| 单词 | 甚至 |
| 释义 | 〔locality〕"Localities, even individual villages, developed their own languages"(Wall Street Journal)See Synonyms at area “每一地区，甚至小村子都有他们自己的语言”(华尔街期刊) 参见 area〔Quaalude〕The former trademarkQuaalude for the sedative and hypnotic agent methaqualone is an example of how a product name is carefully chosen for a positive public response.Methaqualone was developed in the 1960's by William H. Rorer, Inc.At that time, the company's best-known product was Maalox,a digestive aidthat derived its name from its ingredients,ma gnesium and al uminum hydr ox ides. To enhance the product recognition of their new sedative drug,the company incorporated theaa of Maalox into the name Quaalude. The other elements of the name are presumed to be a contraction of the phrasequiet interlude, a soothing, even poetic description of the drug's effect.过去作为镇静和催眠的药物的商标Quaalude ， 安眠酮，为了取得肯定的公众反应而精心选择产品名称的典型例子。安眠酮是在20世纪60年代由威廉·H·罗乐公司研制出来的。在那时，该公司最著名的产品是Maalox，一种消化酸。它的名字是由镁的前两个字母ma ，铝的前两个字母 a1 ，氢氧化物的中间两个字母 ox 组合而成。 为了提高新安眠药产品的知名度，该公司将Maalox 中的 aa 移植到 Quaalude 。 这个名字的其他元素被假设为这个短语quiet interlude 的缩写，一种抚慰的， 甚至对药效颇具诗意的描绘〔comet〕Comets have been feared throughout much of human history,and even in our own time their goings and comings receive great attention.Perhaps a comet might seem less awesome if we realized that our name for it is based on a figurative resemblance between it and human beings.This figurative name is recorded first in the works of Aristotle,in which he useskomē, the Greek word for "hair of the head,” to mean "luminous tail of a comet.” Aristotle then uses the derived wordkomētēs, "wearing long hair,” as a noun meaning "comet.” The Greek word was adopted into Latin ascomētēs, which was refashioned in Late Latin and given the formcomēta, furnishing Old English with comēta, the earliest English ancestor of our wordcomet. 在大多数人类历史期间，人们害怕彗星，甚至在我们自己的时代彗星的到来与离去仍受到很大注意。如果我们认识到我们对它的名字是基于它和人在外形上的相似性，也许彗星看起来就不太可怕了。比喻的名字首先记录在亚里士多德的著作中，他使用的kome 是希腊语中意为“头发”的词，表示“彗星明亮的尾巴。 然后亚里士多德使用导出的单词kometes “戴长发”，作为名词意义的"comet"。 希腊单词被采用到拉丁语为cometes， 它再形成晚期拉丁语，给定形式为cometa， 以 cometa 的形式出现于老式英语， 这就是我们单词comet 的最早英语原形 〔quizzical〕"His face wore a somewhat quizzical almost impertinent air"(Lawrence Durrell)“他的脸上露出几分嘲弄甚至傲慢的表情”(劳伦斯·达雷尔)〔apartheid〕Although South Africa has not furnished a great number of words that have achieved general currency in British and American English,one in particular,apartheid, has gained wide circulation. The first recorded use ofapartheid as an English term, in the Cape Times on October 24, 1947, is an ironic commentary on much of the word's use since then: "Mr. Hofmeyr said apartheid could not be reconciled with a policy of progress and prosperity for South Africa.” According to the March 15, 1961, issue of theLondon Times, the wordself-development was supposed to replace apartheid as the official term used by the South African Broadcasting Corporation for "the Government's race policies. ” And inMove Your Shadow, published in 1985, Joseph Lelyveld says that the "word is [now] shunned, even resented by the [National Party's] high priests as if it were an epithet fashioned by the country's enemies.” Butapartheid as a word and as a reality has been slow to disappear. The history ofapartheid, however, offers a possible model for change in this policy, for the word is an example of a mixture and combination of resources, in this case linguistic.Apartheid is an English word that came into South African English from Afrikaans, the language of the Dutch settlers of South Africa. They in turn had made up the word from the Dutch wordapart, "separate,” and the suffix -heid, which corresponds to our suffix -hood. Thusapartheid literally means "separateness.” The Dutch had earlier borrowed the wordapart, as did we, from the French phrase à part, meaning "to one side.” 尽管南非并没有向英国和美国英语里加入很多得以普遍使用的词汇，但尚有一例外，apartheid 这个词就得到了普遍应用。 apartheid 一词作为英语词汇的使用最早记录于1947年10月24日的 开普时报 上，从那时起对该词的使用就作了反讽式的评论： “霍夫梅伊先生说种族隔离制不能与南非进步及繁荣的政策相容。”根据1961年3月15日的一期伦敦时报 ， 南非广播公司试图以self-development 作为官方用语来代替 apartheid 表示“政府的种族政策”。 在1985年出版的移动你的影子 中，约瑟夫·莱莉瓦德说“这个词为高级牧师们所回避甚至痛恨， 似乎它是这个国家的敌人创造出来的修饰语。”但apartheid 作为词汇和作为现实存在消失得很慢。 然而apartheid 的历史为这种政策的变化提供了一个可能的模式， 因为这个词是语言学方面各种来源混合及联合的一个例子。Apartheid 是从南非的荷兰殖民者的语言进入南非英语的一个英语词汇。 依次由荷兰词apart “分隔”，和后缀 -heid （其与后缀 -hood 相对应）构成。 这样，apartheid 可逐字译为“分隔，隔离。” 荷兰人较早地借用了apart 一词，就如我们从法语里借用了意为“到一边”的 a part 一样 〔earn〕an event that didn't even rate a mention in the news;在新闻中甚至不值一提的小事；〔intention〕 Goal may suggest an idealistic or even a remote purpose: Goal 可指理想的或甚至遥远的目标： 〔pathetic〕"That cold accretion called the world, which, so terrible in the mass, is so unformidable, even pitiable, in its units" (Thomas Hardy).“那个被称为地球的冲积而成的寒冷球体，整体是如此令人生惧，各部分又是那么懦弱甚至令人生怜” （托马斯·哈代）。〔method〕Fashion is often synonymous withmanner and mode; it sometimes suggests highly personal, even idiosyncratic behavior: Fashion 经常与manner 和 mode 同义； 它有时指高度个人化，甚至是独特的行为： 〔outside〕The costs have exceeded even our outside estimates.花销甚至已超出了我们估计的最高值〔roster〕To be told that the wordroster is related to a gridiron upon which one roasts meat might not come as a surprise, depending on what sort of rosters one's name has graced.The connection between the roster as we know it and a gridiron was made in Dutch,where the wordrooster, meaning "gridiron" (from the verb roosten, "to roast"), was extended in sense to mean "a table, list.”This extension was made because of the resemblance of a gridiron to a piece of paper divided by parallel lines that contains a list or table.The earliest use in English (first recorded in 1727) for the wordroster borrowed from Dutch was military, referring to a list or plan that outlined when officers, men, and bodies of troops should perform their turn of duty. Roster is no longer exclusively military in usage,nor does it mean simply a list of rotating turns of duty;one could perhaps even have a roster of meats to be roasted at a barbecue.如果说roster 一词与供烤肉用的烧烤架有关也许不会令人吃惊， 这就要看名字上了什么样的花名册。荷兰语把我们所知道的roster（花名册）与gridiron（烤架）联系了起来，rooster 意为“烤架”（源于动词 roosten ，意思是“烤”）， 词义延伸后意为“表格，名单”。该词之所以有这样的延伸义是因为烤架与被平行线分成表格的纸张有相似之处。roster 一词从荷兰语中借用后，在英语中（第一次记载于1727年）最早运用于军事， 指粗略记录军官、士兵和部队轮流执行任务的名单或计划。 Roster 不再为军队专用，也不仅仅表示“轮班的名单”的意思，烧烤时我们甚至可以用“烤肉的肉单”〔huckster〕One who uses aggressive, showy, and sometimes devious methods to promote or sell a product.强行推销人：使用夸张、卖弄、甚至有时不正当的手段推销或兜售商品的人〔anent〕efn [even] efn [甚至] 〔ditto〕Ditto, which at first glance seems a handy and insignificant sort of word, actually has a Roman past,for it comes fromdictus, "having been said,” the past participle of the verbdīcere, "to say.” In Italiandīcere became dire anddictus became detto, or in the Tuscan dialect ditto. Italiandetto or ditto meant what said does in English, as in the locution "the said story.”Thus in a construction such asDecember 22 the worddetto or ditto could be used by itself instead of the month nameat the next mention of a date in the same month, for example,26 detto. The first recorded use (1625) ofditto occurs in English in such a construction. The sense "copy" is an English development,first recorded in 1818. Ditto has even become a trademark for a duplicating machine,something that has not happened tosaid yet. Ditto 这个词第一眼看上去好象是一种方便的、无意义的词， 其实它出于过去的罗马，因为该词源自dictus “已说过的”， 是动词dicere “说”的过去分词。 在意大利语中，dicere 变成了 dire ， 而dictus 变成了 detto 或托斯卡纳方言的 ditto。 意大利语中的detto 或 ditto 的意义相当于现在英语中的 said ， 如惯用语"the said story"（该故事，上述故事）。因此在诸如这样的结构December 22 (12月22日）中， 当下面提及同一个月的某一天时，就可用detto 或 ditto 来代替月份， 例如，26 detto (12月26日）。 ditto 一词的最初有记录的用法(1625年）出现在英语的这种结构中。 “复制”这一词义是在英语中发展起来的，最早的记录在1818年， Ditto 甚至成了复印机的商标，而said 还没有 〔aware〕"an importance . . . of which even Americans are barely conscious" (William Stanley Jevons). “一种甚至连美国人也几乎没有认识到的重要性” （威廉姆·斯坦利·杰文斯）。〔missionize〕"Eastern Apaches in what is now Texas were even missionized—briefly—in the eighteenth century"(William Brandon)“生活在今天的得克萨斯州的东阿帕切人甚至被改变了信仰，这主要发生在18世纪”(威廉·布兰登)〔jeopardy〕from Old French jeu parti [even game, uncertainty] 源自 古法语 jeu parti [甚至游戏，不确定] 〔medley〕"That night he dreamed he was traveling in a foreign country, only it seemed to be a medley of all the countries he'd ever been to and even some he hadn't"(Anne Tyler)“那天晚上，他梦见自己正在一异国旅行，只是这个国家看起来象是所有他去过的国家和甚至他未去过的国家的混合物”(安妮·泰勒)〔complex〕Middle Eastern politics is so complicated that even experts cannot agree on a cohesive policy.中东政治如此复杂以致于甚至专家们也难以制定出统一的政策。〔airspace〕"Mobile radio has to compete for air space with other services such as broadcast radio, television, and even military services"(Financial Times)“移动电台必须和其它电台，如广播电台、电视台、甚至军用电台来竞争播音空间”(金融时报)〔even〕He was depressed, even suicidal. Even a child knows better.他很沮丧，甚至想去自杀。这甚至连孩子都知道得更清楚〔even〕Indeed; moreover. Used as an intensive:甚至：甚至，连…，用于加强语气：〔stark〕"His language has become increasingly stark, to the point of sounding strident"(Robert Pear)“他的话愈加生硬，甚至听起来刺耳”(罗伯特·派尔)〔kudos〕Kudos is one of those words like congeries that look like pluralsbut are etymologically singular:correctness requiresKudos is (not are ) due her for her brilliant work on the score. Some writers have tried to defend the use ofkudos with a plural verb, or even the introduction of a new singular form ofkudo, on the grounds that these innovations follow the pattern whereby the English words pea and cherry were re-formed from nouns ending in-s that were thought to be plural. Perhaps the singularkudo would have to be acknowledged as a legitimate formation if it came to be widely adopted in the popular language in the way that cherry and pea have. But at presentkudos is still regarded as a slightly pretentious variant for praise and can scarcely claim to be part of the linguistic folkways of the community.When writers reach for an unfamiliar Greek word for the sake of elegance,it is fair to ask that they get it right.Still, it is worth notingthat even people who are carefulto treat the word syntactically as a singularoften pronounce it as if it were a plural:etymology would require that the final consonant be pronounced as a voiceless (s),rather than as a voiced (z).Kudos 和 congeries 那些词一样， 看上去好象是复数，但从词源上看是单数：因此正确的用法应该是Kudos is （不是 are ） due her for her brilliant work on the score 。 许多作者为kudos 后跟动词复数形式的做法辩护， 他们甚至发明了一个新的词kudo 作为该词的单数形式，他们这样做是以英语单词 pea 和 cherry 的形成模式为依据的， 这些词都是从原先结尾带-s 的复数形式名词演化而来。 kudo 这种单数形式只有在象 cherry 和 pea 这样为大众语言所普遍接受之后才能被认可为一种正确的形式。 但是现在kudos 这个词仍被看作是 praise 这个词稍稍有些做作的变体， 还很难成为社群的习惯用语的一部份。当一个作家为了行文的优雅用一个生僻的希腊词的时候，他应该正确地使用它。但是值得注意的是，即使是那些非常仔细的人，他们在句子中把它用作单数，但在读的时候却读成复数的形式：根据词源来看，这个词最后一个辅音应该发成清辅音（s），而不是浊辅音（z）〔unilateralism〕A tendency of nations to conduct their foreign affairs individualistically, characterized by minimal consultation and involvement with other nations, even their allies.单边主义：单独行使国外事务的国家倾向，特点是与其他国家最小限度的磋商和牵连，甚至是盟国〔idea〕 Notion often refers to a vague, general, or even fanciful idea: Notion 一般指模糊的、笼统的甚至是荒谬的想法： 〔complex〕Even the professor couldn't clarify the knotty point. 甚至教授也无法解决这个棘手问题。 〔fragile〕Even earthenware pottery is breakable.甚至陶器也易碎。〔unique〕Over the course of the centuryunique has become the paradigmatic example of the class of terms that do not allow comparison or modification by an adverb of degree such as very, somewhat, or quite. Thus, most grammarians believe that it is incorrect to say that something isvery unique or more unique than something else, though phrases such asnearly unique and almost unique are acceptable. In the most recent survey the sentenceHer designs are quite unique in today's fashion scene was unacceptable to 80 percent of the Usage Panel. · Critical objections to the comparison and degree modification of absolute terms date to the 18th centuryand have been applied to a wide group of adjectives includingequal, fatal, omnipotent, parallel, perfect, and unanimous. According to the standard argument, such words denote properties that a thing either does or does not have but cannot have to a qualifiable degree.Thus ifunique is properly used to mean "without equal or equivalent,” something either is unique or it isn't, and phrases such asvery unique and more unique can only betray a weakening of the sense to mean something like "unusual" or "distinctive.” It is true that comparison and modification ofunique are often associated with the style favored by copywriters, as in the advertisement announcing thatOmaha's most unique restaurant is now even more unique or in the claim that a new automobile is So unique, it's patented. But modification ofunique is also found in the work of reputable writers, where it may lack any connotations of hyperbole.A painting is described asthe most unique of Beckman's self-portraits, and a travel writer states thatChicago is no less unique an American city than New York or San Francisco. The relative acceptability of these usages reflects the semantic subtlety ofunique itself. If we were to useunique only according to the strictest criteria of logic, after all, we might freely apply the term to anything in the worldsince nothing is wholly equivalent to anything else.Clearly, then, when we say that a restaurant or painting is unique,we mean that it is worthy of inclusion in a class by itself according to certain implicit but generally accepted criteria.Thus a legitimately unique painting might be one that realizes an unparalleled aesthetic vision,but not one that is rendered only in pigments whose names begin with the lettero; and a legitimately unique restaurant might be one that serves 18th-century French cuisine according to the original recipes,not one that has been installed in a converted sardine cannery.Given this understanding, it is not inherently impossible to think of uniqueness as a matter of degree,in the sense that one painting or restaurant may be more or less worthy of inclusion in a class by itself than some other. ·What is troubling about the copywriters' use ofunique is not that the word has become a synonym for unusual. Rather, it is the copywriters who are using the word in conformity with strict logic.Uniqueness is claimed for a restaurant in virtue of some trivial properties of its decor or menu,or for a resort hotel that simply happens to have a singularly picturesque view of the bay.Though it may be true that such properties render these thingslogically unique, they do not constitute legitimate grounds for putting the things into a class by themselves according to the criteria ordinarily invoked when things are sorted into classes.In fact, the abuse ofunique can be cloying even when no modification or comparison is involved; when we read an advertisement for a line of sportswear that featuresa unique selection of colors, we may suspect that the distinctive properties of the color selection are not so remarkable as the advertiser would have us believe. But it is not surprising that these uses ofunique should lend themselves to promiscuous modification and comparison; for once it is granted that uniqueness can be claimed for any product or service that is somehow distinctive from all its competitors,it is inevitable that an increase in uniqueness will be seen in every minor innovation.See Usage Note at equal ,infinite ,parallel ,perfect 在本世纪整个过程中unique 已成为不能由程度副词，例 very、somewhat 或 quite， 比较或修饰的一类术语的例证。 因此，多数语法学家认为说某事是very unique 或 more unique than 是不正确的， 虽然短语例如nearly unique 和 almost unique 是可接受的。 在最近的调查中，句子Her designs are quite unique in today's fashion scene （她的设计在现今流行样式的场面中是很独特的） 对用法专题使用小组的百分之八十成员是不可接受的。 对纯粹术语的比较和程度修饰的主要异议可追述到18世纪，并已广泛用到许多形容词中，包括equal, fatal, omnipotent, parallel, perfect 和 unanimous。 根据标准论据，这些单词表示一事有或没有但不能有可修饰的程度的性质。于是如果unique 适当地用于表示“没有相等或相当的”，则某事是唯一的或不是唯一的， 而短语像very unique 和 more unique 仅能表露出说明某事像“不寻常的”或“独特的”的意义的减弱。 的确，unique 的比较和修饰常与撰稿人喜欢的文体相联系， 如在广告中称Omaha's most unique restaurant is now even more unique（奥马哈城的最独特的餐馆现在甚至是更加独特） 或声称新汽车是 So unique, it's patented（如此独特，它取得了专利权）。 但是unique 的修饰也在著名作家的作品中发现， 那里可能缺乏夸张法的任何涵义。描述一张油画为the most unique of Beckman's self-portraits（最独特的贝克曼的自画像）， 一位旅游作家叙述Chicago is no less unique an American city than New York or San Francisco（芝加哥比纽约或旧金山是不逊独特的美国城市）。 这些用法的相对可接受性反映unique 自身语义的巧妙。 如果我们仅按照逻辑的严格标准使用unique ， 则我们终于会自由地把此术语使用于世界上的任何事，因为没有完全等同于另一事的事。于是，显然当我们说餐馆或油画是独特的时，我们意味着根据某种隐含的但可普遍接受的判据它是值得包含在一个等级内的。于是合理独特的油画可能是实现空前未有的审美型的，而不是仅给予名字以字母O开始的颜料； 合理独特的餐馆可能根据原来的食谱提供18世纪法国菜肴的餐馆，而不是配备转换的沙丁鱼罐头食品的餐馆。按这样了解，将独特性视为程度问题不是本来就不可能的，在这个意义上一张油画或一个餐馆或多或少可能是极好的有价值的内涵物而不是其他。关于撰稿人使用unique 的困惑不是此单词已成为 unusual 的同义词。 相反地，正是撰稿人使用此单词与严密的逻辑相一致。对餐馆声称独特性是由于它的布置或菜单的某些不重要的性质，或者对于人们常去的旅馆仅因为有海湾的独一无二地别致的景象。虽然这样的性质使得这些事logically 独特的可能是真实的， 但是当事情进行了分类，根据平常实行的判据把这些事情自身放到一类，他们不组成正常的基础。事实上unique 的滥用会使人发腻，即使在没有涉及修饰或比较的时候； 当我们读运动服装的unique selection of colors（颜色的独特选择） 的一行广告时， 我们会怀疑颜色选择的独特性质并非广告商希望我们所认为的那么明显。但不必惊讶于unique 的这些用法应当适用于杂乱的修饰和比较； 就这一次可以承认，独特性能用来指任何产品或服务，它们与所有的竞争者相比较有某种程度的特色，在每一小的创新中可以看到独特性的增加是必然会发生的 参见 equal,infinite,parallel,perfect〔tycoon〕Business tycoons may consider themselves captains or even princes of industry,but by virtue of being calledtycoons, they have already achieved princely status,at least from an etymological point of view.Tycoon came into English from Japanese, which had borrowed the title, meaning "great prince,” from Chinese.Use of the word was intended to make the shogun,the commander in chief of the Japanese army, more impressive to foreigners (his official titleshōgun merely meant "general"). In fact, the shogun actually ruled Japan,although he was supposedly acting for the emperor.When Matthew C. Perry opened Japan to the West in 1854,he negotiated with the shogun, thinking him to be the emperor.The shogun's title,taikun, was brought back to the United States after Perry's visit.Abraham Lincoln's cabinet members usedtycoon as an affectionate nickname for the President. The word soon came to be used for business and industry leaders—perhaps at times for those who had as much right to such an impressive title as did the shogun.The word itself now has an old-fashioned sound,but when we encounter it,we should think back to the days of Commodore Perry and President Lincoln,both of whom were real tycoons in their own ways.商界大亨可能把他们自己当成是工业界的长官或甚至王子，但是因为被叫做tycoon ， 他们早已达到了王子般的地位，至少从词源学的观点来说是这样。Tycoon 由日语进入英语， 而日语的这个头衔是从汉语借来的，意思是“大王”。使用这个词是为了使幕府将军，日本军队的总指挥官给外国人以深刻的印象（他的官方头衔shogun 的意思仅仅是“将军”）。 实际上，是幕府将军统治着日本，尽管他被认为是为天皇办事。当马修·C·佩里1854年使日本向西方开放时，他和幕府将军进行了谈判，以为他就是日本天皇。幕府将军的头衔taikun ， 在佩里访问美国后带到了美国。亚伯拉罕·林肯的内阁成员把tycoon 用作总统的充满感情的绰号。 这个词很快也被用于商界和工界的领导人，也许有时这些人象幕府将军那样有权以致给人深刻的印象。这个词本身听起来有点老派，但是当我们遇到它时，我们应该回想起佩里海军准将和林肯总统的时代，他们两人以各自的方式成为真正的巨头〔modality〕“[He] grew so enthusiastic about our prospects that he began to speculate on the modalities of signing" (Henry A. Kissinger)“［他］ 变得为此看好我们的前景，甚至热心地开始筹划签字的仪式了” (亨利A.基辛格)〔servitude〕"even compassionating those who hold in bondage their fellow men, not knowing what they do" (John Quincy Adams).To be held inslavery is to be owned bodily by the person or persons one serves and to be treated as his or her property: “甚至同情那些奴役他们同辈的人而不知他们在做些什么的人” （约输·昆西·亚当斯）。作为Slavery 是被所服务的人占有人身而被看作他或她的私有财产： 〔polar〕"In creative territory[they] make a strange yet ineluctable couple, more complementary, even polar, than twin-like" (Josh Rubins)“在创造领域[他们] 构成了奇异的却又不可避免的一对，与其说是象双胞胎，不如说是互补的，甚至是截然对立的” (约什·鲁宾斯)〔neat〕"When she saw me come in tidy and well dressed, she even smiled" (Charlotte Brontë).“当她看到我穿着整洁，服装考究地进来时，她甚至笑了” （夏洛蒂·勃朗特）。〔caprice〕 Vagary emphasizes the erratic and unpredictable, even irresponsible nature of a notion or an act: Vagary 强调一个念头或行为的不规则和不可预料性、甚至是不负责性： 〔pole〕"the moral poles of modern medicine: on the one hand, a tinkering with procreation with at best ambiguous, at worst monstrous moral possibilities. On the other hand, scientific skill and cunning unambiguously in the service of hope"(Charles Krauthammer)“现代医学道德上互相对立的两极：一方面是生育技术的改进造成模棱两可，甚至可怕的道德混淆，另一方面却是科学的技术和方法能实现你的愿望”(查尔斯·克劳萨默)〔compartmentalize〕"You learn . . . even the ability to compartmentalize ethics"(Ellen Goodman)“你甚至学习…把伦理学加以分割的能力”(埃伦·古德曼)〔bricolage〕"Even the decor is a bricolage, a mix of this and that"(Los Angeles Times)“甚至连装饰品也是利用现成材料制成的东西，是这样那样的东西混合而成的”(洛杉矶时报)〔silent〕 Secretive implies a lack of openness about or even concealment of matters that could in all conscience be discussed: Secretive 表示在那些无论如何可以公开讨论的事情上不开放甚至隐瞒： 〔check〕The wordscheck , chess , and shah are all related. Shah, as one might think, is a borrowing into English of the Persian title for the monarch of that country.The Persian wordshāh was also a term used in chess, a game played in Persia long before it was introduced to Europe.One saidshāh as a warning when the opponent's king was under attack. The Persian word in this sense,after passing through Arabic,probably Old Spanish, and then Old French,came into Middle English aschek about seven hundred years ago. Chess itself comes from a plural form of the Old French word that gave us the word check. Checkmate, the next stage after check, goes back to the Arabic phraseshāh māt, meaning "the king is stymied.”Through a complex development having to do with senses that evolved from the notion of checking the king,check came to mean something used to ensure accuracy or authenticity. One such means was a counterfoil, a part of a check, for example,retained by the issuer as documentation of a transaction.Check first meant "counterfoil" and then came to mean anything,such as a bill or bank draft, with a counterfoil—or eventually even without one.单词check ， chess 和 shah 是互相关联的。 Shah 就象有人可能想象的那样， 是英语里的外来词，原指波斯国王的称号。波斯词语shah 也是国际象棋中的术语， 国际象棋在被引进欧洲之前早就在波斯流传。当对手的“国王”受到攻击时我们说shah 作为一种警告。 这个意义的波斯单词，通过阿拉伯语，可能还有古西班牙语和后来的古法语，大约在七百年前被收入中世纪英语中chek 。 Chess 本身来自于古法语 check 的复数形式。 Checkmate ，是 check 的下一步， 来自于阿拉伯短语shah mat， 意思是“国王进退两难”。从对“国王”将军这个概念演化而来，check 的含义经历了复杂的发展过程，它后来指用以确保准确性或真实性的某种东西。 例如，其中一个含义是指作为支票的一部分的存根，由签发支票的人保留作为交易的单据。Check 最初是指“存根”， 后来指任何有存根的东西，如帐单或银行汇票等，最后甚至指没有存根的东西 |
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