| 单词 | 英语词典 |
| 释义 | 〔ragamuffin〕Perhapsragamuffin should be seen as an example of melioration, or improvement in the sense of a word, since it can now be used rather affectionately of children who are normally far from dirty or unkempt.In any event,even its use for an unkempt child or man represents something of an improvementover one of its earliest uses.Ragamuffin was a name given to a demon in Piers Plowman, an allegorical poem of the 14th century. This name was once thought to be the source of our word,but researches at theMiddle English Dictionary have shown that the word was used as the last name of a woman, Isabella Ragamuffyn, earlier in the 14th century (1344), before the poem was composed.The word even then had the sense "ragged lout, tattered oaf,”though it was found only in names.The elementraga- is probably from the Middle English adjective raggi, "ragged,” also used of the devil in the sense "shaggy" and as a name.The element-muffin is probably from Middle Dutch moffel or muffe, "mitten.” 也许ragamuffin 这个词应该看作词义变良或改善的例子， 因为它现在可以用来充满感情地指那些按常规来说远非肮脏或不整洁的孩子。不论如何，即使它被用来指那些不整洁的孩子或大人的时候，其用法较最初也有了很大提高。Ragamuffin 是14世纪的一部寓言诗 犁者码头 中一个魔鬼的名字。 这个名字一度被认为是本词的来源，但对中世纪英语词典 的研究表明这个词曾在14世纪早期(1344年）用作一位妇女的姓，伊莎贝拉·拉格姆芬， 这早于那首诗创作之前。这个词甚至还曾有衣裳破烂的粗人、褴褛的呆子的意思，尽管此词仅见于姓名。构词成分raga- 可能源自中古英语的形容词 raggi “破烂的”， 也曾以“毛长而参差不齐”这个意思用于魔鬼和人名。构词成分-muffin 可能来自中世纪荷兰语中 moffel 或意为“连指手套”的 muffe 〔NOED〕New Oxford English Dictionary.新牛津英语词典〔Fowler〕British lexicographer who collaborated with his brotherFrancis (1870-1918) on The King's English (1906) and the Concise Oxford Dictionary (1911). He also wrote A Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926). 福勒，亨利·沃森：(1858-1933) 英国词典编纂者，和其弟弗朗西斯 (1870-1918年）合著了 《标准英语》 （1906年）和 《牛津简明英语词典》 （1911年）。他还著了 《现代英语用法词典》 （1926年） 〔anymore〕In standard American English the wordanymore is often found in negative sentences: They don't live here anymore. Butanymore is widely used in regional American English in positive sentences with the meaning "nowadays": "We use a gas stove anymore" (Oklahoma informant in DARE).Its use, which appears to be spreading,is centered in the South Midland and Midwestern states—Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Iowa—and the Western statesthat received settlers from those areas.The earliest recorded examples are from Northern Ireland,where the positive use ofanymore still occurs. 在标准美国英语里anymore 一词常出现于否定句里： 他们再也不在这儿住了。 但anymore 在地方美国英语里广泛用于肯定句中，意思是“如今”： “我们现如今使用煤气炉” （美国区域英语词典的俄克拉何马州情报提供者）。它的用法似乎还正扩展，主要集中于中南部和中西部各州--田纳西州，肯塔基州，印第安纳州，俄克拉何马州和依阿华州——以及接收了这些地区移民的西部各州。最早记载的例子来自北爱尔兰，在那里anymore 一词的肯定用法仍在使用 〔boughten〕American regional dialects allow freer adjectival use of certain past participles of verbs than does Standard English.Time-honored examples areboughten (Chiefly Northern U.S.) and bought (Chiefly Southern U.S.) to mean "purchased rather than homemade": boughten sugar,a boughten dress,bought bread. The Northern formboughten (as in store boughten ) features the participial ending -en, added to bought, the participial form, probably by analogy with more common participial adjectives such asfrozen. Another development, analogous withhomemade, is evident in bought-made, cited inDARE from a Texas informant. 美国地方方言较标准英语更自由地允许将一些动词过去分词用作形容词。历史较久的例子是boughten （主要在北美）和 bought （主要在南美）， 意指“买来的而并非家里制的”： 买来的糖，买来的衣服，买来的面包。 北美形式boughten （如 商场里买的 ）特征是有过去分词词尾 -en 加在过去分词形式 bought 的后面， 这可能是参照了一些更常见的过去分词形容词如frozen。 另一种发展，模拟homemade， 显见于 bought-made， 由美国区域英语词典 的得克萨斯资料提供人所引用 〔tump〕The verbtump, used almost invariably with over in the intransitive sense "to fall over"and the transitive sense "to overturn,”is in common use in the South.The editors of theDictionary of American Regional English have collected evidence of its use in Arkansas, Texas, and Kentucky; it is also common in Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia.This example supplied byDARE is typical: "When he brushed against the coffee table his Coke tumped over" (Little Rock, Arkansas, informant).But another citation, taken from Gregory Jaynes's parody of detective fiction, "In New York State: Who Poisoned the Pudding?” in the June 17, 1985, issue ofTime, indicates that tump may not be exclusively Southern: "At the end he tumps over into his rice pudding, poisoned. Whodunit?” As for its ultimate origin,tump is probably related to tumble as a separate development from the same Old English verbtumbian. 动词tump 几乎总是和 over 连用， 作不及物动词表示“倾倒，翻倒”，也可作及物动词表示“弄翻，翻转”，这个词在南部普遍使用。美国方言词典 的编辑们收集证据证明这个词用于阿肯色州、得克萨斯州和肯塔基州， 也普遍用于阿拉巴马州，田纳西州和佐治亚州。美国区域英语词典 中提供的这个例句很典型： “当他擦过咖啡桌时，他的可乐打翻了” （阿肯色州小石城，密告者）。但是从格里高利·杰恩斯的模仿侦探小说的作品《在纽约州：谁往布丁里下了毒?》（该作品刊登于1985年6月17日出版的时代 )中摘录的另一处引文却显示 tump 不一定只在南方使用： “最后，他跌倒在自己的稻米布丁中，被毒死了。谁干的?” 至于这个的词的最终来源，tump 可能与 tumble 有关， 它们分别从同一个古英语动词tumbian 发展而来 〔Bailey〕British lexicographer whoseUniversal Etymological English Dictionary, first published in 1721, was used as a reference by Samuel Johnson and was the first English dictionary to treat etymology consistently. 贝利，内森：(卒于 1742) 英国词典编辑者，他的《世界词源英语词典》 首次出版于1721年，被塞缪尔·约翰逊用作参考书，它是第一本能连贯地论述词源学的英语词典 〔agin〕The spelling ofagin reflects both the raised vowel before a nasal consonant, typical of Southern dialects, and a reduced final consonant cluster, typical of several regional varieties.Agin has a wide spectrum of senses in the regional speech of those who pronounce it this way. Indeed, these regional senses are tied to the pronunciation,for standard Englishagainst does not quite capture the full implication of the assertion "I'm agin him" — that is, "opposed to him and all that he stands for.”Another regional sense recalls the original literal Old English sense of "facing; next to" (see the first four senses ofagainst in the Oxford English Dictionary), where standard English would haveby: Their house is agin the mountain.Agin may be used figuratively with regard to time chiefly in South Midland dialects,meaning "by or before (a specified time)”: "I'll be there agin daylight" (North Carolina informant in DARE).词汇agin 的拼写既反映了典型的南部方言──鼻辅音前的元音的提高， 又反映了压缩的后辅音群──几种典型的地方变体的特征。Agin 在它被如此发音的地方方言有广泛的意思。 确实，这些地域意义是和读音联系在一起的，因为标准英语中against 没有完全表达 "I'm agin him" 所隐含的意义── 即“反对他及他所代表的一切。”另外一个地域意义使人想起古英语中最初的文学用语“面对；紧靠着”（参阅《牛津英语词典》中against 的前四个释义）， 而在标准英语中应该用by： 傍山而建的房屋。Agin 主要在中南部方言中可以比喻地用来表示时间，意思是“到或在…（特定时间）前”： “天亮前我可到达” （美国区域英语词典的北卡罗来纳提供资料者） |
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