单词 | 词意 |
释义 | 〔declaim〕dē- [intensive pref.] * see de- dē- [强调词意的前缀] * 参见 de-〔ethnic〕When in a Middle English text written before 1400it is said that a part of a temple fell down and "mad a gret distruccione of ethnykis,”one wonders why ethnics were singled out for death.The wordethnic in this context, however, means "gentile,” coming as it does from the Greek adjectiveethnikos, meaning "national, foreign, gentile.”The adjective is derived from the nounethnos, "people, nation, foreign people,” that in the plural phraseta ethnē meant "foreign nations.” In translating the Hebrew Bible into Greek,this phrase was used for Hebrewgōyīm, "gentiles"; hence the sense of the noun in the Middle English quotation.The nounethnic in this sense or the related sense "heathen" is not recorded after 1728, although the related adjective sense is still used. But probably under the influence of other words going back to Greekethnos, such asethnography and ethnology, the adjectiveethnic broadened in meaning in the 19th century. After this broadeningthe noun sense "a member of a particular ethnic group,”first recorded in 1945, came into existence.在一篇1400年以前的中古英语文章中写道,一座神殿的一部分倒塌了并“导致一个种族的彻底毁灭”,人们想知道为什么一个种族单单被挑出去死。但是ethnic 在这个上下文中的意思是“异教徒”, 来自于希腊语的形容词ethnikos , 意为“民族的,外来的,异教的”。该形容词源自名词ethnos, 意为“民族、种族、外来人”, 它的复数形式ta ethne, 意为“外来民族”。 在把希伯来圣经翻译成希腊语的过程中,这一词组被用作希伯来语中的goyim, 意为“异教徒”; 因此名词的含意在中世纪英语被引用。即使相关含意讲的名词ethnic 在1728年之后也未被收录,尽管这时相关的形容词含义已被应用, 但大概在那些可追溯到古希腊语ethnos 的词, 如ethnograthy 和 ethnology 的影响下, 形容词ethnic 在19世纪时对词义进行了扩充。 这次扩充后,名词词意为“某一特定的种族群体中的一员”,在1945年被首次收录并开始存在〔mutt〕Clipping not of sheep but of a word having to do with sheep has given us our termmutt for a mongrel dog. Clipping or abbreviating words, a standard process of word formation,shearedmutt from muttonhead, a pejorative term meaning "a stupid person,”based on the notion that sheep are stupid.Mutt in its first recorded use in 1901 is used in the same senses asmuttonhead, but it is soon recorded (1904)as a term of contempt for a horseand then (1906) for a dog.We can be reasonably certain that theNew Yorker critic writing in 1970 that "The cast includes a Sheepdog . . . a Mutt Bitch,” had no awareness that a sheepdog would make the ideal mutt.不是对绵羊的修剪而是对与绵羊有关的一个词进行省略呈现给我们的专门名词mutt 指杂种狗。 简略或缩写单词,一项规范的造词过程,将mutt 从 muttonhead 缩略而得, 这个含贬义的词意为“笨蛋”,源于绵羊是蠢笨的说法。Mutt 最早记载于1901年, 被用作muttonhead 的同义词, 但不久(1904年)的记载中,该词表示对马的蔑称,然后(1906年)成为对狗的蔑称。我们有理由肯定1970年的New Yorker 一本批判性作品, 其评注“包括牧羊狗…狗杂种”就没有意识到牧羊狗也可以表示十足的狗杂种之意〔mascot〕The wordmascot, which usually denotes something or someone that brings good luck, enjoys a positive meaning that is a distinct improvement over the meanings of some of its ancestors. Mascot came into English as a borrowing of the French wordmascotte, meaning "mascot, charm.”The English word is first recorded in 1881 shortly after the French word, itself first recorded in 1867,was popularized by the operaLa Mascotte, performed in December 1880. The French word in turn came from the Modern Provençal wordmascoto, "piece of witchcraft, charm, amulet,”a feminine diminutive ofmasco, "witch.” This word can probably be traced back to Late Latinmasca, "witch, specter.”Perhaps a mascot is as powerful as people think;fortunately, it is now in our corner.mascot 这个词通常指能够带来好运的某物或某人, 与其最早来源的几个词的词意相比,这个词所具有的褒义色彩是明显的进步。 Mascot 是借自法语的mascotte, 意思是“符咒,魔力。”该法语词的记录1867年出现不久,就在1881年有了这个英语词汇的最早记录,因1880年12月演出的一出歌剧La Mascotte 而流传开来。 法语中单词来源于现代普罗旺斯语mascoto , 意思是“女巫的魔法,魔术,护身符”,一个意为“女巫”的masco 的阴性小词。 这个词可能追溯到后期拉丁语的masca , 意为“女巫,幻象”。或许吉祥物这个词是指象人们想的一样魔力无边;幸运的是,它被我们记录进来了〔rhythm〕These nouns are compared as they denote the regular patterned ebb and rise of accented and unaccented sounds, especially in music, speech, or verse.当这些名词意为有规律地形式化的重读与非重读音节的降低和升高时,尤其在音乐、演说或韵文中,它们有所区别。〔restrain〕These verbs are compared as they mean to hold back or keep under control.当这些动词的词意为抑制或处于控制之下时,常对它们进行比较。〔bigot〕A bigot may have more in common with God than one might think.Legend has it that Rollo, the first duke of Normandy, refused to kiss the foot of the French king Charles III,uttering the phrasebi got, his borrowing of the assumed Old English equivalent of our expressionby God. Although this story is almost certainly apocryphal,it is true thatbigot was used by the French as a term of abuse for the Normans, but not in a religious sense. Later, however, the word, or very possibly a homonym,was used abusively in French for the Beguines, members of a Roman Catholic lay sisterhood.From the 15th century on Old Frenchbigot meant "an excessively devoted or hypocritical person.” Bigot is first recorded in English in 1598 with the sense "a superstitious hypocrite.” 一个偏执的人往往比人们想象的更接近上帝。传说第一位诺曼底公爵罗洛拒绝亲吻法国皇帝查理三世的脚时,说了bi got 这个词, 他是借用了假设的古英语里的词。其相当于我们今天的by God (老天作证)这一用法。 尽管这个故事肯定不足为信,但bigot 一词是确实是法国人对诺曼底人的蔑称, 然而无宗教色彩。后来,这个词,很可能是同音异义词,在法语中用来蔑指女修道者──罗马天主教姐妹会成员。从15世纪起,在古法语中,bigot 一词意为“过分虔诚或伪善的人”。 Bigot 首次以英语记载是在1598年,其意为“迷信的伪君子。” 〔mesmerism〕When the members of an audience sit mesmerized by a speaker,their reactions do not take the form of dancing, sleeping, or falling into convulsions.But if Franz Anton Mesmer were addressing the audience,such behavior could be expected.Mesmer, a visionary 18th-century physician,believed cures could be effected by having patients do thingssuch as sit with their feet in a fountain of magnetized waterwhile holding cables attached to magnetized trees.Mesmer then came to believe that magnetic powers resided in himself,and during highly fashionable curative sessions in Parishe caused his patients to have reactions ranging from sleeping or dancing to convulsions.These reactions were actually brought about by hypnotic powers that Mesmer was unaware he possessed.One of his pupils, named Puységur, then used the termmesmerism (first recorded in English in 1802) for Mesmer's practices. The related wordmesmerize (first recorded in English in 1829), having shed its reference to the hypnotic doctor, lives on in the sense "to enthrall.”当一群观众被一位演讲者深深吸引时,他们的反应方式不会是舞蹈、睡眠或哄堂大笑。但是如果换了弗兰茨·奥顿·梅斯梅尔来给这群听众作演讲的话,那么这些行为是有可能发生的。梅斯梅尔,这位18世纪眼光远大的医师,认为可以通过诸如以下方法来治疗疾病,即让病人把脚放在有磁性的水中,同时手执与磁力场相连接的电线。此后,梅斯梅尔又认为他自己体内就存在着磁力,并且他在巴黎推行他的治疗方法的过程中,他又使他的病人们作出了睡眠、舞蹈直至抽搐等各种反应。这些反应实际上是他所拥有的催眠力导致的,但他自己却不知道自己拥有这样的力量。后来,梅斯梅尔的一个叫做皮勒塞格尔的学生采用了mesmerism (在英语中始见于1802年)这一字眼来给梅斯梅尔的治疗方法命名。 另一相关词汇mesmerize (在英语中始见于1829年)则摒弃了与这位催眠医师的关系, 现在这个词意是“迷惑住”〔pollster〕An understanding of the history of the-ster in pollster may perhaps raise more questions than it answers. In the first place apollster does not have to be a woman, despite the fact that the suffix-ster, originally-estre in Old English, was used to form feminine agent nouns.Hoppestere, for example, meant "female dancer.” But in Old English-estre was occasionally applied to men, although perhaps largely or completely in the case of translations of Latin masculine nouns denoting occupations that were held by women in Anglo-Saxon society.An example isbæcester, "baker,” glossing Latinpistor; it survives as the Modern English nameBaxter. In Middle Englishthe suffix was still largely feminine in the south of Englandbut masculine and feminine in the north,a tendency that became general in English starting with the 16th century.As an example of this tendencyseamster was remade into the feminineseamstress. In Modern English the suffix is usually derogatory.This use probably arose from the occurrence of the suffix with ambiguous verbs,such asgame, "to play at sports, to play at sex,” or with pejorative verbs,such asrime or rhyme. In some modern formations on neutral words-ster is not derogatory, as inyoungster (1589), but in most cases,as withpollster (1939), -ster has pejorative force. 对于pollster 中的 -ster 的历史的理解也许会引发比它能回答的问题更多的问题。 首先pollster 不一定非得是妇女, 尽管-ster 这一后缀, 源于古英语中的-estre , 被用来构成阴性名词。比如hoppestere 一词意为“女舞蹈者。” 但在古英语中-estre 也偶尔可以用在男性身上, 虽然也许这种情况大多或者完全出现在表示盎格鲁-撒克逊社会中由妇女从事的职业的一些阳性拉丁文名词的翻译中。其中一个例子是boecester 意为“面包师”, 来自拉丁语的pistor; 这个词在现代英语名字Baxter 中保存了下来。 在中世纪英语中,该后缀在英格兰南部仍然主要地被用作阴性,但在英格兰北部却被同时用作阳性和阴性,而后一种趋势自16世纪以来逐渐在英语中变得普遍。反映这种趋势的一个例子是seamster , 该词被改造成了阴性的seamstress。 在现代英语中这一后缀通常是含贬义的。这种用法可能是因为此后缀与一些有歧义的动词合用而产生的,比如game 可表示“进行体育活动,进行性游戏,” 或者是因为与轻蔑动词合用而产生的,比如rime 或 rhyme。 在某些现代英语中性名词中,-ster 不是贬损的, 如在youngster (1589年)中, 但在大多数情况下,如pollster (1939年)这个词中 -ster 仍是有贬义的 〔juggernaut〕[Senses 1 and 2, from the fact that worshipers have thrown themselves under the wheels of a huge car or wagon on which the idol of Krishna was drawn in an annual procession at Puri in east-central India] [词意1和2,取典于克利须那在印度东部普利进行的一年一度的游行中,克利须那的神像被载于巨车或大型马车上,善男信女甘愿投身死于其轮下] 〔period〕Perhaps more than once one may have wonderedwhy the wordperiod has the sense "punctuation mark ( . )” as well as some of its other senses having to do with time.The answer to this question lies in the senses of the Greek wordperiodos from which our word is descended. Periodos, made up of peri-, "around,” and hodos, "way,” meant such things as "going round, way round, going round in a circle, circuit,”and with regard to time "cycle or period of time.”The word also meant "the period of menstruation.”In rhetoric it referred to "a group of words organically related in grammar and sense.”The Greek word was adopted into Latin asperihodos with only its rhetorical sense and one other sense,but in Medieval Latin it reacquired senses it had in Greek,such as "cycle,” and acquired a new sense,"a punctuation mark used at the end of a rhetorical period.”Although this sense is recorded in Medieval Latin,it is not recorded in English until 1609.But the wordperiod had entered Middle English from Medieval Latin and Old French, first being recorded in a work written around 1425in the sense "a cycle of recurrence of a disease.”或许任何人都会不止一次的发出疑问,为什么period 有“标点符号(。)”的意思, 同时其它意思与时间有关。此问的答案来自我们的单词源自的希腊语单词periodos 的意思。 Periodos ,由意为“周围”的 peri- 和意为“方式”的 hodos 组成, 该词意味着“围绕…走,围绕…的路,转圈走,围绕,”同时也指时间,意为“一段时间或时间周期”。此词也意为“经期”。在修辞学中指“一组在语法和词意上有机相连的词。”这个希腊词作为perihodos 被拉丁文所采用, 仅带有修辞和一个其他的意思,但在中世纪拉丁语中它重新得到了它在希腊语中的意思,例如“周期”,后来又得到一个新的意思,即“用于修辞部分末尾的标点符号”。尽管此意在中世纪拉丁语中有记载,但直到1609年才在英语中有记载。而period 从中世纪拉丁文和古法语中进入中世纪英语, 并首次记载于约1425年所著的作品中,意为“疾病发作的周期”〔bylaw〕A casual glance at the wordbylaw might make one think that the element by- means "secondary, subsidiary,” especially sincebylaw can mean "a secondary law.” It is possible thatby-, as in byway, has influencedbylaw in the sense "secondary law"; however,bylaw existed long before the sense in question. The word is first recorded in 1283 with the meaning "a body of customs or regulations, as of a village, manor, religious organization, or sect.”By- in this word comes from Old Norse, as may the wordbylaw, and is related to if not identical with the element -by in the names of many places, such as Whitby, where Scandinavians settled when they invaded England during the early Middle Ages.We get the sense of this-by if we compare the related word entered as bær, b÷r, bȳr, in the standard dictionary of Old Icelandic, meaning "a town or village" in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark and "a farm or landed estate" in Iceland. We thus see whybylaw would mean "a body of customs of a village or manor" and why we use the word to mean "a law or rule governing the internal affairs of an organization.”随意瞟一眼单词bylaw 可能会使人想起前缀 by- ,意为“第二位的,次要的”, 因为bylaw 意为“附属的法规”。 可能因为前缀by- 位于 byway 中, 它影响了bylaw “附属法规”这一意义; 然而bylaw 一词在上述意义产生之前早已存在。 该词最初是在1283年以“一种习俗或规章体系,如村庄、县邑、宗教组织或派系之中”这种含义记载的。前缀By- 来自古斯堪的纳维亚语中, 正如bylaw 一词在许多地名之中与后缀 -by 若不是完全一致,就是彼此相关, 如惠特比,这是斯堪的纳维亚人在中世纪早期侵入英格兰之后的定居地。如果我们将古冰岛标准字典中的相关词bær, b÷r, bȳr (在挪威、瑞典和丹麦这些国家中意为“城镇或村庄”而在冰岛意为“农场或庄园”)加以比较,就会得出后缀 -by 的含义。 我们因而可以明白为什么bylaw 一词意为“村庄或县邑的习俗体系” 以及我们为什么使用其“一种法规或规则,用于管理一个组织的内部事务”这一意义〔resent〕When we read the statement "Should we not be monstrously ingratefull if we did not deeply resent such kindness?” (from theSermons of Isaac Barrow, written before 1677), we may be pardoned for momentarily thinking we are in never-never land.For a time ranging roughly from the last part of the 17th century to the second half of the 18th,the wordresent did refer to gratefulness and appreciation as well as injury and insult. Resent has also been used in other senses that seem strange to us, such as "to feel pain" or "to perceive by smell.”The thread that ties the senses together is the notion of feeling or perceiving.The Old French source of our word,resentir, "to feel strongly,” is made up of the prefix re-, acting in this case as an intensive, and sentir, "to feel or perceive.” There is much that one can feel,but at least for now this word has narrowed its focus to a feeling of indignation.当我们读到“假如我们对这种仁慈不深表感激,我们就应该极度地忘恩负义吗”(选自伊萨克·巴罗的启示 ,写于1677年以前)这一叙述时, 我们瞬间地想到我们处于人烟稀少的边远地区就可以得到原谅了。在大致从17世纪后期到18世纪下半期这段时间内,resent 一词确实意指感激和赏识,同时又可以指伤害和侮辱。 Resent 还可以用于在我们看来很古怪的其它意义上, 如“感到痛楚”或“通过气味感知”等。把这些意义联结在一起的线是感觉或感知的概念。该词意为“强烈地感觉”的古法语语源resentir 是由用于加强语气的前缀 re- 以及意为“感觉或感知”的 sentir, 构成的。 可以感觉到的东西很多,但至少现在这个词的重点用法已被集中于愤怒的感觉〔poison〕The phrasepoison potion besides being alliterative also consists of doublets, that is, two words that go back ultimately to the same source in another language.The source for both words is Latinpōtiō, which meant "the act of drinking, a drink, or a liquid dose, as of a medicine or poison.”Our wordpotion retains the form of the Latin word (actually the form of the stem pōtiōn- ) and the "dose" sense, although it passed through Old French (pocion ) on its way to Middle English ( pocion ), first recorded in a work composed around 1300.In Old Frenchpocion is a learned borrowing, one that was deliberately taken from Latin in a form corresponding to the Latin form.But the Latin word had also passed through Vulgar Latin into Old French in the different formpoison. This word meant "beverage,” "liquid dose,” and also "poison beverage, poison.”The wordpoison is first recorded in Middle English in a work composed around 1200. Poison potion 这一词组除了押头韵外还是由同源异形词构成的, 也就是两词最终可归结到另一种语言中的同一本源。这两个词的来源都是拉丁词potio , 意为“喝的行为、一种饮品或一定的液体剂量,如药或毒药。”我们今天所使用的potion 保留了这一拉丁词的形式(实际上是词干 potion- 的形式)和“药剂”的意思, 虽然它是经由古法语(pocion )传入中古英语的( pocion ), 该中古英语记录最早见于1300年左右著成的一部著作中。在古法语中pocion 是一个学术性的借词, 该词是以一种和其拉丁文形式对应的形式主动从拉丁文中借用的。但这一拉丁词也已经以另一种形式通过俗拉丁语,即poison ,传入古法语。 这个词意为“饮料、”“液体剂量”以及“毒性的饮料、毒药。”Poison 这个词最早是在一部大约在1200年写成的著作中记进中古英语的。 〔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〔idea〕 Idea has the widest range: Idea 一词词意最为广泛: 〔noticeable〕These adjectives mean attracting notice.这些词意为引起注意。〔raid〕The members of an army traveling on a particularroad to carry out a raid probably would not draw a connection between the two words.However,raid and road descend from the same Old English word rād. Theai in raid represents the standard development in the northern dialects of Old English long a, while theoa in road represents the standard development of Old English long a in the rest of the English dialects. Old Englishrād meant "the act of riding" and "the act of riding with a hostile intent; that is, a raid,”senses that no longer exist for our wordroad. It was left to Sir Walter Scott to revive the Scots formraid with the sense "a military expedition on horseback.”The Scots weren't making all the raids, however.Others seem to have returned the favor,for we find these words in the Middle EnglishCoventry Leet Book : "aftur a Rode . . . made uppon the Scottes at thende of this last somer.”The "Rode" was led by the non-Scottish Duke of Gloucester, who was later crowned as Richard III, and Henry Percy, Duke of Northumberland.一支部队的士兵在某条road (路)上行进以发动一场 raid (袭击), 这大概不会使这两个词之间产生什么联系。然而raid 和 road 这两个词源于古英语中的同一个词 rad 。 Raid 中的 ai 代表了古英语中北部发言中长 a 的标准发展, 而road 中的 oa 代表了其它地区古英语方言中长 a 的发展。 古英语中rad 的意思是“骑马的行动和出于敌意而骑马的行动; 也就是说,一次奇袭,”词意中不再有路 这个意思。 沃尔特·斯科特爵士又恢复了raid 这个词的苏格兰语形式, 其意思是“马上的远征”。然而,奇袭并不只是由苏格兰人发动。别人似乎也保留了对这个词的偏好,因为我们在中世纪英语的考文垂史料 中发现了这段话: “在去年夏末对苏格兰发动的奇袭之后…”。该“奇袭”是由后来被冠以查理三世的格洛斯特的非苏格兰公爵和诺森柏兰的亨利·珀西公爵领导的 |
随便看 |
英汉汉英双解词典收录301015条英汉双解翻译词条,可根据汉字查询相应的英文词汇,基本涵盖了全部常用汉字的英文读音、翻译及用法,是英语学习及翻译工作的有利工具。