单词 | 英语 |
释义 | 〔insignia〕Insignia in Latin is the plural form of insigne, but it has long been used in English as both a singular and a plural form: Insignia 在拉丁语中是 insigne 的复数形式, 但是在英语中很长时间来一直既被用作单数又被用作复数形式: 〔reindeer〕Although Saint Nick uses reins on his reindeerand reindeer are used to pull sleds in Lapland and northern Siberia,the wordreindeer has nothing to do with reins. The element-deer is indeed our word deer, but therein- part is borrowed from another language, specifically from the Scandinavian languages spoken by the chiefly Danish and Norwegian invaders and settlers of England from the 9th to the 11th century.Even though the Old Icelandic language in which much of Old Norse literature is written is not the same variety of Old Norse spoken by these settlers of England,it is close enough to give us an idea of the words that were borrowed into English.Thus we can cite the Old Icelandic wordhreinn, which means "reindeer,” as the source of the first part of the English word. The wordreindeer is first recorded in Middle English in a work composed before 1400. 尽管圣诞老人在他的驯鹿身上用缰绳,且驯鹿过去在拉普兰和西伯利亚北部曾被用来拖拉雪撬,reindeer 这个字却和缰绳没有任何关系。 构词元素-deer 确实是我们的单词 deer, 但是rein 这一部分是从其他语言中借用过来的, 特别是主要从丹麦和挪威的入侵者及9世纪到11世纪列英格兰定居者说的斯堪的纳维亚语借用的。尽管许多古代北欧文学都使用的古冰岛语与这些到英格兰定居的人所说的古代北欧语并不是同一变体,但它对于我们认识借进英语的词汇也是足够接近的。这样,我们便可以引用意为“驯鹿”的古冰岛语hreinn 来作为英语单词第一部分的来源。 Reindeer 最早在1400年以前所著的一部作品中以中古英语记录下来 〔geezer〕A relationship with a word we know well is disguised in the wordgeezer. A clue to this relationship is found in British dialect.TheEnglish Dialect Dictionary defines geezer as "a queer character, a strangely-acting person,” and refers the reader toguiser, "a mummer, masquerader.” The citations forguiser refer to practices such as the following: "People, usually children . . . go about on Christmas Eve, singing, wearing masks, or otherwise disguised,”the last word of this passage being the one to whichgeezer is related. 我们非常了解的与一个单词的联系即在于单词geezer 。 这种联系的线索发现于英国方言中。英语方言辞典 定义 geezer 为“一个奇怪的人,一个行为怪异的人”, 并且让读者参考guiser, “化妆舞会,假面舞会”。 guiser 的例句指出了一些活动, 例如:“大人,通常是孩子…戴着面具或以其他化妆方式在圣诞前夜走出去唱歌。”这段文章的最后一个单词即是geezer 与之有关的那一个 〔bleed〕It seems only common sense thatbleed should be related to blood, but one needs some knowledge of historical linguistics to understand the relationship fully.In prehistoric Common Germanic, the hypothetical predecessor of Germanic languages such as English, German, and Swedish,the word.blōdha-, "blood,” the ancestor of our word blood, is assumed to have existed. From this noun was derived the verb.blōdhjan, "to bleed.” A change of sound then came into play in Old English, that is, thej, pronounced like the y in your, caused the vowelō, pronounced as in go, to become pronounced like the ö in German schön. Later in Old English thisō changed to ē, pronounced like the a in labor, eventually becoming like thee in bee by 1500. By this change, as well as others,.blōdhjan became Modern English bleed. 根据常识bleed 好象应该和 blood 联系在一起, 但要想全面理解这种关系,应具备一些历史语言学的知识。在史前日耳曼共同语,即日耳曼语言(如英语、德语和瑞典语)的假设前任语言中,我们使用的单词blood 源于 blodha- 意为“血”,被认为已经存在了。 从这一名词派生出动词blodhjan, 意为“流血”。 发音的改变出现于古英语中,即j, 发音与 your 中的 y 相似, 引起go 中的元音 ō 变得如德语 schon 中的 ö 。 后来在古英语中ō 变为 ē, 发音如 labor 中的 a, 最后在1500年前变得如bee 中的 e 。 通过这种变化,以及其他变化,blodhjan 成为了现代英语的 bleed 〔Philistine〕It has never been good to be a Philistine.Samson, Saul, and David in the Bible helped bring the Philistines into prominence because they were such prominent opponents.Even though the Philistines have long since disappeared,their name has lived on in the Old Testament.The English name for them,Philistines, which goes back through Late Latin and Greek to Hebrew, is first found in Middle English,wherePhilistiens, the ancestor of our word, is recorded in a work composed before 1325. Beginning in the 17th centuryphilistine was used as a common noun usually in the plural to refer to various groups considered the enemy,such as literary critics.In Germany in the same centuryit is said that in a memorial at Jena for a student who had been killed in a town-gown quarrel,the minister preached a sermon from the text "Philister über dir Simson! [The Philistines be upon thee, Samson!],”the words of Delilah to Samson after she attempted to render him powerless before his Philistine enemies.From this usage it is said that German students came to usePhilister, the German equivalent of Philistine, to denote nonstudents and hence uncultured or materialistic people.Both usages were picked up in English in the early 19th century.做非利士人从来没有好处。《圣经》中的参孙、索尔和大卫使非利士人出名是因为他们是很优秀的对手。尽管非利士人已消失很久了,他们的名字却仍存在于《旧约》当中。他们的英文名称Philistines 可由晚期拉丁语和希腊语追溯到希伯来语, 是在中世纪英语中首先发现的,其中我们所用词的前身Philistines 记载在一部1325年前的著作中。 17世纪以来,Philistine 被用作普通名词并且常以复数形式出现, 意指被认为是敌人的各种团体,如文学批评家。在同一世纪的德国,据说在耶拿举行的纪念一名在市民和大学生争执中被杀的学生的纪念会上,牧师从“[非利士人比你强,参孙!]”中选取了一段做布道,就是迪莱勒在试图使参孙在他的非利士手面前变得软弱无力后说的那些话。这段话的用法中可见德国学生开始使用philister 作为 philistine 的德语替代语, 意指不是学生因此也就是没有文化以及不务实的人。这两种用法在19世纪早期的英语中均能找到〔pie〕The etymology of the wordpie turns etymologists into Simple Simons, that is, we do not know what it is for certain.It may come from Medieval Latinpica or pia, "pie, pasty,” but we do not know the origins of these wordsand the earliest use of the Middle English wordpie is earlier (1199) than the first use of Medieval Latin pica (c. 1310) or pia (1230). It has been suggested that Medieval Latinpica may be from Latin pīca, "magpie.” The connection could have been made because the miscellaneous nature of pie ingredients might have brought to mind either the magpie's piebald coloration or its habit of collecting miscellaneous items.In any case, the first pies contained fowl, fish, or meat;the first certain recorded mention of a fruit pie is in Robert Greene'sArcadia, published in 1590: "Thy breath is like the steame of apple-pyes.”Pie 的词源把词源学家变成了傻子, 也就是说我们对它的来源无法确定。它可能来源于中世纪拉丁语pica 或 pia 意为“馅饼,面团,” 但我们不知道这些词的词源,并且中世纪英语pie 的最早使用(1199年)比中世纪拉丁语 pica (公元1310年)或 pia (1230年)的最早使用还要早。 也有人说中世纪拉丁语pica 可能来源于意为“喜鹊”拉丁文 pica。 其联系大约是因为馅饼原料混杂的特性让人联想到喜鹊杂色的毛或其收集各种各样东西的习惯。无论怎样,最初的馅饼包有禽肉、鱼肉或兽内;对水果派最早的、有确定记录的叙述出现在出版于1590年的罗伯特·格林的作品阿卡底亚 中: “你的呼吸如苹果派的香气”〔fortis〕Articulated with relatively strong pressure or tension of the respiratory muscles, as in Englishp and t compared with b and d. 强音的:发音时送气较强或紧张状态较大的,如英语中相对于b 和 d 的 P 和 t 〔Scots〕The dialect of English used in the Lowlands of Scotland.苏格兰方言:在苏格兰低地使用的英语方言〔phonotactics〕The set of allowed arrangements or sequences of speech sounds in a given language. A word beginning with the consonant cluster (zv), for example, violates the phonotactics of English, but not of Russian.音位配列学,音位结构学:在某特定语言中,所能允许的单音安排或顺序。例如,以子音群(zv)开始的字,会违反英语的音位结构,但对俄文却没有影响〔English〕A course or individual class in the study of English language, literature, or composition.英语的课程:学习英语语言、文学或作文中的一门课程〔pant〕It would seem unlikely that the name of a 4th-century Roman Catholic saint should be the ultimate source of a word for a modern article of clothing commonly worn by both men and women.Pants, however, can be traced back to Pantaleon, the patron saint of Venice. He became so closely associated with the inhabitants of that citythat the Venetians became popularly known asPantaloni. Consequently, among the commedia dell'arte's stock characters the representative Venetian (a stereotypically wealthy but miserly merchant) was calledPantalone. His name in French,Pantalon, was borrowed into English (first recorded around 1590). During the middle of the 17th centurythe French came to identify him with one particular style of trousers,and this same style became known aspantaloons in English. Pantaloons was later applied to another style of trousers that came into fashion toward the end of the 18th century, tight-fitting garments that had begun to replace knee breeches.After thatpantaloons was used to refer to trousers in general. The last step in the development of the wordpants met with some resistance. This abbreviation ofpantaloon was considered vulgar and, as Oliver Wendell Holmes put it,"a word not made for gentlemen, but ‘gents.’”First found in the writings of Edgar Allan Poe in 1840,pants has replaced the "gentleman's word" in English and has lost all obvious connection to Saint Pantaleon.看起来一位公元4世纪的罗马天主教徒的名字似乎不可能是这个做为男人和女人平常都穿的布做的现代物品的根本词源。Pants 但可以追溯到奥塔莱昂,威尼斯的庇护神。 他变得与这座城市里的居民联系得这样紧密,以至于威尼斯人也通俗的被称为Pantaloni 。 结果,在即兴喜剧的角色中那个有代表性的威尼斯人(一个愚富而吝啬的商人)被称作Pantalone。 他的法语名字Panlalon 被借用到英语中(初次记录大约在1590年)。 在17世纪中期,法国人开始把它与一种特殊类型的裤子等同起来,同一种类型的裤子在英语中是pantaloons 。 Pantaloons 后来被用作另一种类型的裤子并在18世纪末日渐流行, 紧身衣服已经开始取代齐膝马裤。在那以后,pantaloons 被用来泛指裤子。 在pants 一词发展的最后遇到了一些阻力。 Pantaloon 的缩写被认为是粗俗的, 并且正如奥立弗·温德尔·霍姆斯所说,“并不是为绅士而造的词,而是为‘家伙们所造’”。最早在1840年发现于艾德加·爱伦·坡的作品中,pants 在英语中已经替代了那个“绅士的语言”, 而且显然已失去了和圣奥塔莱昂的一切联系〔menhaden〕English dialectal poghaden [probably of Algonquian origin] 英语方言 poghaden [可能来自于阿尔贡金语] 〔Japlish〕English affected by Japanese pronunciation, vocabulary, or syntax.日本式的英语:受日语发音、词汇或语法影响的英语〔tule〕Low, swampy land istules or tule land in the parlance of northern California. When the Spanish colonized Mexico and Central America,they borrowed from the native inhabitants the Nahuatl wordtollin, "bulrush.” The English-speaking settlers of the West in turn borrowed the Spanish wordtule to refer to certain varieties of bulrushes native to California.Eventually the meaning of the word was extended to the marshy land where the bulrushes grew.北加利福尼亚的说法中,潮湿洼地叫做tules 或 tule land 。 当西班牙人殖民于墨西哥和中美洲时,他们从土著居民那里借来了那瓦特语tollin (“灯心草”)。 接着西方讲英语的定居者又借用了西班牙语tule , 用来表示原产于加利福尼亚的各种灯芯草。最后该词的意义又扩展到这种灯芯草所生长的沼泽地〔lexeme〕The fundamental unit of the lexicon of a language.Find, found, and finding are members of the English lexeme find. 词位:某一种语言词汇的基本单位。Find、found 和 finding 是英语词位 find 的成员 〔pentameter〕English verse composed in iambic pentameter.五音步诗行:英语中的五音步抑扬格诗〔Labov〕American linguist who greatly advanced the study of sociolinguistics with his textThe Social Stratification of English in New York City (1966). 威廉拉玻夫,威廉:美国语言学家,以其著作《纽约市英语的社会分层》 (1966年)极大地推进了社会语言学的研究 〔babu〕A Hindu clerk who is literate in English.懂英语的印度职员〔Elyot〕English scholar and diplomat who wroteThe Boke Named the Governour (1531), the first English treatise on education, and helped popularize the classics with his translations and Latin-English dictionary (1538). 埃利奥特,托马斯:(1490?-1546) 英国学者和外交家,他编写了第一部英语教育论著《名叫先生的博克》 (1531年),并以其翻译作品和拉丁语-英语字典(1538年)来帮助普及经典名著 〔couple〕Although the phrasea couple of has been well established in English since before the Renaissance, it has been criticized on several grounds.Grammarians used to insist thata couple of should be used only to refer to things closely linked to one another and so was improperly used in phrases such asa couple of years ago. This objection has not been heard in some time and was never well supported.Modern critics have sometimes maintained thata couple of is too inexact to be appropriate in formal writing. But the inexactitude ofa couple of may serve a useful communicative purpose, suggesting that the writer is indifferent to the precise number of items involved.Thus the sentenceShe lives only a couple of miles away implies not only that the distance is short but that its exact measure is unimportant. Furthermore,a couple of is different from a few in that it does not imply that the relevant amount is relatively small. One might say admiringly of an exceptional center fielder thathe can throw the ball a couple of hundred feet, but not, except ironically,a few hundred feet, which would suggest that such a throw was unremarkable. The usage should be considered unobjectionable on all levels of style.尽管a couple of 这个短语在文艺复兴之前就已在英语中形成, 它仍受到多方面批评。语法学家过去坚持认为a couple of 应该只用于指互相之间紧密相连的东西, 所以在a couple of years ago 这样的短语中用是不适当的。 这样的反对意见长时间没有人提起了,也从未受到太多支持。现代批评家有时也认为a couple of 太不精确,不能很恰当地用于正式的写作中。 但a couple of 的不精确性也有一种很有用的传达交流的意图, 表明作者对于所涉及的事物的精确数目并不太关心。因此她住的只有几英里远 这个句子不仅表明距离很远,同时也表明精确测量是不重要的。 另外a couple of 与 a few 的不同还表现在它不表示有关的数量是相对来说小的。 如果夸赞一个优秀的中外野球手,可以说他能把球抛几百英尺远 , 若非如此的话,排除反意的可能,a few hundred feet 指抛这么远并没什么稀奇之处。 这种用法在各种文体上都是无可辩驳的〔difference〕points of divergence between British and American English.英语和美语间的不同点。〔chagrin〕The ultimate etymology of the wordchagrin, which comes directly to us from French, is considered uncertain by many etymologists. At one timechagrin was thought to be the same word as shagreen, "a leather or skin with a rough surface,” derived from French chagrin. The reasoning wasthat in French the word for this rough material, which was used to smooth and polish things,was extended to the notion of troubles that fret and annoy a person.It was later decided, however,that the sense "rough leather" and the sense "sorrow" each belonged to a different French wordchagrin. Other etymologists have offered an alternative explanation,suggesting that the French wordchagrin, "sorrow,” is a loan translation of the German word Katzenjammer, "a morning-after-the-night-before feeling.” A loan translation is a type of borrowing from another languagein which the elements of a foreign word,as inKatzen, "cats,” and Jammer, "distress, seediness,” are assumed to be translated literally by corresponding elements in another language,in this case,chat, "cat,” and grigner, "to grimace.” The actual etymology is less colorful,with the word probably going back to a Germanic word,.gramī, meaning "sorrow, trouble.”Chagrin is first recorded in English in 1656 in the now obsolete sense "anxiety, melancholy.”我们从法语直接借用的词chagrin 的最终词源被许多词源学家认为是不能确定的。 Charin 曾经被认为和由法语词 chagrin 派生出来的 shagreen “有粗糙表面的皮革或皮肤”是同一个词。 理由是,这种粗糙材料是用来打磨和抛光物品用的,法语里的这个词被引申到有了使人懊恼和烦恼的意思。但后来才确定,“粗糙的皮革”的含义和“沮丧”的含义分属于一个不同的法语词chagrin 。 别的词源学家提出了另外一种解释,说法语词chagrin “沮丧”是借译于日耳曼语词 Katzenjammer “醉后的难受感”。 借译是借用另一种语言,即外语词的成分,如Katzen “猫”,和 Jammer “沮丧,不舒服”, 并照那种语言的对应成分直译过来,在这种情况下为chat “猫”和 grigner “做怪相”。 实际的语源没有这么富于趣味,这个词极可能要追溯到日耳曼语词grami , 意思为“愁苦,麻烦”。Chagrin 第一次出现在英语里有记载的时间是在1656年, 当时的含义“焦虑,忧郁”现已过时不用〔better〕I am better at math than English.和英语相比我更擅长数学〔belfry〕The wordsbell and belfry seem obviously related, but in fact thebel- portion of belfry had nothing to do with bells until comparatively recently. Belfry goes back to a compound formed in prehistoric Common Germanic. It is generally agreed that the second part of this compound is the element.frij-, meaning "peace, safety.” The first element is either.bergan, "to protect,” which would yield a compound meaning "a defensive place of shelter,” or.berg-, "a high place,” which would yield a compound meaning "a high place of safety, tower.”Whatever the meaning of the original Germanic source, its Old French descendantberfrei, which first meant "siege tower,” came to mean "watchtower.” Presumably because bells were used in these towers, the word was applied to bell towers as well.The Old North French alterationbelfroi, which reminded English speakers of their native word belle (our bell ), entered Middle English with the sense "bell tower,” first recorded in 1272.bell 和 belfry 这两个词似乎显著相关, 但事实上直到最近,belfry 词里的 bel 部分才同“钟”这个词联系起来。 Belfry 源于史前普通日耳曼语的复合词。 一般认为这个复合词的第二部分是frij-, 意思是“和平、安全”。 它的第一部分或是"bergan", 意为“保护”, 该复合词就当“隐蔽防御之地”讲;或是berg 意为“高处”, 该词就是“安全高处;塔”的意思。无论其日耳曼语来源意思是什么,它衍生成古法语的berfrei, 原意为“围塔”,后意为“望塔”。据推测由于钟被用于这些塔里,所以这个词也开始指钟塔了。belfroi 作为古北法语的变体它使英语使用者想到了自己的母语中 belle 一字(我们写做 bell ), 进入中古英语后意为“钟楼”,首次记载于1272年〔Sranantongo〕A creole based on English, spoken in coastal Suriname and widely used as a lingua franca. Also called Sranan ,taki-taki 克里奥尔语:一种源于英语的克里奥尔语,为沿海一带的苏里南人使用, 也作为广泛应用的法定语言 也作 Sranan,taki-taki〔Shelta〕perhaps alteration of Irish Gaelic béarla [language, English] 可能为 爱尔兰盖尔语 béarla的变化 [语言,英语] 〔English〕To adapt into English; Anglicize.把…采纳入英语;使英国化〔Anglice〕from Anglicus [English] * see Anglican 源自 Anglicus [英语] * 参见 Anglican〔chipper〕Possibly alteration of British dialectal kipper [lively] 可能为 英语方言 kipper的变化 [轻快的] 〔chaperon〕The chaperon at a high-school dance seems to have little relationship to what was first signified by the English wordchaperon, "a hood for a hawk,” and not even that much to what the word later meant, "a protectress of a young single woman.”The sense "hood for a hawk,” recorded in a Middle English text composed before 1400,reflects the original meaning of the Old French wordchaperon, "hood, headgear.” In order to understand why ourchaperon came to have the sense "protectress,” we need to know that in French the verbchaperonner, meaning "to cover with a hood,” was derived from chaperon and that this verb subsequently developed the figurative sense "to protect.”Under the influence of the verb sensethe French nounchaperon came to mean "escort,” a meaning that was borrowed into English,being found first in a work published in 1720.In its earlier useEnglishchaperon referred to a person, commonly an older woman, who accompanied a young unmarried woman in public to protect her. The English verbchaperon, "to be a chaperon,” is first recorded in Jane Austen'sSense and Sensibility, begun in 1796 as a sketch called "Elinor and Marianne"and published as a novel in 1811.中学舞会上的年长监护者似乎与英语词chaperon 的最初含义关系极微,(当时其意为“鹰的羽冠”), 与后来该词的意思“年轻单身女子的伴护人”,关系也不甚大。“鹰的羽冠”的意思,最初见于作于1400年以前的一个中古英语文本,反映了这个古法语词chaperon 的最初的“羽冠”的含义。 为了理解为什么我们所用的chaperon 一词具有了“女伴护人”的意思, 我们需要知道法语中表示“覆以羽冠”意思的动词chaperonner 是从 chaperon 派生出来的, 这个词后来逐渐发展具有了“保护”的意思。受动词意义的影响,法语名词chaperon 也有了“伴护”的含义, 英语借用了这个含义,首见于1720年发表的一部作品。在早期用法上,英语词chaperon 是指一个在社交场合陪伴并保护一名未成婚少女的人,尤指年长妇女。 英语动词chaperon “做伴护人”, 最初见于简·奥斯丁的理智与情感 , 此作品开始是1796年动笔的一部名为“艾利诺和马利恩”的文学速写,1811年作为一部小说出版〔pretzel〕It is probably well known or widely assumed thatpretzel is a German word, since the food seems traditionally German, but the word ultimately has a Latin origin.The German wordBrezel or Pretzel, which was borrowed into English (first being recorded in American English in a newspaper of March 1856) goes back to the assumed Medieval Latin word brāchitellum. This would accord with the storythat a monk living in France or northern Italy first created the knotted shape of a pretzel,even though this type of biscuit had been enjoyed by the Romans.The monk wanted to symbolize arms folded in a prayer,hence the name derived from Latinbracchiātus, "having branches,” itself frombracchium, "branch, arm.” 可能象大家所熟知的或认定的那样,因为这种食品好象是德国的传统食品,所以大家认为pretzel 是个德语词, 但实际上这个词源于拉丁语。德语词Brezel 或 Pretzel 被借入英语(首次以美式英语记录于1856年3月的新闻报刊)可追溯到中世纪的拉丁词 brachitellum 。 这可能是与这个故事是一致的:一位住在法国或意大利北部的修士首创了这种节状的椒盐饼,尽管这种饼干很受罗马人的欢迎。那位修士想要象征祈祷者交叠的手臂,因此这个名字来源于拉丁语bracchiatus, 意为“有枝干的,” 该词本身又是由bracchium “枝干,手臂”演变而来的 〔scouse〕Often Scouse The dialect of English spoken in Liverpool. 常作 Scouse 利物浦语:利物浦讲的英语方言〔adolescent〕The adolescent grows up to become the adult.The wordsadolescent and adult that refer to these two stages in the human life cycle ultimately come from forms of the same Latin word, adolēscere, meaning "to grow up.” The present participle ofadolēscere, adolēscēns, from which adolescent derives, means "growing up,” while the past participleadultus, the source of adult, means "grown up.” Appropriately enough,adolescent, first recorded in English in a work written perhaps in 1440, seems to have come into the language beforeadult, first recorded in a work published in 1531. 青少年成长为成年人。adolescent 及 adult 这两个词都表示人类生命循环中的两个阶段,并且始终都来自于同一个拉丁词 adolescere 的不同形式,意为“成长”。 现在分词形式的adolescere--adolescens 产生出 adolesent ,表示“正在成长的”, 而其过去分词adultus 则为 adult 的语源,意为“已经长大的”。 很恰当地是,adolescent 约于1440年首次用于英语作品中, 似乎比首次于1531年刊登在一作品中的adult 一词要早出现在英语语言中 〔artichoke〕Those who have been warned to watch out for the sharp-tipped bracts toward the innermost part of an artichoke may have wondered whether the name of this vegetable has anything to do with choking.Originally it did not.Our word goes back to an Arabic word for the same plant,al-Caršūf. The Arabic word passed into Spanish,a not uncommon occurrence given the fact that Moslems ruled much of Spain for several centuries during the Middle Ages.The Old Spanish wordalcarchofa was variously modified as it passed through Italian, a Northern dialect form beingarticiocco, which looks more like artichoke than al-Caršūf. In English, where the word is first recorded in the early 16th century, a potpourri of spellings and explanations of it are found.For example, people who did not know the long history of the word explained it by the notion that the flower had a "choke,”that is, something that chokes, in its "heart.”那些被告知要当心这种朝鲜蓟的最内层部分的尖苞片的人,可能会猜想这种蔬菜与窒息有一些联系。最初并没有。这个词可以追溯到阿拉伯语言关于这种植物的名称,al-harsuf。 这个阿拉伯名称又传入了西班牙,这件极普通的事情指出,在中世纪时期穆斯林曾统治西班牙大部地区,长达几个世纪的事实。旧的西班牙词alcarchofa 又经历了不同的变化,如传入意大利, 北方方言的形式形成articicco, 这看起来更象 artichoke 而非 al-harsuf。 在英语中,这个词在16世纪初被记录下来时,有许多不同的拼法和解释。例如,不知道这个词的悠久历史的人解释这个词时依据的看法是花会令人“窒息”,也就是说,是一种在它“心中”窒息的东西。〔banjo〕; akin to Jamaican English banja [fiddle] ; akin to probably akin to Kimbundu, Tshiluba mbanza [a plucked stringed instrument] ;类似于 牙买加英语 banja [提琴类乐器] ;类似于 可能类似于 金邦杜语,齐鲁巴语 mbanza [一种弹拨弦乐器] 〔orange〕Oranges imported to China from the United States reflect a journey come full circle,for the orange had worked its way westward for centuries, originating in China,then being introduced to India,and traveling on to the Middle East, into Europe,and finally to the New World.The history of the wordorange keeps step with this journey only part of the way. The word is possibly ultimately of Dravidian origin, that is, it comes from a language or languages in a large non-Indo-European family of languages,including Tamil and Telugu, that are spoken in southern India and northern Sri Lanka.The Dravidian word or words were adopted into the Indo-European language Sanskritwith the formnāraṅgaḥ. As the fruit passed westward,so did the word,as evidenced by Persiannārang and Arabic nāranj. Arabs brought the first oranges to Spain,and the fruit rapidly spread throughout Europe.The important word for the development of our term is Old Italianmelarancio, derived from mela, "fruit,” and arancio, "orange tree,” from Arabicnāranj. Old Italianmelarancio was translated into Old French as pume orenge, theo replacing the a because of the influence of the name of the town of Orange, from which oranges reached the northern part of France.The final stage of the odyssey of the word was its borrowing into English from the Old French formorenge. Our word is first recorded in Middle English in a text probably composed around 1380,a time preceding the arrival of the orange in the New World.从美国进口到中国的桔子恰恰反映出兜圈子似的行进里程,因为原产于中国的桔子几个世纪以来不断向西行进,先是被引入印度,之后传播到中东国家、欧洲,最后引进了新大陆,orange 这个词的发展历史只与桔子的发展历程在一部分时段上是有其同步性的, 它最可能是来源于达罗毗荼,也就是说,它来源于非印一欧语系中的一种或多种语言,包括用于印度南部和斯里兰卡北部的泰米尔语和泰卢固语。达罗毗荼语是以梵文形式引入印欧语系的,形式如narangch。 当这种水果向西传播时,这个单词也同样西传,从以下可得到明证,如波斯语中的narang 和阿拉伯语中的 naranj。 阿拉伯人把第一批桔子带到西班牙后,这种水果又迅速传遍整个欧洲。我们现时所用的这个词的发展期中重要的一词便是古意大利语melarancio ,源于 mela, “水果”及 arancio, “桔树”, 来源于阿拉伯语naranj。 古意大利语melarancio 翻译成古法语为 pume orenge, o 变换为 a 是因为受奥伦奇城名的影响, 桔子即由此地进入法国北部。这一单词长途跋涉的最后一站是它由古法语orenge 进入英语词汇。 我们所用的这一词汇最初载入中世纪英语是在大约1380年左右的一份文本当中,早于桔子进入新大陆的时间〔garage〕It is difficult for a 20th-century imagination to envision a world without garages or a language without the wordgarage. However, probably before the 19thand certainly before the 18th century the word did not exist,and possibly before the end of the 19th century the thing itself did not exist.Our word is a direct borrowing of Frenchgarage, which is first recorded in 1802 in the sense "place where one docks.”The verbgarer, from which garage was derived, originally meant "to put merchandise under shelter,”then "to moor a boat,” and then "to put a vehicle into a place for safekeeping,”that is, agarage, a sense first recorded in French in 1901. English almost immediately borrowed this French word,the first instance being found in 1902.对于20世纪来说,很难想象一个没有车库的世界或者一种语言没有garage 这个词。 但可能在19世纪以前,或者肯定在18世纪以前这个词并不存在,而且极有可能在19世纪末期这个词本身也不存在。我们的单词是直接从法语中garage 这个词借来的, 第一次于1802年使用“停放的地方”这一含义。从动词garer 派生出来了 garage , 本意为“把货物放在保护处”,后成为“停靠船只”,而后又变成“为保管而把汽车放入一个地方”。也就是说garage 的含义是1901年在法语中记载的。 英语几乎马上借用了这个法语词汇,它的第一例可在1902年找到〔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〔marshal〕Hard-riding marshals of the Wild West in pursuit of criminalsreemphasize the relationship of the wordmarshal with horses. The Germanic ancestor of our wordmarshal is a compound made up of .marhaz, "horse" (related to the source of our word mare ), and .skalkaz, "servant,” meaning as a whole literally "horse servant,”hence "groom.”The Frankish descendant of this Germanic word,.marahskalk, starting from these humble beginnings, came to designate a high royal official and also a high military commander, not surprisingly so, given the importance of the horse in medieval warfare.The word passed into the period (beginning in 800) in which we speak of Old French, after the Franks and their Germanic language had been fused with the surrounding culture descended from Roman Gaul.When the Normans established a French-speaking official class in England,the Old French word came with them.The Middle English source of our word is first recorded as a surname in 1218 (and the surname Marshal, now spelled Marshall, has been held by some famous people),but it is first recorded as a common noun with the sense "high officer of the royal court" in the first English language proclamation (1258) by an English king, Henry III, after the Norman Conquest.Marshal was applied to this high royal official's deputies, who were officers of courts of law,and the word continued to designate various officials involved with courts of law and law enforcement,including the horseback-riding marshals we are familiar with in the United States.西部荒野骑着马对罪犯紧追不舍的警长形象,再次强调了marshal 这个词与马之间的联系。 我们这个单词marshal 的日耳曼语原形是一个由 marhaz “马”(与 mare 的语源相关)和 skalkaz “仆人,佣人”组成的合成词, 字面意思是“马的仆人”,也就是后来的“马夫”。这个日耳曼词的法兰克语的演变marahskalk 从最初卑微的含义演变到特指高级王室官员及高级军事将领, 不仅如此,在中世纪的战场上马也被提升到了重要地位。在法兰克人和他们所说的日耳曼语一起融入周围的罗马高卢人文化之后,这个词进入了我们讲古法语的时代(开始于800年)。当诺曼底人在英格兰建立了一个讲法语的官员阶层之后,古法语里的这个词便随之而来。该词在中世纪英语中最早于1218年作为一个姓氏被记录下来(一些著名人士的姓马歇尔,现在的拼写法为Marshall),但作为指“王室的高级官员”的普通名词,它最早出现于英国王亨利三世在诺曼征服之后做的一篇英文公告(1258年)。在此文中Marshal 用于指高级王室官员的代表, 也就是司法官员。该词涉及法律和法律实施的不同官员的含义延续了下来,其中就包括我们所熟悉的美国西部骑在马背上的警长〔stampede〕The Spanish wordestampida, meaning "explosion, bang, crash, uproar,” seems very fitting to describe a rush of animals, such as buffaloes, horses, or cattle,and was so used first in American Spanish.From this use came our wordstampede (actually from the Spanishestampido, a masculine noun corresponding to the feminine estampida, first recorded in 1828). Thusstampede, now a general English word, is an Americanism, that is, a word or expression that originated in the United States.Later the United States was to see stampedes of miners who rushed westward to find gold.Not surprisingly, an early instance of this word to describe a stampede of human beings is found in theSan Francisco Herald in 1851. 西班牙语estampida 的意思是“爆炸,巨响,击碎,吼叫”, 似乎很适合形容兽群如野牛、马群或牛的惊跑,并且首先被使用于美国西班牙语中。由此就出现了我们的stampede (事实上源于与西班牙语estampida 相对应的 estampido ,于1828年首次被记录下来)。 因此,stampede ,一个目前很普遍的英语词,是一种美国英语, 也就是说来源于美国的一个单词或词组。后来,美国目睹了成千上万向西淘金的人群。1851年在旧金山的先驱 中出现了形容大批人群蜂拥而至的这个字就不足为怪了 |
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