| 单词 | 记录下来 |
| 释义 | 〔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。〔casino〕The history of the wordcasino reveals a transformation from a cottage to a gambling palace. The source of our word, Italiancasino, is a diminutive ofcasa, "house,” itself from Latincāsa, "cottage, hut, hovel.” Central to the transformation is the development of the senses ofcasino in Italian. The word was first applied to a country houseand then came to be used for a social gathering place,a room or building where one could dance, listen to music, and gamble. This last pastime seems to have gained precedence over the others,at least as far as the development of the word is concerned, andcasino took on the meaning "gambling establishment.” These senses of the Italian word have all been borrowed into English,the sense "social gathering place" being recorded first in the 18th century,the sense "gambling establishment" first in 1851.单词casino 的历史揭示了一个从村舍到赌场的转化。 我们这个意大利词casino 的来源， 是casa 的小字尾“房屋”， 而其本身也来自于拉丁语casa ，意思是“村舍、小屋、茅屋。” 对这一转化起中心作用的是casino 一词在意大利语中的意思发展。 起初，这个词被用来指一所乡间房屋，然后逐渐用它来指一个社交聚会场所，一个人们可以在那里跳舞、听音乐和赌博的房间或建筑物。这最后一种娱乐的地位似乎已在其他娱乐之上，至少就casino 这个词的发展来说是这样的，于是它开始有了“赌场”的含义。 这个意大利词的这些意义都已被借用到英语中；“社交聚会场所”这层意思在18世纪首次被记录下来，“赌场”的含义在1851年被首次记录下来〔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〔voiceprint〕An electronically recorded graphic representation of a person's voice, in which the configuration for any given utterance is uniquely characteristic of the individual speaker.声波纹：一种电子记录下来的图纹，表现出一个人的声音，图中每一种发音的轮廓都是这个说话者的单独特征〔noise〕For those who find that too much noise makes them ill,it will come as no surprise that the wordnoise possibly can be traced back to the Latin word nausea, "seasickness, feeling of sickness.” Our wordsnausea and noise are doublets, that is, words borrowed in different forms from the same word.Nausea, first recorded probably before 1425, was borrowed directly from Latin.Noise, on the other hand, first recorded around the beginning of the 13th century, came to us through Old French,probably ultimately from Latin,which explains its change in form.The unrecorded change in sense probably took place in Vulgar Latin.Old Frenchnois, descended from Latin nausea, meant "sound, din, uproar, quarrel,” all senses that came into Middle English with the word.Noise, however, is an example of how words can change for the better, for a noise can be pleasantas well as unpleasant,as in the sentence "The only noise was the wind in the pines.”对那些发现太多的嘈杂声使他们很不舒服的人来说，无须惊奇词语noise 很可能可以追溯到拉丁语 nausea “晕船，不舒服的感觉”。 词语nausea 和 noise 是同源词， 也就是说这两个词是同一单词的不同形式。Nausea 第一次记录也许在1425年以前， 它直接来自于拉丁语。另一方面，noise 大约在13世纪初第一次记录下来， 在古法语中使用，可能最终源自拉丁语，这解释了它的形式变化。这种意义上讲未被记录的变化可能在民间拉丁文中。古法语nois 从拉丁语 nausea “声音，嘈杂声，喧嚣，吵闹”转变过来， 所有意义都随此词进入中世纪英语。然而noise 是一个词语如何演变向更好的方面的例子， 因为一种声音可能是悦耳的，也可能是不悦耳的，如在句子"The only noise was the wind in the pines"中〔gremlin〕Elves, goblins, and trolls seem to be the timeless creations of the distant past,but gremlins were born in the 20th century.In fact,gremlin is first recorded only in the 1920's, as a Royal Air Force term for a low-ranking officer or enlisted man saddled with oppressive assignments. Said to have been invented by members of the Royal Naval Air Service in World War I,gremlin is used in works written in the 1940's for "an imaginary gnomelike creature who causes difficulties in aircraft.”The word seems likely to have been influenced bygoblin, but accounts of its origin are various and none are certain.One source calls in Fremlin beer bottles to explain the word;another, the Irish Gaelic wordgruaimín, "ill-humored little fellow.” Whatever the word's origin,it is certain that gremlins have taken on a life of their own.小精灵、小妖怪和侏儒似乎很久以前就被创造出来而且流传至今，而小妖精一词则是20世纪的产物。事实上，gremlin 在20世纪20年代首次被记录下来时为皇家空军对一个承受严酷任务的低级军官或征召者的称呼。 据说这是在第一次世界大战中由皇家空军的成员创造出来的。1904年，gremlin 被用在书面的作品中， 意为“一种想象中的在飞机上制造麻烦的小生物。”这个词看起来很有可能受了goblin 一词的影响， 但对其词源说法不一，莫衷一是。一种说法用弗来姆林啤酒瓶来解释这一词；而另一种认为爱尔兰凯尔特语词汇gruaimin 意为“坏脾气的小家伙”为其词源。 不管源自何处，有一点是肯定的，小妖精自身有其生命力〔prison〕The wordprison has its origins not in the notions of what such a place is but rather in the notion of how one gets there. Prison can be traced back to the Latin word prēnsiō, "the action or power of making an arrest.” This in turn is derived from the verbprehendere or prendere, which meant "to take hold of, take into custody, arrest.”Prēnsiō then dives into the obscurity of the time when Romance languages such as French were being formed from Vulgar Latin and resurfaces in the Old French of the 12th century with the formprison and the senses "capture" and "place of imprisonment.”This new sense could have already been developed in Latinand not been recorded,but we have to wait until the 12th century to see it,the sense "captivity" being added in the same century.From Old French as well as the Medieval Latin wordpriso, "prison,” derived from Old French, came our Middle English word prisoun, first recorded in a work written before 1121in the sense "imprisonment.”The sense "place of imprisonment" is recorded shortly afterward in a text copied down before 1225but perhaps actually written in the Old English period before the Norman Conquest.Prison 这个单词的来源不在于它是一个什么样的地方而在于一个人是怎么进去的。 Prison 可追溯到意思是“进行逮捕的行动或力量”的拉丁词 prensio。 这个词也是从动词prehendere 或 prendere 派生出来的， 意思是“捉住，逮捕，拘留。”Prensio 这个词在罗马语系中的语言（如法语）逐渐从通俗拉丁语形成时被人们忘却了， 12世纪又以prison 的形式在古法语中重新露面， 其含义是“捉住”和“囚禁人的地方。”这个新的含义很可能在拉丁语中已得到了发展，只是没有被记录下来，但是我们直到12世纪才看到它，在同一世纪“囚禁，俘虏”的意思被加了进去。从古法语、同时也是从源于古法语的中世纪拉丁语词priso “监狱，监禁”中产生了中古英语单词 prison， 这个词最早的记录是在一部著于1121年的作品中，意思是“监禁，拘留。”“监禁或囚禁的地方”这层意思在稍后出现的、在1225年以前被抄录下来的一篇文章中出现，但可能实际写作的时间是在诺曼征服之前的古英语时期〔minimum〕The lowest degree or amount reached or recorded; the lower limit of variation.最低点，最低限度：所能达到和所能记录下来的最低程度或最小数量；变化范围内的最低限度〔university〕The universe in the worduniversity is not the universe as we know it, thoughuniversity is derived from the ancestor of our word universe. This ancestor, Latinūniversus, was made up of ūnus, "one,” and versus, "in a specified direction.” Universus thus literally meant "in one specified direction" but actually meant "the whole of, entire,” and "regarded as a whole, regarded as a group.”Universum, the neuter singular of ūniversus, used as a noun, meant "the universe,”as did the derivativeūniversitās, which also meant "a corporate body of persons, community.” During the Middle Ages, when Latin continued to be used in areas such as government, religion, and education,the wordūniversitās was applied to the new corporate bodies of teachers and students, as at Salerno, Paris, and Oxford, that were the ancestors of our universities of today.Our worduniversity, going back to the Latin word, is first recorded around 1300, with reference to this corporate body.University 一词中的"universe"并不是我们所知道的宇宙这个词， 虽然university 是由我们的 universe 这个词的前身派生而来的。 这一前身，即拉丁文中的universus 是由表示“一”的 unus 和表示“沿着某一特定的方向”的 versus 构成的。 Universus 字面上的意思因此就是“沿着一个特定的方向”， 但它实际的意思却是“整个、全部”和“被视为一个整体的，被视为一个群体的”。Universum ，是 universus 的中性单数形式， 用作名词时指“宇宙”，同样派生词universitas 也指“一群个人的联合体，社团”。 在中世纪，拉丁文继续在诸如政府、宗教和教育等领域得到使用，universitas 这个词被用来指由教师和学生所构成的新联合体，比如在萨勒诺、巴黎和牛津出现的这种联合体， 而这类联合体即是我们今天的大学的最初形式。我们今天的university 这个词可以上溯到拉丁词， 它首次被记录下来是在大约1300年，当时就是用来指这种联合体〔maximum〕The greatest quantity or degree reached or recorded; the upper limit of variation.最大限度，上限：所达到或记录下来的最大数量或最高程度；最高限度〔take〕To put down in writing.记下：以书写的形式记录下来的〔hassle〕It is difficult to believe that there were no hassles before 1945,but that is the year in which the nounhassle is first recorded in English. The origins of this word might be considered a hassle for the etymologist.An English dialect word,hassle, meaning "to hack at, cut with a blunt knife and with a sawing motion,” is recorded at the end of the 19th century.A Southern dialect word,hassle, "to pant, breathe heavily,” is also a possible source. A more popular notion has been thathassle is a blend, but here again we have a hassle.Three separate possibilities have been proposed,a combination ofh ar ass and hu stle, ha ggle and tu ssle, and ha ggle and wre stle. Given all these possibilities,it is clear why words such ashassle end up with the etymology "origin unknown.” 很难相信1945年以前没有麻烦这个词，但就在那一年hassle 这个名词第一次被记录在英语中。 词源学家认为这个词的来源是争吵。一个英语方言词hassle 的意思是“砍，用一个钝的刀锯”， 在19世纪被记录下来。一个南部的方言词hassle “喘气，重呼吸”也可能是它的来源。 但更普遍的是认为hassle 是一个合成词， 但我们对此又有了异议。词源学家提出的三种不同的可能性：h ar ass 与hu stle的结合、ha ggle与tu ssle 的结合和 ha ggle与wre stle 的结合。 尽管有这么多的可能性，但很显然，象hassle 这样的词仍“无源可溯” 〔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 〔manifest〕To record in a ship's manifest.把…记在船货单上：在舱单上记录下来〔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〔culprit〕According to British legal tradition,the wordculprit comes from cul. prit, an abbreviation of the Anglo-Norman legal phraseCulpable: prit d'averrer nostre bille. These words, said by the clerk of the crown in response to a not-guilty plea,meant, "Guilty: I am ready to aver our indictment.”After law French went out of official use in the courts,the shortened formcul. prit was misinterpreted as a term of address used by the clerk to a prisoner indicted for high treason or felony and pleading "not guilty.” Culprit is first recorded in such a use in 1678. The term was thereafter taken to mean "the accused,”and then, by association with Latinculpa, "guilt,” it came to mean "a guilty party.”根据英国法律的传统，culprit 一词源于 cul. prit ， 这是英国法语的法律短语Culpable： prit d'averrer nostre bille 的缩略语。 这些词语是王国政府的书记员在回答对于被指控罪名不服的申诉时所说的，意思是：“证明有罪的：我将要证实我们的控告属实。”在诺曼人的法律法语不限于在法庭中使用后，其缩略形式cul.prit 被错误地理解为一种称呼，书记员用它来称呼被控犯有判国罪或重罪但又申辩“无罪”的犯人。 Culprit 一词最早在1678年以这种用法被记录下来。 这个词语自那以后被用来指“被控告的人”，然后它与拉丁语culpa “有罪的”一词相联系， 用来表示“被证明有罪的一方”〔firm〕In these days of agribusiness,a farm and a firm are probably closer than they have been since the time before the wordsfarm and firm developed from the same Latin word, firmāre, "to strengthen, make fast, confirm, attest,” which is derived from Latinfirmus, the source offirm, meaning "secure.” In Medieval Latinfirmāre came to mean "to ratify by signature,” from which sense eventually came our word firm, first recorded in 1574 with the meaning "signature.”This wordfirm later added the senses "designation under which a firm transacts business" and "commercial house.” Latinfirmāre by way of Old French also gave us Middle English ferme, the ancestor of our wordfarm. 大农场经营年代，农场和商行也许比在farm 和 firm 从同一拉丁语 firmare， 意为“加强，使牢固，使确定，使证明”发展来之前联系更为紧密， 它是从拉丁词firmus 派生而来， 即firm 一词的来源，意为“确定的”。 在中世纪拉丁语中，firmare 开始取意为“用签名来批准，”从此含义出发，最终有了我们的 firm 这个词， 1574年它首次被记录下来，意为“签名”。Firm 这个词后来增加了两个含义，“商行借以办理事务的名称”和“经商的房屋。” 拉丁词firmare 也通过古法语给了我们中世纪英语 ferme 这个词， 它是我们的单词farm 的前身 〔quiz〕Although we do not know the origin of the wordquiz, just as we may not know the answers to all the questions on a quiz,we can say that its first recorded sense has to do with people,not tests.The term, first recorded in 1782,meant "an odd or eccentric person.”From the noun in this sense came a verbmeaning "to make sport or fun of" and "to regard mockingly.”In English dialects and probably in American Englishthe verbquiz acquired senses relating to interrogation and questioning. This presumably occurredbecausequiz was associated with question, inquisitive, or perhaps the English dialect verb quiset, "to question" (probably itself short for obsoleteinquisite, "to investigate"). From this new area of meaning came the noun and verb senses all too familiar to students.The second recorded instance of the noun sense occurs in the writings of no less an educator than William James,who in a December 26, 1867, letter proffers the hopethat "perhaps giving ‘quizzes’ in anatomy and physiology . . . may help along.”虽然我们不知道quiz 这个词的来源， 正象我们可能并不清楚测试中所有问题的答案一样，但我们可以肯定的是这个词最初被记录时的意义与人有关，而不是测试，这个词第一次被记录下来是在1782年，意思为“一个古怪或行为怪诞的人”。从这种意义的名词派生出一个动词，意思为“嘲笑或戏弄…”和“以嘲讽的态度对待”。在英语并且很可能是在美国英语中，quiz 这个动词形成了有关审问或提问的意思， 据猜测，这一现象的发生是因为quiz 使人联想起 question ， inquisitive 或者可能 quiset 这个英国方言中的动词， 意思为“提问”（很可能是inquisite 这个过时用语的缩写形式，意思为“调查”）。 从这个意思中派生出学生们再熟悉不 过的名词和动词意思。记录下这个名词意义的第二个例子恰好出现在教育家威廉·詹姆斯的笔下。在1867年12月26日写的一封信中，他提出一条希望：或许在解剖学和物理学方面进行测试…可能有些独特的帮助。”〔assassin〕At first glance, one would be hard-pressed to find a link between pleasure and the acts of assassins.Such was not the case, however, with those who gave us the wordassassin. They were members of a secret Islamic order originating in the 11th centurywho believed it was a religious duty to harass and murder their enemies.The most important members of the order were those who actually did the killing.Having been promised paradise in return for dying in action, the killers,it is said, were made to yearn for paradise by being given a life of pleasure that included the use of hashish.Hence, the name for the secret order as a whole,ḥaššāšīn, "hashish users.” After passing through French or Italian, the word came into English and is recorded in 1603 with reference to the Moslem assassins.开始接触这个词，可能不容易看出暗杀者的乐趣与行为的联系。但是，对于给我们assassin 这个词的人来说，并不是这样。 他们是伊斯兰秘密团体的成员，该团体源自11世纪，他们认为骚扰并杀死他们的敌人是他们的宗教义务。该团体中最重要的成员是实际行使暗杀者。由于暗杀者被许诺进入天堂以作为对可能在行动中被杀的回报，据说为促使他们对天堂的热切渴望，先给予他们一种包括使用大麻麻醉剂乐趣的生活。这样hassasin “大麻使用者”就成了该秘密团体的名称。 这个词经过法语或意大利语进入英语，1603年记录下来，指穆斯林暗杀者。〔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〔haywire〕It may seem oddthat the wordhaywire should have come to describe something or someone that is not functioning properly. Haywire originally was in fact simply a compound of the words hay and wire, denoting wire used to bale things such as hay or straw.The term is first recorded as a noun in a debate that occurred in the Canadian House of Commons (1917);hence it is a Canadianism, or since it soon thereafter appeared in a United States publication, a North Americanism.We find an earlier (1905) attributive use,however, in the phrasehay wire outfit, a term used contemptuously for poorly equipped loggers. What lies behind this term is the practice of making repairs with haywire.Haywire is found in other contexts with the general sense "makeshift, inefficient,” from which comes the extended senses "not functioning properly" and "crazy.”看起来或许很奇怪，haywire 一词竟可以用来形容某物或某人不能正常运转。 事实上，haywire 是由 hay 和 wire 两个词组成的一个简单复合词， 指用来捆绑诸如干草或麦秆的铁丝，这个词在1917年加拿大众议院的一次辩论中第一次以一个名词的形式被记录下来，因此这是一个加拿大俗语或者说是北美俗词，因此这词很快就出现在美国出版物中。我们可以找到一个更早的（1905年）形容性用法，词组hay wire outfit, 是对装备不足的伐木工人的鄙称。 这个词的内涵是指准备用铁丝捆干草的工作。在其它语境中，haywire 被用来表示“临时的，效率低的”这种笼统的意思， 由此扩展出“不能正常工作的”以及“疯狂的”这些意义〔record〕Known to have been stated or to have taken a certain position:记录下来的：被认为已陈述或已采取某一个观点的：〔observation〕The act of noting and recording something, such as a phenomenon, with instruments.观测：用仪器注意到并记录下来，如某种现象〔nonchalant〕A nonchalant person is not likely to become warm or heated about anything,a fact that is underscored by the etymology of the wordnonchalant. Non-,the first part of the word, is easy to spot as a familiar negative prefix;since this word was formed in Old French,we havenon-, the Old French descendant of Latin nōn-. The second element,chalant, is the Old French present participle of the verb chaloir, meaning "to be concerned.”This in turn came from the Latin wordcalēre, which from its concrete sense "to be hot or warm" developed the figurative sense "to be roused or fired with hope, zeal, or anger.”Obviously the Old French verbchaloir has lost some of the warmth of Latin calēre, but then, the nonchalant person has little warmth or concern.The wordnonchalant is first recorded in English before 1734, although Frenchnonchalance, a derivative of French nonchalant, seems to have entered English first. Englishnonchalance is first recorded in 1678. 态度冷漠的人是不太可能变得热心或对某事激动的，这一事实被词语nonchalant的词源所强调。 Non-，这个词的第一部分， 很容易认出是个很熟悉的否定前缀；因为此词形成于古法语，我们可以说non-，来自 拉丁语 non- 在古法语中的衍生词。 第二个组成部分chalant， 是动词 chaloir 的古法语现在分词， 意思是“担忧的，关心的”。此词同样也来自于拉丁词calere ， 从其具体的感觉“热的或暖和的”演变到比喻的感觉“被激起或引起希望、热心或愤怒”。很明显古法语动词chaloir 已去掉了一些拉丁语 calere 的温暖， 不过，冷漠的人确是几乎没有什么热心或关心的。词语nonchalant 在1734年前第一次被记录在英语中， 尽管法语nonchalence, 是法语 nonchalant 的派生词似乎已首先进入英语。 英语中的nonchalance 于1678年第一次被记录下来 〔fear〕Old Englishfǣr, the ancestor of our word fear, meant "calamity, disaster,”but not the emotion engendered by such an event.This is in line with the meaning of the prehistoric Common Germanic word.fēraz, "danger,” which is the source of words with similar senses in other Germanic languages,such as Old Saxon and Old High Germanfār, "ambush, danger,” and Old Icelandic fār, "treachery, damage.” Scholars, in fact, have determined the form and meaning of Germanic.fēraz by working backward from the forms and the meanings of its descendants. The most important cause of the change of meaning in the wordfear was probably the existence in Old English of the related verb fǣran, which meant "to terrify, take by surprise.” Fear is first recorded in Middle English with the sense "emotion of fear" in a work composed around 1290.古英语f?r 是 fear 的前身， 意为“不幸，灾难”，而不是因不幸或灾难引起的情绪。这符合史前普通日耳曼词feraz 的意思“危险的”， 是其他日耳曼语言中有相近意思的词的起源，如古撒克逊语和古高地德语far， “埋伏，危险，”和古冰岛语 far “挖掘，破坏”。 事实上，学者们已经通过对它的衍生词的形式和意思的反向研究决定德语feraz 的形式和意思。 引起词语fear 变化的最重要原因可能是古英语中相关动词 f?ran的存在， 意为“害怕，被惊奇抓住。” Fear 第一次在中世纪英语作为“害怕的情绪”被记录下来是在一部约1290年左右创作的作品中〔scarce〕The phrasescarce excerpt, if it ever should occur to one, is an excellent example of how two intimately related words can diverge from one another in form while passing from one language to another over the centuries.Both words can be traced back to the Latin wordexcerpo (past participle stem excerpt- ), meaning "to pick out,” "to pick out mentally,” and "to select a passage for quotation.”This is clearly the ultimate source of our nounexcerpt (first recorded before 1638) and verb (first recorded around 1536), a past participle usage already being recorded in the 15th century. A more tangled path leads to our wordscarce. It is assumed that side by side with Latinexcerpere existed the Vulgar Latin form .excarpere. .Excarpsus, an adjective formed with the past participle of .excarpere in Vulgar Latin, meant "narrow, cramped,” and from this Vulgar Latin form came the Old French wordéchars, "insufficient, cramped,” and "stingy.” The Old French word, which existed in a variety of forms in Old French,includingscars and the chiefly Old North French form escarse, was borrowed into Middle English asscarse, being first recorded in a manuscript written around 1300.如果人们能够想到scarce excerpt 这个词语， 是一个说明两个关系密切的词语如何历经几个世纪，在一种语言转化到另一种语言的同时从一种形式转化到另一种形式的极佳例子。两个词可追溯到拉丁词excerpo （过去分词词根为 excerpt- )， 意为“选出”、“在思想上进行选择”和“为了引用而选择一个段落”。很清楚，名词excerpt （第一次记录于1638年前）和动词（首次记录于约1536年）及过去分词用法的最终词源，在15世纪时就已经被记录下来。 词语scarce 的变化更为复杂。 据猜测与拉丁文中excerpere 同时存在的有拉丁俗语形式 excarpere。 Excarpsus在拉丁俗语中是由 excarpere 的过去分词形成的，意为“狭窄的、受限制的”， 从这一拉丁俗语形式形成了古法语词echars ，意为“不足的、受限制的”及“吝啬的”。 这些在古法语中以多种形式存在的古法语词，包括scars 和北部古法语的主要形式 escarse ， 被引入中世纪英语中成为scarse ， 在1300年左右第一次被记载在一手稿本中〔pocketbook〕The link between the senses "billfold, purse,” and "pocket-sized book" of the wordpocketbook can be clarified with a little historical information. The compound is first recorded in 1617 in the sense of "a small book designed to be carried in a pocket.”It is only recently that such books have looked like the paperbound books we are familiar with;these early paperbacks were bound like any book but were smaller in size.The next recorded use ofpocketbook (1685) is again for a book designed to fit in the pocket but this time used for notes or memoranda.The same word was then applied to a case that was shaped like a bookand in which money or papers could be kept.Finally, the wordpocketbook was transferred to yet another container for keeping things, a purse or handbag,rarely fitting in the pocketand not necessarily shaped like a book.Pocketbook 一词的两种词义“钱夹，手袋”和“口袋大小的书”之间的关联通过一点历史知识予以澄清。 这一复合词在1617年被首次记录为“被设计放在口袋里携带的一本小书”的意思。只是到不久前这种书看上去才象我们所熟悉的纸质封皮的书籍；这些早期的纸皮书装订得除了大尺寸上小点之外与其它书都一样。Pocketbook (1685年）的下一个记录下来的用法又是指设计的以适合口袋大小的书， 但这次它却被用来做笔记或便笺。这一词后来又被用来指定形为本书一样的盒子，并且里面可以存放钱或纸张。最后，pocketbook 这个词又转指另一种存放物品的容纳物， 比如一只手袋或手提包，它很少会放得进口袋，形状也不一定象书。〔bayonet〕It is not unusual for a word to come from a place name.Cheddar, from the name of a village in southwest England; hamburger, after Hamburg, Germany; and mayonnaise, possibly from Mahón, the capital of Minorca, are often found together on our tables.The wordbayonet, a very undomestic sort of word, also derives from a place name,that of Bayonne, a town in southwest France where the weapon was first made.The French wordbaïonnette could mean "a dagger or a knife" as well, and the English word bayonet is first found in 1672 with this meaning. The word is first recorded in its present sense in 1704.一个词来源于一个地名并非罕见。Cheddar 来源于英格兰西南部一个村庄的名字； hamburger 是根据德国汉堡而得名； mayonnaise 可能来自米诺卡岛的首府梅霍恩， 这些词常常可以在我们的表里一齐被找到。bayonet， 一个与母语毫无关系的词， 也是来自地名，那就是法国西南城镇巴约讷，在那里首先造出了这种武器。法语词baionnette 可能意味着“短剑或刀”，同样英语的 bayonet 于1672年第一次被发现时也具有这个意思。 在1704年这个词首次以现在的意思被记录下来〔carouse〕The origin of the wordcarouse can be found in a German interjection that meant "time to leave the bar.” Germangaraus, which is derived from the phrase gar ("all") aus ("out"), meaning "all out,” then came to mean "drink up, bottoms up,” and "a last drink before closing time.”The English borrowed this noun, with the meaning "the practice of sitting around drinking until closing time,”sometimes spelling the wordgaraus but usually spelling it closer to the way it is spelled today.Soon after the word is first recorded as a noun in 1559,we find the verbcarouse, in 1567. 单词carouse 的词源可以在意为“是离开酒吧的时候了”的日耳曼语感叹词中找到。 日耳曼语garaus 是从短语 gar （“所有的”） aus （“出去”），即“竭尽全力。全力以赴”的意思中衍生出来的； 接着又表示“喝光，干杯”和“打烊前的最后一杯”的意思。英语中借用这个名词，意为“坐着饮酒直至打烊的做法”；有时拼写成garaus ， 但通常其拼写更接近于现今的拼法。该词于1559年首次做名词记录下来后，我们很快地在1567年发现了动词carouse 〔register〕To place or cause placement of one's name in a register.登录姓名：使自己的名字记录下来〔oyez〕Hearing the cry "Oyez, oyez, oyez,” in a courtroommay have puzzled more than one auditor,especially if pronounced "O yes.” (Many people have thought that in fact it is likeO yes. ) This cry serves to remind us that up until the 18th century,speaking English in a British court of law was not requiredand one could instead use Law French,a form of French that evolved after the Norman Conquest, when Anglo-Norman became the language of the official class in England.Oyez descends from the Anglo-Norman oyez, the plural imperative form ofoyer, "to hear"; thusoyez means "hear ye" and was used as a call for silence and attention. Although it would have been much heard in Medieval England,it is first recorded as an English word fairly late in the Middle English period,in a work composed around 1425.在审判室里听到"Oyez，oyez，oyez"的声音，被迷惑的不仅仅是一个听者，尤其是当它的发音为"O yes"时。（许多人本认为事实上它象Oyes。 ) 这叫声用来提醒我们一直用到18世纪，当时不要求在英国法庭上讲英语，且人们可用法国法律，这是在诺曼底征服之后，当盎格鲁-诺曼语言成为英格兰官方阶级语言时发展起来的一种法语形式。Oyez 源于盎格鲁-诺曼语言 oyez， 是oyer 的复数祈使动词，意思是“听”； oyez 并被用来作为要求安静和注意的号令。 虽然这个词在中世纪的英格兰听得较多，但它第一次作为英语单词被记录下来是在中古英语时期的后期 ，出现于1425年左右创作的一本作品上〔scaler〕An electronic circuit that records the aggregate of a specific number of signals that occur too rapidly to be recorded individually.计数器：一种总括记录成堆信号的电路，记录那些因传送太快以致不能单个记录下来的信号〔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 〔brickbat〕The earliest sense ofbrickbat, recorded in a work first published in 1563, was "a piece of brick.” Such pieces of brick have not infrequently been thrown at others in the hope of injuring them;hence, the figurativebrickbats (first recorded in 1929) that critics hurl at performances they dislike. The appearance ofbat as the second part of this compound is explained by the fact that the word bat, "war club, cudgel,” developed in Middle English the sense "chunk, clod, wad,” and in the 16th century came to be used specifically for a piece of brick that was unbroken on one end.brickbat 最早的意义记录在1563年首次出版的一部著作中，意为“一块砖。” 这样的砖块常用来投掷他人，意在将人打伤；因此，含比喻意义的brickbats （1929年第一次被记录下来）指批评家抨击他们厌恶的表演。 bat 一词作为这一复合词的第二部分出现可用下列事实来解释，即意为“警棍，短棒”的 bat 一词在中世纪英语中发展为“厚块、泥块、软团”的意思， 16世纪被用来特指一端没有破损的砖块〔ledger〕A book in which the monetary transactions of a business are posted in the form of debits and credits.分类帐：将业务中的货币交易记录下来的帐本，分借方和贷方〔impeach〕Nothing hobbles a President so much as impeachment,and there is an etymologicalas well as procedural reason for this.The wordimpeach can be traced back through Anglo-Norman empecher to Late Latin impedicāre, "to catch, entangle,”from Latinpedica, "fetter for the ankle, snare.” Thus we find that Middle Englishempechen, the ancestor of our word,means such things as "to cause to get stuck fast,” "hinder or impede,” "interfere with,” and "criticize unfavorably.”A legal sense ofempechen is first recorded in 1384. This sense, which had previously developed in Old French,was "to accuse, bring charges against.”A further development of the sense had specific reference to Parliament and its formal accusation of treason or other high crimes,a process that the United States borrowed from the British.Although we have used it rarely at the federal level,impeachment stands as the ultimate snare for those who would take advantage of the public trust.没有事能象弹劾那样会使总统陷入窘境了，这既有词源的原因，又有程序上的原因。impeach 这个词能够通过英国法语中的 empecher 追溯到后期拉丁语中的 impedicare ， 意思为“抓住，牵连”，源自拉丁语中的pedica ，意思是“脚镣，圈套”。 于是我们发现中古英语中的empechen ， 我们现在这个词的前身，有着诸如“使牢牢困住”，“妨碍或阻止”，“干涉”和“令人不利地批评”等意思。empechen 在法律方面的意思最早在1384年被记录下来。 这个意思，原先在古法语中有一定发展，意思是“控告，指控。”这个意思的进一步发展到议会和议会对叛国罪或其他重大罪行的指控，这一程序是美国从英国那里借鉴而来的。尽管我们在联邦一级上很少使用，但是弹劾对于那些滥用公众信任的人来说是最终的陷阱〔spill〕One is not supposed to cry over spilled milk,but at one time the wordspill was associated with many tears. Old Englishspillan, the ancestor of Modern Englishspill, had meanings such as "to destroy, mutilate, kill.”The hints of its future life in connection with substances falling out of containers, often wastefully, were contained in the senses "to waste" and "to shed blood.”But many people, castles, and fortunes were "spilled" before people started spilling milk,at least judging from the recorded evidence.Spill is first recorded in the sense "to cause a substance to fall out of a container" in a work composed in the 14th century.Since then, much water, milk, and gravy have been spilled,while most of the senses having to do with destruction and bloodshed have become obsolete or archaic.对着打翻的牛奶哭是无济于事的，但spill 这个词曾经和眼泪有联系。 古英语单词spillan ， 即现代英语单词spill 的祖先， 具有例如“毁灭，破坏，杀死”等意思。而其“浪费”及“使血流出”的含意则暗示着这个古词将来会与通常是浪费性质的从容器中溢出之物发生联系。但在人们开始洒牛奶之前就已“杀死”了许多人命，“毁坏”了许多城堡，“浪费”了许多财富，这一点至少可以从记载下来的证据判断出来。Spill 最初记录下来的意思是“使一物质溢出一容器”， 这一含意出现于14世纪的一本著作中。从那时起，这个词表达人们泼洒了大量的水、牛奶及肉汁，而这个词与毁灭及流血有联系的有关意思则都成了过时用法或古代用法〔amateur〕When Mrs. T.W. Atkinson remarked in her 1863Recollections of the Tartar Steppes and their Inhabitants, "I am no amateur of these melons,” she usedamateur in a sense unfamiliar to us. That sense, "a lover, an admirer,” is, however, clearly descended from the senses of the word's ultimate Latin source,amātor, "lover, devoted friend, devotee, enthusiastic pursuer of an objective,” and from its immediate Latin-derived French source,amateur, with a similar range of meanings. First recorded in English in 1784 with the sense in which Mrs. Atkinson used it,amateur is found in 1786 with a meaning more familiar to us, "a person who engages in an art, for example, as a pastime rather than as a profession,” a sense that had already developed in French.Given the limitations of doing something as an amateur,it is not surprising that the word is soon after recorded in the disparaging sensewe still use to refer to someone who lacks professional skill or ease in performance.当T.W.阿特金森夫人在她1863年出版的塔塔·史坦普和其居民回忆录， 中提到“我并不喜欢这些瓜果”时， 她使用的amateur 是我们所不熟悉的一个意思。 可是这种“爱好者，喜爱者，”的意思显然有其正宗拉丁语来源，amator, 意思是“爱人，忠实的朋友，奉献者，对某目标热情的追求者”， 还有由拉丁语直接派生出的法语来源，amateur, 具有相似的意思。 1784年记录在英语文字中出现的这个词正是阿特金森夫人使用的意思，1786年出现的amateur 有我们更为熟悉的意思， “如一个从事艺术，把它作为一项消遣，而不是一个职业的人，”法语的词早已发展了这种意思。如果把意思限定为从事业余活动的人，这个词被记录下来后不久就有了贬义含意，也就不足为奇了，我们用它来指在表演中缺乏专业技巧或缺乏得心应手的感觉〔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〔debunk〕One can readily see thatdebunk is constructed from the prefix de-, meaning "to remove,” and the wordbunk. But what is the origin of the wordbunk, denoting the nonsense that is to be removed? Bunk came from a place where much bunk has originated, the United States Congress.During the 16th Congress (1819-1821) Felix Walker, a representative from western North Carolina whose district included Buncombe County, continued on with a dull speech in the face of protests by his colleagues.Walker replied he had felt obligated "to make a speech for Buncombe.”Such a masterful symbol for empty talk could not be ignored by the speakers of the language,andBuncombe, actually spelled Bunkum in its first recorded appearance in 1828 and later shortened tobunk, became synonymous with claptrap. The response to all this bunk seems to have been delayed,fordebunk is not recorded until 1923. 可以很容易地看出debunk 是由前缀 de-， 表“去掉”和单词bunk 构成的。 可是单词bunk 表示“要除去的无稽之谈”的含意的起源是什么呢? Bunk 来自美国国会，一个产生大量空话、假话的地方。在第16届国会期间(1819-1821年），一个来自北卡罗来纳州西部（其区域包括邦克姆县）的代表费列克斯·沃尔克面对其同僚们的抗议，而进行持续冗长枯燥的演讲，沃尔克说他有责任“为邦克姆发表演说”。这种说空话的杰作是不会被说英语的人忽视的。Buncombe 实际上在1828年第一次被记载时拼作 Bunkum ， 后来缩写成Bunk 并成为 claptrap 的同义词。 对这空话的反应似乎被耽搁了，因为debunk 直到1923年才被记录下来 |
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