| 单词 | 用英语 |
| 释义 | 〔cynic〕A cynic may be pardoned for thinking that this is a dog's life.The Greek wordkunikos, from which cynic comes, was originally an adjective meaning "doglike,” fromkuōn, "dog.” The word was most likely applied to the Cynic philosophers because of the nicknamekuōn given to Diogenes of Sinope, the prototypical Cynic. He is said to have performed such actions as barking in public, urinating on the leg of a table, and masturbating on the street.The first use of the word recorded in English, in a work published from 1547 to 1564, is in the plural for members of this philosophical sect.In 1596 we find the first instance ofcynic meaning "faultfinder,” a sense that was to develop into our modern sense.The meaning "faultfinder" came naturally from the behavior of countless Cynics who in their pursuit of virtue pointed out the flaws in others.Such faultfinding could lead quite naturally to the belief associated with cynics of today that selfishness determines human behavior.犬儒学派成员因认为这是狗的生命而可能被赦免。希腊词kunikos 是 cynic 的来源， 最初为形容词，意思是“似狗”，源自kuon “狗”，。 这个词最适用于犬儒派哲学家，因为给犬儒主义者的鼻祖的绰号是kuon 。 据说他曾经当众吼叫，在桌腿上小便，并且在街上手淫。这个词在一本1547到1564年出版的著作里首次用英语记录下来的用法是，用作复数来指代此哲学学派的成员。1596年，我们发现cynic 的第一个意思是吹毛求疵的人的例子， 也是发展成具有我们现代意义的含义。 “吹毛吹疵的人”这个意思是从无数个以追求指摘别人缺点为美德的犬儒主义者的行为而得来。这种指摘很自然地得出与现在的犬儒主义相联系的信仰，认为自私自利决定人类行为〔flimsy〕The origin offlimsy, although uncertain, is not completely obscure.The word is first recorded in English in the 17th century in a dictionary of cant, the jargon of people such as thieves and beggars.Its early senses "frail" and "trivial"as well as its form may link it withflim-flam, recorded first around 1538.The nounflim-flam could mean "a piece of nonsense or idle talk,” and the adjective could mean "frivolous.” Flim-flam itself is a reduplication in which the patternfl—m occurs twice, the first time with the sound (ĭ);the second, with the sound (ă). Flim may be related to the Old Norse wordflim, meaning "a lampoon, libel.”Flimsy 的词源虽然不确定， 但并不是完全不清楚。这个单词在17世纪首次用英语记载于一本行话字典里，即记载如小偷和乞丐等人所使用的隐语的字典。它最初的意思是“脆弱的”和“轻微的”，其形式可能与flim-flam 有联系， 首次记载大约是在1538年。Flim-flam 作名词时意思为“一句无意义的或无聊的话，” 作形容词时可当作“琐屑的，无意义的”讲。 Flim-flam 本身是一个重叠词，fl-m 这样形式出现两次， 第一次是与语音（i）组合；第二次是与语音（a）组合。 Flim 可能与古斯堪的纳维亚语flim 有关， 其意思为“讽刺，诽谤”〔Sackville〕English political adviser and poet who collaborated with Thomas Norton (1532-1584) on the blank-verse dramaGorboduc (1561), the first tragedy written in English. 萨克维尔，托马斯：(1536-1608) 英国政治顾问、诗人，他与托马斯·诺顿(1532-1584年）合著的无韵诗剧《戈尔伯德克悲剧》 （1561年）是第一个用英语写的悲剧 〔buccaneer〕The Errol Flynn-like figure of the buccaneer pillaging the Spanish Main may seem less dashing if we realize that the termbuccaneer corresponds to the word barbecuer. The first recorded use of the French wordboucanier, which was borrowed into English, referred to a person on the islands of Hispaniola and Tortuga who hunted wild oxen and boars and smoked the meat in a barbecue frame known in French as aboucan. This French word came from an Arawakan or Tupinamba word meaning "a rack, sometimes used for roasting or for storing things, or a racklike platform supporting an Indian house.”The original barbecuers seem to have subsequently adapted a more remunerative way of life, piracy,which accounts for the new meaning given to the word.Buccaneer is recorded first in 1661 in its earlier sense in English; the sense we are familiar with is recorded in 1690.如果我们认识到buccaneer 一词与 barbecuer 一词词意相当，那么象艾洛尔·弗里恩这样掠夺西班牙船只的海盗也许看起来不算是勇敢了。 法语词boucanier 借用到英语中最早记录下来的意义， 是指生活在伊斯帕尼奥拉岛和托丢伽岛上的人，他们猎野牛和野猪，在boucan 这种烧烤架上烤肉。 这个法语词来自阿拉瓦克语或图皮南巴语，意为“一种架子，有时用来炙烤或贮藏食物，或指架状平台，用来支撑印第安人的房子”。专事炙烤的土著后来适应了海上掠夺这一更有利可图的生活方式。这就是boucan一词为什么被赋予了新的意义。Buccaneer 的早些时候的意义于1661年最早用英语记录下来， 而我们所熟悉的该词的含义是于1690年记录下来的〔Walpole〕British writer and historian whose correspondence and memoirs provide valuable information about his era. He wroteThe Castle of Otranto (1764), considered the first Gothic novel in English. 沃尔浦尔，霍勒斯：(1717-1797) 英国作家、历史学家，其通信信件与自传为了解他的时代提供了宝贵资料。他《奥伦托城堡》 （1764年），被认为是用英语写成的第一部哥特式小说 〔cappuccino〕The history of the wordcappuccino exemplifies how words can develop new senses because of resemblances that the original coiners of the terms might not have dreamed possible.The Capuchin order of friars, established after 1525,played an important role in bringing Catholicism back to Reformation Europe.Its Italian name came from the long, pointed cowl,orcappuccino, derived fromcappuccio, "hood,” that was worn as part of the order's habit.The French version ofcappuccino was capuchin (now capucin ), from which came EnglishCapuchin. The name of this pious order was later used as the name (first recorded in English in 1785) for a type of monkey with a tuft of black, cowllike hair.In Italiancappuccino went on to develop another sense, "espresso coffee mixed or topped with steamed milk or cream,”so called because the color of the coffee resembled the color of the habit of a Capuchin friar.The first use ofcappuccino in English is recorded in 1948 in a work about San Francisco. cappuccino 一词的历史很好地说明了词语如何可以因一些相似性而发展出新的意思， 而这些词的创造者也许做梦都没想过这些相似性是可能的。嘉布遣会建于1525年后，在将天主教带回经历宗教改革的欧洲的过程中发挥了重要作用。它的意大利语名称来自一种长而尖的蒙斗篷，或称cappuccino， 这个词又来自coppuccio， 意为“风帽”， 蒙头斗篷是这一派修士所穿衣服的一部分。Cappuccino 在法语中成了 capuchin （现在是 capucin ）， 英语中的Capuchin 就来自这个法语词。 这一虔诚教派的名字后来被用来作一种带一撮黑色的、蒙面斗篷似毛发的驴子的名字（于1785年首次用英语记录）。在意大利语中，cappuccino 接着又发展出一个新的意思， 意为“混以或加入煮过的牛奶或奶油的浓别啡，”这样叫是因为这种咖啡的颜色类似于嘉布遣会修士所穿衣服的颜色。Cappuccino 在英语中的第一次使用记载于1948年一本关于旧金山的著作中 〔anesthesia〕The following passage, written on November 21, 1846, by Oliver Wendell Holmes,a physician-poet and the father of the Supreme Court justice of the same name,allows us to pinpoint the entry ofanesthesia and anesthetic into English: "Every body wants to have a hand in a great discovery. All I will do is to give you a hint or two as to names—or the name—to be applied to the state produced and the agent. The state should, I think, be called ‘Anaesthesia’ [from the Greek word anaisthēsia, "lack of sensation"]. This signifies insensibility . . . The adjective will be ‘Anaesthetic.’ Thus we might say the state of Anaesthesia, or the anaesthetic state.”This citation is taken from a letter to William Thomas Green Morton,who in October of that year had successfully demonstrated the use of ether at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.Althoughanaesthesia is recorded in Nathan Bailey's Universal Etymological English Dictionary in 1721, it is clear that Holmes really was responsible for its entry into the language.TheOxford English Dictionary has several citations for anesthesia and anesthetic in 1847 and 1848, indicating that the words gained rapid acceptance.下面是奥立佛·万德·霍姆斯写于1846年11月21的一段话。作者是个诗人医生和与其同名的最高法庭法官的父亲。这段话能使我们断定anesthesia 和 anesthetic 进入英语的背景： “每个人都希望能够参与一次伟大的发现。我所要做的是告诉你一两个提示去命名，或能被应用于某种状态的名称。我认为这种状态应该被叫做Anaesthesia ［从希腊词anaisthesia “感觉缺失”发展而来］。 这个词表示无感觉…其形容词应该是‘Anaesthetic’。这样我们可以说感觉缺失的状态或感觉缺失”。这段话是从寄给威廉·托马斯·格林·莫顿的一封信上摘录下的，莫顿同年十月在波士顿的马萨诸塞总医院曾成功使用了醚。尽管南森·巴利于1721年把anaethesia 选入了 通用英语词源词典 ， 但是很显然是霍姆斯首先把这个词引入英语。牛津英语词典 上有几处引用了1847年和1848年有 anesthesia 和 anesthetic 的句子， 说明这两个词很快就被人们所接受 |
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