjacent sounds are reversed in order.Metathesis in English often involves the consonantr and a vowel, since the phonetic properties ofr are so vowellike. For example,the wordthird used to be thrid, and bird, brid. By the same process,Englishpretty often came to be realized as purty in regional speech. Most such words stabilized because of the influence of printing and the resultant standardized spelling,butpurty for pretty has survived in regional American dialects. Purty 可能是美国换位词最普遍的一个例子， 换位是两个相邻的音在顺序上调换位置的语法过程。英语中的换位经常包括辅音r 和一个元音， 因为r 的语音属性是非常像元音的。 举个例子来说，单词third 过去曾是 thrid 及 bird和brid。 具有同样的过程，英语单词pretty 在区域性语言中常被渐渐地认作 purty。 大部分这样的单词固定下来是因为印刷的影响以及由此而产生的标准化拼写，但是代替pretty 的 purty 却在美国区域性的方言中存在下来了 〔agin〕The spelling ofagin reflects both the raised vowel before a nasal consonant, typical of Southern dialects, and a reduced final consonant cluster, typical of several regional varieties.Agin has a wide spectrum of senses in the regional speech of those who pronounce it this way. Indeed, these regional senses are tied to the pronunciation,for standard Englishagainst does not quite capture the full implication of the assertion "I'm agin him" — that is, "opposed to him and all that he stands for.”Another regional sense recalls the original literal Old English sense of "facing; next to" (see the first four senses ofagainst in the Oxford English Dictionary), where standard English would haveby: Their house is agin the mountain.Agin may be used figuratively with regard to time chiefly in South Midland dialects,meaning "by or before (a specified time)”: "I'll be there agin daylight" (North Carolina informant in DARE).词汇agin 的拼写既反映了典型的南部方言──鼻辅音前的元音的提高， 又反映了压缩的后辅音群──几种典型的地方变体的特征。Agin 在它被如此发音的地方方言有广泛的意思。 确实，这些地域意义是和读音联系在一起的，因为标准英语中against 没有完全表达 "I'm agin him" 所隐含的意义── 即“反对他及他所代表的一切。”另外一个地域意义使人想起古英语中最初的文学用语“面对；紧靠着”（参阅《牛津英语词典》中against 的前四个释义）， 而在标准英语中应该用by： 傍山而建的房屋。Agin 主要在中南部方言中可以比喻地用来表示时间，意思是“到或在…（特定时间）前”： “天亮前我可到达” （美国区域英语词典的北卡罗来纳提供资料者）〔naff〕In the dual tradition of looking to one's betters for models of how to use language and American obeisance to British usage,let us look at two British words spellednaff. One is an adjective,meaning "clichéd, unstylish" (first recorded in 1969),that may be derived from dialectal wordssuch asnaffhead, "simpleton,” or niffy-naffy, "stupid.” The othernaff is a verb, usually used in the imperative in combination withoff (first recorded in 1959). This is the delicate injunction that members of the royal family such as Princess Anne have used in requesting members of the press to beat it.The origin ofnaff is unknown, but it has been suggested thatnaff may be related to an older English slang term naf, meaning "the female sexual organ.” Naf has been derived from a backward spelling offan, from fanny. 在看待如何使用语言的模式和美语遵从于英语那个更好的两个传统上，让我们看两个拼写为naff 的美语单词。 一个是形容词，表示“过时的，老调的”（首次记录于1969年），可能源于方言单词，如naffhead “傻子”或 niffy-naffy “愚蠢的”。 另一个naff 是动词， 通常用于命令语气与off 连用（首次记录于1959年）。 这是王室家族成员如安娜公主在要求报刊成员禁用时所使用的微妙禁令。Naff 不知源自何处， 但它表明naff 有与旧英语俚语 naf 相关的迹象表示“女性生殖器官”。 Naf 源于从fanny 而来的逆序拼写形式 fan 〔misspell〕To spell incorrectly.误拼：错误地拼写〔speller〕An elementary textbook containing exercises that teach spelling.单词拼写课本：含有拼字练习的基础教科书〔Plexiglas〕A trademark used for a light, transparent, weather-resistant thermoplastic. This trademark, which often occurs in attributive contexts, also occurs in many instances lowercased and spelledplexiglass : 耐热有机玻璃：用作一种轻质、透明、防风雨的热塑料的商标这一商标常出现在定语的上下文中，也在许多小写的和拼写成plexiglass 的例子中出现： 〔Webster〕American lexicographer whoseSpelling Book (1783) helped standardize American spelling. His major work, An American Dictionary of the English Language, was originally published in 1828. 韦伯斯特，挪亚：(1758-1843) 美国词典编撰者，他的《美国拼音课本》 有助于美式拼写标准化。他的主要作品 《美式英语大词典》 最早出版于1828年 〔ask〕The proofreader queried the spelling of the word.校对员对这个词的拼写有疑问。〔till〕Till is actually the older word, withuntil having been formed by the addition to it of the prefix un-, meaning "up to.” In the 18th centurythe spelling'till became fashionable, as iftill were a shortened form of until. Although'till is now nonstandard, 'til is sometimes used in this way and is considered acceptable, though it is etymologically incorrect. Till 实际上是这两个词中较早使用的一个， 在它前面加一个表示“直到”的前缀un- 构成了 until 。 在18世纪，'till 这种拼写方式很时髦， 似乎till 成了 until 的缩写形式。 尽管'till 现在不是标准的用法， 即使从词源学角度讲它是不正确的，'til 有时还这样使用，而且被认为是可以接受的 〔rhubarb〕The wordrhubarb may contain two hidden references to its origins. The first of these is in therhu- part of the word, which can be traced back to the Greek wordrha, meaning "rhubarb.”According to the Late Latin historian Ammianus Marcellinus,rhubarb was namedrha because it grew near the river namedRha, which we know as the Volga. The-barb part of rhubarb was actually added first to Late Latin rha, descended from Greek rha, in the form rhabarbarum, barbarum being the neuter form of barbarus, "foreign.” Another Greek word for rhubarb,rhēon, influenced the Late Latin word rhabarbarum, giving usreubarbarum, which yielded Old Frenchreubarbe. The Old French form gave us Middle Englishrubarbe, first recorded in a work written around 1390.In imitation of the way the Greek wordrha is spelled, anh was added, completing the long journey of this word into English from the banks of the Volga in classical times.单词rhubarb 可能包含两个关于其语源的隐藏的参考信息。 第一个是单词中的rhu- 部分， 它可追溯到希腊单词rha， 意为“大黄。”根据后期拉丁历史学家阿米亚诺斯·马塞勒斯的意见，大黄被命名为rha， 因为它生长在我们称之为伏尔加河的Rha 河附近。 Rhubarb 中的 -barb 实际上最初以 rhabarbarum 的形式加在由希腊语 rha 传下来的后期拉丁语 rha 上， barbarum作为 barbarus （“异族的”）的中性形式。 另一个表大黄的希腊单词rheon 影响了后期拉丁单词 rhabarbarum， 让我们得到单词reubarbarum， 并由此产生了古法语词reubarbe 。 该古法语形式产生了中世纪英语rubarbe， 首次记录在写于1390年左右的一本著作中。模仿希腊单词rha 拼写的方式， 再加上一个h， 从而完成了这个词从古代伏尔加河岸转变到英语的漫长历程〔opossum〕The wordopossum takes us back to the earliest days of the United States. The settlement of Jamestown, Virginia, was founded in 1607 by the London Company, chartered for the planting of colonies.Even though the first years were difficult,promotional literature was glowing.In one such piece,A True Declaration of the Estate of the Colonie in Virginia, published in 1610, we find this passage: "There are . . . Apossouns, in shape like to pigges.”This is the first recorded use ofopossum, although in a spelling that differs from the one later settled on to reproduce the sound of the Virginia Algonquian word from which our word came.The wordopossum and its shortened form possum, first recorded in 1613 in more promotional literature, remind us of a time when the New World was still very new, settlers were few,and the inhabitants for whom the New World was not new were plentiful.词语opossum 把我们带回到了早期的美国社会。 伦敦公司，作为开拓殖民地的委托者，在1607年建立了弗吉尼亚詹姆斯敦的居民点。即使在最初的年代里很困难，激进文学也开始抬头。在其中有一篇于1610年出版的弗吉尼亚殖民地的真实宣言 ， 其中有一段“一种形似猪的动物”，就是最早的关于opossum 的记录， 虽然它的拼写和现在我们所使用的弗吉尼亚阿尔贡金语的拼写有所不同。词语opossum 和其缩写形式 possum 最初于1613年记录在更加激进的文学作品中， 让我们回想起当新大陆还很陌生而且只有很少的居住者时，已有许多对于新大陆并不陌生的土著居民〔vaquero〕Used chiefly in southwest and central Texas to mean a ranch hand or cowboy,the wordvaquero is a direct loan from Spanish; that is, it is spelled and pronounced, even by English speakers, much as it would be in Spanish.In California, however, the same word was Anglicized tobuckaroo. Craig M. Carver, author ofAmerican Regional Dialects, points out that the two words also reflect cultural differences between cattlemen in Texas and California.The Texas vaquero was typically a bachelor who hired on with different outfits,while the California buckaroo usually stayed on the same ranch where he was born or had grown up and raised his own family there.主要用于得克萨斯西南部和中部，指经营牧场的人或牧童，vaquero 这个词是直接从西班牙语引借过来的； 就是说，即使是说英语的人，拼写和发音这个词也按照西班牙语的方式。然而在加利福尼亚同一个单词被英化成buckaroo。 克雷格·M·卡弗尔，美国区域性方言 的作者， 指出这两个词反应出得克萨斯和加利福尼亚两地牧民之间文化上的差异。得克萨斯的牧童特指在不同牧场上雇佣的单身汉，但是加利福尼亚的牧人通常指呆在他出生或长大并建立自己家园的同一牧场上〔gauntlet〕In the first and second editions ofThe American Heritage Dictionary Usage Notes explained why the spelling gauntlet is acceptable for bothgauntlet 1 and gauntlet 2. Such has not always been the case.The story ofgauntlet 1, as into throw down the gauntlet, is unexciting: it comes from the Old French wordgantelet, a diminutive of gant, "glove.” From the time of its appearance in Middle English (in a work composed in 1449),the word has been spelled with anau as well as an a, still a possible spelling. But the othergauntlet, as into run the gauntlet, is an alteration of the earlier English formgantlope, which came from the Swedish wordgatlopp, a compound ofgata, "lane,” and lopp, "course.” The earliest recorded form of the English word,found in 1646,isgantelope, showing that alteration of the Swedish word had already occurred. The English word was then influenced by the spelling of the wordgauntlet, "glove,” and in 1676 we find the first recorded instance of the spellinggauntlet for this word, althoughgantelope is found as late as 1836. From then on spellings withau and a are both found. Theau seems to have won out, although one could say that thea is preferable because it reflects the Swedish source.In regard to a word that has been so altered in form,this seems a rather fine point.在第一和第二版的美国经典辞书 的用法说明解释了为什么拼写 gauntlet 是可接受的， 既对于gauntlet 1，又对于 gauntlet 2。 情况并不总是这样。gauntlet 1的故事， 如在拒绝挑战 中并不令人激动： 它来自于一法语老词gantelet ， gant 的小词缀“手套”。 自从它在中古英语出现之后（在1449年编的一著作中），这个词同au 的拼写已同 a 一样仍是可能的拼写形式。 但是另一个gauntlet ， 如在接受挑战 中， 是早期英语形式gantlope 的一个变体， 其来自于一瑞典词gatlopp ， gata “巷子”和 lopp “方向”的组合。 最早的这个英语单词的记录，出现于1646年，是gantelope ，表示这个瑞典单词的变体已出现。 这个英语单词然后被单词gauntlet “手套”的拼写所影响， 在1676年，我们发现了gauntlet 第一个有记录的例子， 尽管gantelope 直到1836年才发现。 此后，带有au 和 a 的拼写形式都被发现过。 au 似乎占优势， 尽管一个人可能说a 更好， 因它反映了瑞典语源。说到一个形式已发生了如此变化的单词，这似乎是个好建议〔powwow〕Because trances were so important to the Native American shaman as a means of getting in touch with spiritual forces beyond the ken of the normal person,the titlepowwaw, literally meaning "one who has visions,” was accorded him. One of the occurrences of this word in an early piece of propaganda designed to bring more settlers to New Englandrepresents fairly well the Puritan attitudes to the religion of the native inhabitants of the New World:"The office and dutie of the Powah is to be exercised principally in calling upon the Devil;and curing diseases of the sicke or wounded.”The word whose spelling was eventually settled in English aspowwow was also used as the name for ceremonies and councils, probably because of the important role played by the shaman in both.After the native peoples had been dealt withand the fear of devil worship was somewhat diminished,the newcomers decided that they could have powwows too,the first reference to one of these being recorded in the Salem, Massachusetts,Gazette of 1812: "The Warriors of the Democratic Tribe will hold a powwow at Agawam on Tuesday next.”The verbpowwow, "to confer,” was recorded even earlier, in 1780. 因为作为一种超出常人理解范围的与神灵联系的方式，催眠对于北美印第安人巫师来说是如此重要，故巫师被冠以字面意思为“有洞察力的人”的powwaw 这一名称。 这个词在早期为鼓励更多人去新英格兰定居而作的宣传中的出现，它很好地证明了清教徒们对于美洲大陆土著居民宗教的态度：“帕瓦仪式的职责与义务主要就是用来召唤魔鬼；治愈病人或伤者。”这个在英语中最后以powwow 的拼写形式固定下来的词也用作仪式及会议的名称， 这也许是因为巫师在两者中都起着重要作用。在与土著居民进行接触以后，随着对其魔鬼崇拜的恐惧逐渐消逝，那些新来者决定他们也可以举行帕瓦仪式，1812年马萨诸塞州塞勒姆的时事报 第一次提及了这种会议： “下星期二民主党派的斗士们将在阿加瓦姆召开会议”。动词意为“商讨”的powwow 则早在1780年就有记载了 〔crayfish〕The crayfish, also known as the crawfish, owes its name to a misunderstanding.The actual source of the word may be the Old High German wordkrebiz, "edible crustacean,” or a word related to it.From this Germanic source came Old Frenchcrevice, which when taken into English becamecrevise (first recorded in a document written in 1311-1312). In Old French and Middle English these words designated the crayfish.People began to pronounce and spell the last part of this word as if it werefish, the firstfish spelling (actually fysshes ) being recorded in 1555. Because of a variation in Anglo-Norman pronunciation,two forms of the word have come down to Modern English:crayfish and crawfish. 螯虾又名crawfish，正是出于误解才有现在这个名字。该词的真正来源可能是古高地德语中krebiz 一词， 意为“可食用的甲壳类动物”，或与之相关的一词。从这个日耳曼语词源中出现了古法语crevice 一词， 该词被借用入英语中变成了crevise （初次记录在1311-1312年间所写的一个文件中）。 在古法语和中世纪英语中这一词被称为crayfish。人们开始用fish 来发音和拼写这个词的后半部分， 而第一个fish 拼写法（实际上是 fysshes )被记录于1555年。 由于英国法语发音的差异，这个词的两种变体，即crayfish 和 crawfish 就共同延续到了现代英语中 〔ye〕spelling of the [the (using the letter thorn)] the的拼写 [定冠词（用字母th)] 〔carouse〕The origin of the wordcarouse can be found in a German interjection that meant "time to leave the bar.” Germangaraus, which is derived from the phrase gar ("all") aus ("out"), meaning "all out,” then came to mean "drink up, bottoms up,” and "a last drink before closing time.”The English borrowed this noun, with the meaning "the practice of sitting around drinking until closing time,”sometimes spelling the wordgaraus but usually spelling it closer to the way it is spelled today.Soon after the word is first recorded as a noun in 1559,we find the verbcarouse, in 1567. 单词carouse 的词源可以在意为“是离开酒吧的时候了”的日耳曼语感叹词中找到。 日耳曼语garaus 是从短语 gar （“所有的”） aus （“出去”），即“竭尽全力。全力以赴”的意思中衍生出来的； 接着又表示“喝光，干杯”和“打烊前的最后一杯”的意思。英语中借用这个名词，意为“坐着饮酒直至打烊的做法”；有时拼写成garaus ， 但通常其拼写更接近于现今的拼法。该词于1559年首次做名词记录下来后，我们很快地在1567年发现了动词carouse 〔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” 〔caterpillar〕It seems that the larvae of moths and butterflies are popularly seen as resembling other, larger animals.Consider the Italian dialect wordgatta, "cat, caterpillar"; the German dialect termtüfelskatz, "caterpillar" (literally "devil's cat"); the French wordchenille, "caterpillar" (from a Vulgar Latin diminutive, .canīcula, of canis, "dog"); and last but not least,our own wordcaterpillar, which appears probably to have come through Northern French from the Old French termchatepelose, meaning literally "hairy cat.”Our wordcaterpillar is first recorded in English in 1440 in the formcatyrpel. Catyr, the first part of catyrpel, may indicate the existence of an English word.cater, meaning "tomcat,”otherwise attested only incaterwaul. Cater would be cognate with Middle High German kater and Dutch kater. The latter part ofcatyrpel seems to have become associated with the word piller, "plunderer.” By giving the variant spelling -ar, Johnson's Dictionary set the spelling caterpillar with which we are familiar today. 似乎蛾子和蝴蝶的幼虫经常会被看成与其它较大动物相似。意大利方言中gatta， 一字，“猫，毛虫”； 日耳曼方言中tüfelskatz 一字“毛虫”（直译为“邪恶的猫”）； 法语词chenille， “毛虫”（来自民间拉丁语小词缀， canicula， 源自 canis ，是“狗”的意思）； 最后但并非不重要的一点，英语中caterpillar 一词， 可能是来源于从法国北部传来的古法语词汇chatepelose， 字面意思是“多毛的猫”。caterpillar 一字于1440年最早记录在英语中， 以catyrpel的形式出现。 Catyr是 catyrpel 的第一部分， 可能指明英语词cater 的存在， 意指“雄猫”，否则只能存在于caterwaul一词中。 Cater可能与中世纪高地德语 kater 和荷兰语 kater 有关。 catyrpel 一词的后一部分似乎与 piller 一词有关，意思是“强盗”。 约翰逊的词典 给出了不同的拼写- ar， 从而形成了我们今天所熟悉的 caterpillar 〔check〕checked her facts before speaking; check a spelling in the dictionary.在演讲之前核查她的事实；翻看字典检查一个词的拼写〔change〕change the spelling of a word.改变一个词的拼写〔glamour〕Many words, such ashonor, vapor, and labor, are usually spelled with an -or ending in American English but with an-our ending in British English. The preferred spelling ofglamour, however, is -our, making it an exception to the usual American practice.The adjective is more often spelledglamorous in both American and British usage. 美式英语中的许多词，如honor，vapor 和 labor 经常以 -or 作为拼写的结尾， 而在英式英语中却以-our 作为结尾。 但glamour 的拼法却以 -our 作为结尾， 成为美式英语中的例外。无论是在美式英语还是英式英语中这个形容词更经常地被拼为glamorous 〔china〕Our termchina for porcelain or ceramic ware is a shortening of chinaware and probably china dishes. Although the wordchina is identical in spelling to the name of the country, there are 16th- and 17th-century spellings likechiney, cheny, and cheney that reflect the borrowing into English of the Persian term for this porcelain,chīnī. The Persian word and the Sanskrit wordcīnāḥ, "Chinese people,” which gave us the English name for the country, go back to the Chinese wordQin, the name of the dynasty that ruled China from 221 to 206b.c. 我们所说的表示瓷器或陶器的词china 是 chinaware 或者可能是 china dishes 的缩写形式。 虽然china 这个词拼写上与中国的国名是一样的， 但16和17世纪时也有chiney，cheny 和 cheney 等拼法， 表明英语借用了波斯语中表示这种瓷器的词，chini 。 这个波斯词，还有梵语中cinah 一词（“中国人”，英语中中国的名称即从这个词而来）， 都来自汉语里的Qin 字， 这是从公元前 221至206年统治中国的王朝的名称 〔variant〕Something that differs in form only slightly from something else, as a different spelling or pronunciation of the same word.异体：在形式上只是轻微地不同于其它的东西，如同一单词的不同拼写或发音 |
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