单词 | 演变史 |
释义 | 〔inkling〕One of the more fascinating journeys in the histories of words is the one that linksnest and inkling. We begin this journey with the Indo-European rootnizdo-, which by way of Germanic.nist- will give us nest but also leads to Latinnīdus, "nest.” From Latinnīdus may come Old French (and modern French) niche, meaning "niche.” It is possible that in Old French a variant form existed that was borrowed into Middle English asnik, meaning "a notch, tally.” This word seems related to the Middle English wordnikken, which may mean "to mark a text for correction,”andnikking, "a hint, slight indication,” or possibly "a whisper, mention.” The wordnikking appears only once, in a Middle English text composed around 1400, as does the wordningkiling, found in another copy of the same text. It is possible thatningkiling is from nikking. Furthermore, it is probable that people divideda ninkling incorrectly and got an inkling, just as they did witha napron, getting an apron. If all this has indeed happened,inkling has come a long way from the nest. 在单词的演变史中,从nest 到 inkling 是一个有趣的过程。 我们从印欧语系词根nizdo- 开始, 通过日耳曼语的nist- 变为我们的 nest , 也衍生出拉丁语的nidus ,“巢”之意。 从拉丁语的nidus 有了古法语(和现代法语)中的 niche ,表示“壁龛”。 有可能在法语中有一个变体是从中古英语的nik (刻痕,计分)变化而来。 这个词看来与中古英语中的nikken 一词有关, 它的意思是“为改正一篇文字而做记号”,也与nikking 有关,意为“暗示,轻微指示”或也可能是“低声说话,提及”之意。 在一篇1400年左右所作的中古英语文章中,hikking 只出现了一次, 在同样内容的另一份版本中ningkiling 也只出现了一次。 所以有可能ninkiling 是由 nikking 变化而来。 此外,很有可能人们错误地将a ninkling 分开从而得到 an inkling , 就象人们错误地处理a napron 从而得到 an apron 一样。 如果所有这些真的发生了,inkling 一词从其巢穴走了一条长长的演变之路 |
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