| 单词 | 衍变 |
| 释义 | 〔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”〔immaterial〕The wordimmaterial, meaning "of no importance or relevance,” has made its way in the world in spite of the opposition of no less a figure than Samuel Johnson. Johnson stated that "this sense has crept into the conversation and writings of barbarians; but ought to be utterly rejected.”More than two centuries laterit is difficult for us to recover Johnson's strength of feeling,and this tale might in fact serve as a warning to those who believe that the usages they abominate will not survive and become standard.Although Johnson was a man of immense learning,he did not have the lexicographical resources available today.If Johnson had had access to theOxford Latin Dictionary and the Middle English Dictionary, among other works, he would have seen that frommāter, meaning "a mother,” "a plant as the source of things such as cuttings or fruit,” and "a source,”was derived the wordmāteria, meaning "wood as a building material,” "any substance of which a physical object is made,” "the subject matter of a speech or book,” and "the condition whereby an action is effected.”The adjectivemāteriālis derived from māteria only meant "of or concerned with subject matter" in Classical Latin, but its descendant in Late and Medieval Latin and its descendants in Old French (materiel ) and Middle English ( material ) developed other meanings, such as "consisting of matter.”One Middle English sense, "important, relevant,”that probably harks back to senses of Classical Latinmāteria such as "subject matter" continued in existence after Middle English times. So it was natural for the English wordimmaterial, first recorded in the 15th century, to come to mean "not important,” in spite of Johnson's wrath.尽管不只塞缪尔·约翰逊一个人反对意思为“不重要的，无关紧要的”，immaterial 这个词还是产生了。 约翰逊声明：“这个意思偷偷出现在野蛮民族的对话和写作中；但应该遭到完全抵制。”两个多世纪之后，我们很难重新找到约翰逊强烈的感受。这个故事实际上可以算是对那些认为他们厌恶的用法不可能生存和标准化的人的一种警告。尽管约翰逊是一个博学的人，但是他没有今天可以得到的词汇学的资料。如果约翰逊除了其他著作外能得到牛津拉丁语词典 和 中古英语词典 的话， 他就能从中认识到这一点：mater ， 意思为“母亲”，“作为诸如剪下的东西或水果来源的一株植物”和“来源”，是由materia ， 意思为“建筑用的木材”，“用于制造物体的任何材料”，“讲话或著作的主题”和“影响一个行动的条件”而衍变而来的。形容词materalis 是由在古典拉丁语中仅仅意味着“和主题有关的” materia 衍变而来的， 但它在中古拉丁语和后期拉丁语中的衍生词和古法语中的衍生词(materiel )以及中古英语中的衍生词( material )继续发展有了其他的意思， 如“由物质组成的”。中古英语的一个意思“重要的、有关的”，很可能追溯到古典拉丁语materia 的意思如“主题”在中古英语时期之后继续存在。 因此，最早在15世纪被记录下来的英语单词immaterial 至今仍有“不重要的”的意思是很自然的， 尽管约翰逊对此很愤怒〔impact〕Each generation of critics seems to select one particular usage to stand as the emblem of what they view as linguistic crassness.Thirty years ago it was the use ofcontact as a verb, but opposition to that form has more or less disappeared,and attention now focuses on the verbal use ofimpact meaning "have an effect, affect.” Eighty-four percent of the Usage Panel disapproves of the constructionto impact on, as in the phrasesocial pathologies, common to the inner city, that impact heavily on such a community; and fully 95 percent disapproves of the use ofimpact as a transitive verb in the sentence Companies have used disposable techniques that have a potential for impacting our health. But even these figures do not reflect the degree of distaste with which critics view the usage:in their comments some Panelists labeled the usage as "bureaucratic,” "pretentious,” "vile,” and "a vulgarism.” ·It may be that the particular pretentiousness associated with the verbal use ofimpact is caused by its derivation from an already questionable metaphoric use of the noun impact, as in phrases such asthe political impact of the decision or the impact of the program on the community, in which no more is usually meant than might have been expressed by effects or consequences. But thoughimpact may have begun life a generation ago as an inflated substitute for "affect significantly,” it has by now become so common in corporate and institutional contexts that younger speakers appear to regard it as wholly standard and straightforward usage.Within a few years, accordingly,the usage is likely to be no more objectionable thancontact is now, since it will no longer betray any particular pretentiousness on the part of those who use it.See Usage Note at contact 每一代的批评家好象都挑了一个特别的用法作为他们认为的语言上的愚蠢行为的象征。三十年以前是contact 作为动词的用法， 但是对这种形式的反对或多或少已经消失了，注意力现在集中到了impact 意思为“有不好的影响、影响”的动词用法上。 用法专题小组成员中百分之八十四不同意to impact on 的结构， 如在短语对内城区来说很普通的社会病理学，对这样一个社区产生了很大影响的 当中； 百分之九十五的成员完全不同意impact 在句子 公司已经使用了可能会对我们的健康产生不良影响的易处理技术 中当作及物动词来使用。 但是即使是这些数字也没有反映出批评家们对这种用法厌恶的程度：在他们的评论当中有些成员把这种用法说成是“官僚主义的”、“装腔作势的”，“可耻的”，还说这是“粗鄙的语言。”也许和impact 的动词用法有关联的虚饰成份是由于它是从名词 impact 的一个早有争议的比喻用法衍变而来造成的。 如在短语这个决定在政治上的影响 或者 这个计划对公众的影响 中它的意思并没有比用 effects 或者 consequences 表达出来的意思要多。 尽管impact 作为“明显地影响”的夸大了的替代可能在一代人之前开始产生， 但是现在的年轻一代使用者看上去把它当成了完全标准的、直接的用法，这在共同的和惯例的文章中已经很普遍了。相应地在几年内，这种用法很有可能不比今天的contact 更引起反对， 因为对于那些使用它的人来说这不会再显得有点矫揉造作了 参见 contact |
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