| 单词 | 词汇学 |
| 释义 | 〔lexicology〕The branch of linguistics that deals with the lexical component of language.词汇学：语言学的一个分支，主要研究构成一种语言的词〔arrowroot〕The arrowroot is just one of many plants that the European settlers and explorers discovered in the New World.The Arawak, a people who formerly lived on the Caribbean Islands and continue to inhabit certain regions of Guiana, named this plantaru-aru, meaning "meal of meals,” so called because they thought very highly of the starchy, nutritious meal made from the arrowroot.The plant also had medicinal value because its tubers could be used to draw poison from wounds inflicted by poison arrows.The medicinal application of the roots provided the impetus for English speakers to remakearu-aru into arrowroot, first recorded in English in 1696. Folk etymology—the process by which an unfamiliar element in a word is changed to resemble a more familiar word,often one that is semantically associated with the word being refashioned—has triumphed once again,thus denying us the direct borrowing ofaru-aru and giving us arrowroot instead. 竹芋仅是欧洲探险家和拓荒者在新大陆发现的多种植物中的一种。曾居住在加勒比海各岛，现仍在圭亚那部分地区居住的阿拉瓦克人把这种植物称为aru-aru 意思是“餐中餐”， 这样称呼是因为他们非常看重这种用竹芋粉做成的淀粉状的，非常有营养的食物。这种植物同时还有医疗价值，因为其块茎可用来从毒箭箭伤处把毒吸出来。这种植物的医疗作用促使讲英语的人重新将aru-aru 命名为 arrowroot ，1696年首次在英语中予以记载。 词的通俗变化就是比较陌生的词被比较熟悉的词所替代的过程，常常是被一个语义上与被翻新的词有联系的词。这里，通俗词汇学又一次取得胜利，不允许我们直接借用aru-aru ，而是另给了我们一个 arrowroot 。 〔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 |
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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。