| 单词 | 现代法语 |
| 释义 | 〔menu〕An enormous menu might be considered an oxymoronif one were to restrict the word etymologically.Menu can be traced back to the Latin word minūtus, meaning "small in size, amount, or degree"and also "possessing or involving minute knowledge.”Latinminūtus became Old French menut and Modern French menu, "small, fine, trifling, minute.” The French adjective came to be used as a nounwith the sense of "detail, details collectively,” and "detailed list.”As such, it was used in the phrasemenu de repas, "list of items of a meal,” which was shortened tomenu. This word was borrowed into English,being first recorded in 1837.The French word had been borrowed before,perhaps only briefly,as a shortening of the French phrasemenu peuple, "the common people.” This usage, however, is recorded in only one text, in 1658.“一个庞大的菜单”这一说法可能会被看成是一种矛盾的修辞法，如果人们从语源学角度对这个词进行限制的话。Menu 这个词的词源可上溯到拉丁词 minutus， 意为“尺寸、数量或程度小的”，或者“具备或涉及到精细知识的。”这个拉丁词minutus 而后又成为古法语单词 menut 和现代法语单词 menu， 意为“小的、精巧的、琐碎的、详细的。” 这个法语形容词逐渐被用作名词，意为“细节、诸多细节”及“详细的名单”。就这样，它被用于词组menu de repas， 意为“一张菜肴明细单”， 后来这个词组又被简略为menu。 这个简略词被引入英语中，最早出现于1837年。这个法语单词以前也曾被英语借用过，但也许只用了很短一段时间，而且是作为意为“普通民众”的法语词组menu peuple 的简略词。 然而这一用法仅在1658年的一篇文章中出现过〔soldier〕Why do soldiers fight?One answer is hidden away in the wordsoldier itself. Its first recorded occurrence is found in a work composed around 1300,the word having come into Middle English (assoudier ) from Old French soudoior and Anglo-Norman soudeour. The Old French word,first recorded in the 12th century,is derived fromsol or soud, Old French forms of Modern French sou. There is no longer a French coin namedsou, but the meaning of the wordsou alerts us to the fact that money is involved. Indeed, Old Frenchsol referred to a coin and also meant "pay,”and asoudoior was a man who fought for pay. This was a concept worth expressing in an era when many men were not paid for fighting but did it in service to a feudal superior.Thussoldier is parallel to the word mercenary, which goes back to Latinmercēnnārius, derived frommerces, "pay,” and meaning "working for pay.”The word could also be used as a noun,one of whose senses was "a soldier of fortune.”士兵们为什么而打仗?其中一个答案就隐藏在soldier 这个单词里面。 在大约1300年的一本著作中发现了这个词的最早记载。这个词由古法语的soudoior 和盎格鲁诺曼底语中的 soudeour 进入中古英语（形式为 soudier )。 古法语中的这个单词，最早记录于12世纪，是由sol 或 soud ，现代法语单词 sou 的古法语形式衍变而来的。 已经没有叫做sou 的法国硬币了， 但是单词sou 的意思使我们意识到这和钱有关。 实际上，古法语中的sol 指的是一枚硬币， 也意味着“报酬”，而soudoior 是一个为了报酬而打仗的人。 在许多人打仗并没有得到报酬而是给封建王服役的时代里，这种概念是值得表达出来的。这样，士兵(soldier) 类似于 雇佣兵(mercenary) ， 可以追溯到拉丁文mercennarius ， 由merces “报酬”衍变而来， 意思是“为报酬而工作”。这个词也能当名词使用，其中的一个意思是“雇佣兵”〔ennui〕Were they alive today, users of Classical Latin might be surprised to find that centuries later a phrase of theirs would still survive,although in the form of a single word.The phrasemihi in odiō est (literally translated as "to me in a condition of dislike or hatred is"), meaning "I hate or dislike,” gave rise to the Vulgar Latin verb.inodiāre, "to make odious,” the source of Modern Frenchennuyer, "to annoy, bore.” In the Old French period a noun meaning "worry, boredom,” came from the verbennuier. This noun in its Modern French formennui was borrowed into English in the sense "boredom,” the English word being first recorded in 1732.People may have needed a word for boredom in the polite, cultivated world of the 18th century,but at an earlier period, around 1275,we had already borrowed the French verbennuier, the source of our word annoy. One of the earliest instances ofannoy in English is, in fact, used in the sense "to bore an audience.” 要是古拉丁文的使用者们今天还活着的话，他们很可能会吃惊地发现数世纪之后他们所用的一个短语依然在使用中，尽管采用了单个词的形式。短语mihi in odioest （按字面可翻译成“在不喜欢或憎恨情形下对我而言的是”）， 意思是“我恨或讨厌”生成了俗拉丁语动词inodiare， “使可憎”， 其又为现代法语ennuyer “使苦恼，使烦恼”的词源。 在古法语时期，一个意思是“焦虑、厌倦”的名词来源于动词ennuier 。 该名词的现代法语形式ennui 被引入英语中，意指“厌倦”， 该英语词于1732年被首次记载，在18世纪的讲究礼节、有修养的社会里人们很可能需要一个词来表达厌倦之意，但在更早的时期，大约在1275年，我们已经借入法语动词ennuier， 作为我们的单词 annoy 的来源。 annoy 在英语中最早的例子之一是它实际上是在“使观众厌倦”的意义上使用的 〔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〔testy〕To the casual eyetesty and heady seem to have no connection until one becomes less casual and notes that both words refer to the head.Thehead in heady is easy to see both in the form of the word and in the meanings of the word. The earliest sense,first recorded in a work composed before 1382,is "headlong, headstrong,”which is clearly a "head" sensebut so is the better known current sense "apt to go to the head, intoxicating.”To see thehead in testy, we must look back to the Old French wordtestu, the source of our word. Testu is derived from the Old French word teste, "head" (Modern French tête ). In Englishtesty developed another sense, "aggressive, contentious,” which passed into the sense we are familiar with, "irritable.” 粗看testy 和 heady 似乎没有联系， 直到一个人较为仔细才注意到两个词都指头部。heady 中的 head 很容易看出在形式与意义上均相似。 其最早的意义，首次记录于1382年以前的一部著作中，指“轻率的，顽固的”，显然是“头部”的意思，但现在更为人知的意思是“能入脑的；陶醉的”。而要看head 在 testy 中， 我们必须追溯到古法语testu ，我们这个词的词源。 Testu 源于古法语词 teste ，“头部”（现代法语 tete )。 在英语中，testy 所发展的另一层意思（“好战的，争论的”）转化成了我们熟悉的意思（“暴躁的”） 〔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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