| 单词 | 词源学 |
| 释义 | 〔hooker〕In hisPersonal Memoirs Ulysses S. Grant described Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker as "a dangerous man . . . not subordinate to his superiors.” Hooker had his faults, of course.He may indeed have been insubordinate;undoubtedly he was an erratic leader.But there is one thing of which he is often accused that "Fighting Joe" Hooker certainly did not do:he did not give his name to prostitutes.According to a popular story,the men under Hooker's command during the Civil War were a particularly wild bunch.When his troops were on leave,we are told, they spent much of their time in brothels.For this reason, as the story goes,prostitutes came to be known ashookers. It is not difficult to understand how such a theory might have originated.The major general's name differs from the wordhooker only in the capital letter that begins it. And it is true that Hooker's men were at times ill-disciplined (although it seems that liquor, not women, was the main source of their difficulties with the provost marshal).However attractive this theory may be,it cannot be true.The wordhooker, with the sense "prostitute,” is in fact older than the Civil War. It appeared in the second edition (although not in the first) of John Russell Bartlett'sDictionary of Americanisms, published in 1859.Bartlett definedhooker as "a strumpet, a sailor's trull.” He also said that the word was derived from Corlear's Hook,a district in New York City,but this was only a guess.There is no evidence that the term originated in New York.Norman Ellsworth Eliason has traced this use ofhooker back to 1845 in North Carolina. He reported the usage inTarheel Talk; an Historical Study of the English Language in North Carolina to 1860, published in 1956. The fact that we have no earlier written evidence does not mean thathooker was never used to mean "prostitute" before 1845. The history ofhooker is, quite simply, murky; we do not know when or where it was first used,but we can be very certain that it did not begin with Joseph Hooker.Also, we have no firm evidence that it came from Corlear's Hook.Scholarly evidence or lack thereof notwithstanding,the late Bruce Catton, the Civil War historian, did not go so far as to exonerate completely the Union general.Although "the term ‘hooker’ did not originate during the Civil War,”wrote Catton, "it certainly became popular then.During these war years, Washington developed a large [red-light district] somewhere south of Constitution Avenue.This became known as Hooker's Division in tribute to the proclivities of General Joseph Hookerand the name has stuck ever since.”If the termhooker was derived neither from Joseph Hooker nor from Corlear's Hook, what is its derivation?It is most likely that thishooker is, etymologically, simply "one who hooks.” The term portrays a prostitute as a person who hooks, or snares, clients.尤利西斯·S·格兰特在他的个人回忆录 中把陆军少将约瑟夫·胡克描写成“一个危险人物…从不服从于他的顶头上司”。 胡克当然有他的缺点。他也许曾是一个难以屈服的人；但他无疑是一个怪癖的军官。但是“好战的乔”，胡克却因为一件他肯定没有干过的事情而屡遭指责；他从不对妓女透露他的姓名。根据一个流行故事，内战中胡克的手下有一伙特别狂野的人们。当他的队伍即将离开时，据说他们总在妓院里消磨时日。故事还说正因为如此，妓女开始被叫做hookers。 我们不难理解这样一个故事的起源的推测。这个将军的名字和hooker 只差开头的一个大写字母。 而且胡克的手下在当时确实纪律涣散（尽管看来是酒而非女人才导致了他们与宪兵司令之间的矛盾）。不管这个故事多么诱人，它不可能是真实的。事实上hooker 一词作为“妓女”的意思比内战的历史还要早。 它出现于约翰·罗素·巴特利特编纂的美国俗语词典 的第二版（尽管第一版中没有）， 出版于1859年。巴特利特把hooker 定义为“一个妓女，水手的妓女”。 他还说这个词来源于科利尔的胡克，纽约市的一个地区，但这只是一个猜想。没有证据证明这一说法源于纽约。诺曼·爱尔斯华斯·艾利森把hooker 的用法追溯到1845年的北卡罗来纳州。 他在1956年出版的北卡罗来纳州闲话； 1860年前北卡罗来纳英语历史研究 中说明了这一用法。 缺乏早期书面证据这一事实并不意味着在1845年之前hooker 没有被用作“妓女”一义。 很简单，hooker 的历史隐晦难知； 我们不知道它在何时何地被首次使用，但我们可以肯定它并不始于约瑟夫·胡克。而且我们没有确凿证据证明它来源于科利尔的胡克。不管有无学术性的证据，已故的内战历史学家布鲁斯·卡通并没有做到为联邦将军彻底开脱的地步。尽管“‘hooker’这一词语并不是来源于内战，”卡通写道，“在那之后它肯定流行了起来。在战争年代，华盛顿在宪法大街南部某个地方发展了很大的［红灯区］。人们把这里称作胡克的辖区，作为对约瑟夫·胡克将军怪癖的献礼，这个名字从此便生根发芽”。如果hooker 这一词语既不是源于约瑟夫·胡克也不来自于科利尔的胡克， 那么它的词源究竟是什么呢?从词源学上来说hooker 很有可能仅仅是“引…上钩的人”。 这一词语把妓女描绘成一个勾引或引诱客人的人〔pueblo〕The identity of the Pueblo peoples is undeniably connected to the stone and adobe dwellings they have occupied for more than 700 years—especially from an etymological point of view.Originally coming from the Latin wordpopulus, "people, nation,” the Spanish wordpueblo, meaning "town, village,” as well as "nation, people,”was naturally applied by 16th-century Spanish explorers to villages that they discovered or founded in the Southwest.The English wordpueblo is first recorded in an American text in this sense in 1808, marking it as an Americanism.The distinctive adobe or stone villages of the Pueblo peoples,with some buildings rising as high as five stories,must have impressed the Spaniards considerably,becausepueblo came to be transferred from a name for the village to a name for its inhabitants, perhaps in honor of their architectural achievements or simply as an obvious way to distinguish the Pueblo from other Native American peoples.The first recorded usage of this sense is found in 1834.无可质疑，普埃布洛族的象征是与他们已经居住了700年的土石结构房屋联系在一起的——尤其是从词源学的角度来看。最初源于意为“民族，国家”的拉丁语populus， 意为“城镇，村庄”的西班牙语pueblo ， 同时也有“民族，国家”的意思，16世纪的西班牙探险家们很自然地用这个词来称呼他们在西南部发现或建立的村庄。英语中pueblo 的这个含义最早记载于1808年的一篇美国课文中， 这标志着它成了一个美语词。普埃布洛族有特色的石造和土造村庄，有些建筑高达五层，肯定给西班牙人留下了深刻的印象，因为pueblo 这个词是从这个村庄的名字转变成村庄中居民的名字的， 这可能是出于对他们建筑成就的敬仰或仅仅作为将普埃布洛族和其它美洲土著民族区分开的明显途径。这个词义是在1834年最早有使用记载的。〔limerick〕Etymologies can sometimes be a bit disappointing,as, for example,when one is told thatlimerick is named after a city or county in Ireland without being told why it is so named.Unfortunately, we run into a difficulty here that is not uncommonly faced by etymologists,namely, that no one is precisely sure why this piece of humorous verse was so named.One theory is that it was named for a group of poets who wrote in Limerick in the 18th century;another, that it came from a custom at parties of making up a nonsense verse and following it with a chorus of "Will you come up to Limerick.”In any case,the first limericks appeared in books published in 1820 and 1821,and the form was popularized by Edward Lear in a collection published in 1846.The word itself, however, is not recorded until 1896.Let us sum up by saying:"There once was a verse form named limerick./No one can account for the name of it./Some think from a game/Or from poets it came./If you know please come up to Limerick.”查看词源学后会经常令我们失望，这是因为，比如，当某人得知limerick 是由爱尔兰的一城市（或一个郡的）名字而来， 却并不告知这样命名的原因。不幸的是，我们碰到了一个词源学家经常遇到的难题，那就是，没有一个人能确定为什么这种幽默的诗歌这样命名。一种理论认为它是源于18世纪在利默里克写作的一群诗人；还有一种看法认为它是源于一种集会上的风俗，这种风俗要求写完一毫无意义的诗后众人合唱“你将去利默里克吗”。不管怎样，1820年和1821年出版的这种五行打油诗集子广为流传，爱德华·利尔于1846年出版的集子使这种形式得到普及。但是，这个单词直到1896年才有记载。我们可以通过这么说来总结：“曾经有种诗的形式名叫利默里克。/但没有人能解释它的名字。/有人认为源于一种游戏/或源于一群诗人。/如果你知道就到利默里克来。”〔telephone〕When one telephones someone else,one never gives a second thought to the linguistic and etymological processes illustrated by the wordtelephone. To begin with,the nountelephone is one of a class of technological and scientific words that are made up of combining forms, in this casetele- and -phone. These forms are derived from classical languages:tele- is from the Greek combining form tēle- or tēl-, a form of tēle, meaning "afar, far off,” while-phone is from Greek phōnē, "sound, voice.” Such words derived from classical languages can be put together in French or German,for example, as well as in English.Which language actually gave birth to them cannot always be determined.In this case Frenchtelephone (about 1830) seems to have priority. The word was used for an acoustic apparatus, as it originally was in English (1844).Alexander Graham Bell appropriated the word for his invention in 1876,and in 1877 we have the first instance of the verbtelephone meaning "to speak to by telephone.” The verb is an example of a linguistic process called functional shift.This occurs when we use a noun as a verb,an adjective as a noun, or a noun as an adjective.Thus, we are changing the syntactic function of the word,just as we do when wetelephone a friend. 当某人打电话给别人时，他决不会再想一想单词Telephone 所说明的语言学的和词源学的发展历程。 开始时，名词telephone 是由复合形式构成的一类技术和科学术语中的一个， 在这个例子中是tele- 和 -phone 。 这些形式来自于古典语言：tele- 来自于希腊语的复合形式 tele- 或 tel- （ tele 的形式，意为“在远处，遥远地”）， 而-phone 则来自希腊语 phone （“声音，嗓音”）。 这些来自古典语言的词可以在法语或德语中放在一起，例如，同英语一样。这些词到底诞生于哪一种语言通常无法确认。在这个例子中，法语telephone （大约于1830年）看起来出现较早。 这个单词正如它最初出现在英语中(1844年）的意思一样，在法语中它用于指声音设备。亚历山大·格雷厄姆·贝尔在1876年用这个词指代他的发明物，1877年我们有了第一个意为“用电话与…交谈”的动词telephone 的实例。 这个动词是称为功能转移的语言学进程的一个例子。这种情况在我们将名词作为动词，将形容词作为名词或将名词作为形容词使用时就发生。这样，我们正在改变单词的句法功能，正如在我们打电话给 一位朋友时所做的一样 〔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 〔spree〕A spending spree seems a far cry from a cattle raid,yet etymologists have suggested that the wordspree comes from the Scots word spreath, "cattle raid.” The wordspree is first recorded in a poem in Scots dialect in 1804 in the sense of "a lively outing.” This sense is closely connected with a sense recorded soon afterward (in 1811), "a drinking bout,”while the familiar sense "an overindulgence in an activity,”as in aspending spree, is recorded in 1849. Scots and Irish dialect also have a sense "a fight,”which may help connect the word and the sense "lively outing" with the Scots wordspreath, meaning variously, "booty,” "cattle taken as spoils,” "a herd of cattle taken in a raid,” and "cattle raid.” The Scots word comes from Irish and Scottish Gaelicspréidh, "cattle,” which in turn ultimately comes from Latin praeda, "booty.” This last link reveals both the importance of the Latin language to Gaelicand a connection between cattle and plunder in earlier Irish and Scottish societies.狂欢作乐似乎与牛的袭击相去甚远，然而词源学表明spree 来自苏格兰语 spreath “牛的袭击”。 Spree 在1804年首次出现于苏格兰方言写成的一首诗中，意为“活跃的出游”。 这个意思与不久之后(1811年）出现的意思“狂饮”很接近，而相近的意思“无节制的狂热行为”，比如spending spree 于1849年出现。 苏格兰和爱尔兰方言还有“打架”的意思，这可能有助于将该词同其意义与苏格兰语spreath 的不同意思相联系，这些意思为“战利品”、“作为掠夺品的牛”、“袭击中所得的一群牛”或“牛袭击”。 这个苏格兰词来自爱尔兰和苏格兰盖尔人的语言 spréidh “牛”（此词最终源自拉丁语 praeda “战利品”）。 这一最后的联系不仅表明拉丁语同盖尔语的重要联系，也表明早期爱尔兰和苏格兰社会中牛和劫掠的联系〔none〕It is true thatnone is etymologically derived from the Old English word ān, "one,” but the word has been used as both a singular and a plural noun from Old English onward.The plural use can be found in reputable sources such as the King James Bible, Dryden, and Burke;and H.W. Fowler described the traditional rule as "a mistake.”Either a singular or a plural verb is acceptably used in a sentencesuch asNone of the conspirators has (or have ) been brought to trial. Whennone is modified by almost, however, it is difficult to avoid treating the word as a plural: 事实是这样的：none 根据词源学来自于古英语词汇 an “一，” 但是此词从古英语开始既被用作单数名词，又被用作复数名词形式。复数用法可以在规范的原始资料如詹姆士圣经、德莱顿以及伯克的作品中发现。H·W·福勒把传统的规则描述为“一个错误”。无论是单数还是复数动词均可以被接受用于句子中，如所有的同谋者都未 （或者 have ) 被送审。 然而当none 被 almost 修饰时， 很难避免将此词当作复数： 〔minimal〕Etymologically,minimal is properly used to refer to the smallest possible amount, as inThe amplifier reduces distortion to the minimal level that can be obtained with present technologies. In recent years, however,the word has come to be used to refer simply to a small amount,as inIf you would just put in a minimal amount of time on your homework, I am sure your grades would improve. Critics have often objected to this extension,but it appears to be well established.To determine the acceptability of the newer use,we presented the Usage Panel with the sentence 从词源学上来说，minimal 应被正确地用来指最小的可能数量， 如在这台扩大器能将失真减至为当前技术水平所有达到的最低限度内 。 但是近几年来，此词已被用来表示一个较少的数量，如在假如你在家庭作业上花上一点时间的话，我敢肯定你的成绩会变好的 一句中。 批评家们经常反对这种延伸，但这似乎已被广泛接受。为确定这种较新用法的被接受程度，我们以下句进行了用法调查 〔vermicelli〕We are now going to open an etymological can of worms by discussing the origin of the wordvermicelli. This word, like the food itself, is Italian in origin.Italianvermicelli is the plural of vermicello, a diminutive of verme, "worm,” from the Latin wordvermis, having the same sense. Perhaps you might prefer spaghetti instead;the wordspaghetti is derived from the Italian plural of the diminutive of spago, "string.” 现在我们将通过讨论vermicelli 这一词的词源来开一个关于蠕虫的词源学的罐子。 就象食物一词一样，这个词语从词源上来讲是一个意大利语。意大利语vermicelli 是 vermicello 这个 verme “蠕虫”的小词的复数， 源于与其具有相同含义的拉丁词语vermis 。 当然，你也可能提出意大利式细面条一词；spaghetti 一词源于 spago “细绳”的小词的意大利语复数 〔chivalry〕The Age of Chivalry was also the age of the horse.Bedecked in elaborate armor and other trappings,horses were certainly well dressedalthough they might have wished for lighter loads.That the horse should be featured so prominently during the Age of Chivalryis etymologically appropriate,becausechivalry goes back to the Latin word caballus, "horse, especially a riding horse or packhorse.”Borrowed from French, as were so many other important words having to do with medieval English culture,the English wordchivalry is first recorded in works composed around the beginning of the 14th century and is found in several senses,including "a body of armored mounted warriors serving a lord" and "knighthood as a ceremonially conferred rank in the social system.”Our modern sense,"the medieval system of knighthood,”could not exist until the passage of several centuries had allowed the perspective for such a conceptualization,with this sense being recorded first in 1765.骑士时代同时也是马的时代。马被用精美的铠甲和其它马饰打扮起来，它们显然穿戴得很好，虽然它们可能会喜欢稍轻一些的负担。在骑士时代马被放在如此显要的地位，这从词源学上来看是恰当的，因为chivalry 一词可追溯到拉丁语中 caballus 一词， 即“马，尤其是用来骑的马或驮马”的意思。象与中世纪英国文化有关的许多其它重要的词一样，英语中chivalry 一词也是从法语中借用来的，最初出现在大约写于14世纪初的书籍中， 当时有好几个含义，其中包括：“为一名贵族服务的一队穿着铠甲、骑着马的武士”和“作为一种被正式授予的社会制度中等级的骑士资格”。我们现代的意义，即“中世纪的骑士制度”，是在几个世纪以后对这样一个概念的视角成为可能之时才出现的，这个意义最早出现在文字记载中是1765年〔fulsome〕The wordfulsome is often used, particularly in the expressionfulsome praise, to mean simply "abundant,” without any implication of excess or insincerity.This usage is etymologically justifiedbut may invite misunderstandings in contexts in which a deprecatory interpretation might also be available.The sentenceI offer you my most fulsome apologies may unintentionally raise an eyebrow, where the use of an adjective likefull or abundant would leave no room for doubt as to the sincerity of the speaker's intentions.单词fulsome 经常使用， 尤其在表达溢美之辞 时， 只表“丰富”而没有“过分或虚伪”的意思。根据词源学判断此用法是有道理的，但却会在一些场合得到贬义的解释而引起误会。如我对你抱歉到家了 ，这句话会无意中使对方皱起眉头， 若是此处用full 或 abundant 之类的形容词， 就不会使听者对于说话者诚挚道歉的意图产生怀疑了〔caviar〕Although caviar might seem to be something quintessentially Russian,the wordcaviar is not a native one, the Russian term beingikra. Caviar first came into English in the 16th century,probably by way of French and Italian,which, along with other European languages, borrowed it from Turkishhavyar. The source of the Turkish word is apparently an Iranian dialectal form related to the Persian word for "egg,”khāyah, and this in turn goes back to the same Indo-European root that gives us the English wordsegg and oval. This rather exotic etymology is appropriate to a substance that is not to everyone's taste,giving rise to Shakespeare's famous phrase,“'twas caviary to the general,”the general public, that is.虽然鱼子酱一词有点俄罗斯风范，但caviar 一词不是俄语， 俄语词是ikra。 Caviar 第一次出现在英语中是在16世纪，大概是来自法语和意大利语，而它们又与其它欧洲语言一起从土耳其语havyar 借用而来。 土耳其词的来源很明显是从与波斯单词“鸡蛋”khayah 有关的伊朗方言中而来， 并且由此追溯到给我们带来egg 和 oval 的同一印欧语系词根。 这种怪异的词源学不会适合所有人的口味，由此带来了莎士比亚的名言，“它是适合大众口味的鱼子酱，”即指一般公众〔Xmas〕Xmas has been used for hundreds of years in religious writing, where theX is understood to represent a Greek chi, the first letter of Χριστος, "Christ";in this use it is parallel to other forms likeXtian, "Christian.” But the letterX, or especially x, is nowadays more frequently interpreted as a mathematical variable than as a Greek letter, as indicated by the common pronunciation of the formXmas as (ĕksʹməs). Thus, while the word is etymologically innocent of the charge that it omits Christ from Christmas,it is now generally understood only as an informal shortening.In an earlier survey 88 percent of the Usage Panel rejected the use ofXmas in writing. Xmas 在宗教作品中已用了几百年， X 用来表示希腊字母chi， 是Χριστος的第一个字母，意为“耶稣”；在这种用法中，它与其他形式相似,如Xtian, “教会的”。 但是字母X， 尤其是 x， 现在更常见的是当作数学变量，而不是希腊字母， 因为该符号Xmas 发音已普遍为(ĕksʹməs)。 因此,当这个单词从词源学上把Christ从Christmas中省掉是合乎规则的，现在该词已被广泛看作一个非正式的缩写形式。在早期的调查问卷中，有百分之八十八的用法使用小组成员拒绝在作品中用Xmas 〔process〕In recent yearsthere has been a tendency to pronounce the plural ending-es of processes as (-ēz), perhaps by analogy with words of Greek origin such asanalysis and neurosis. Butprocess is not of Greek origin, and there is no etymological justification for this pronunciation of its plural.The pronunciation may someday become so widespread as to be a standard variant,but it still strikes some listeners as a bungled affectation.近年来，有把processes 的复数词尾 -es 读成(-ez)的趋势， 这也许与源于希腊语的词analysis 和 neurosis 相似。 但是process 不是来源于希腊语， 因此从词源学的角度来说，其复数形式不应这么发音。或许有一天这种发音会被广泛采用而成为标准的变体，但仍有一些人听了这种发音后会觉得这是一种拙劣的矫揉造作〔trivial〕Trivial Pursuit is an etymologically sound name, because roads and traveling, which might involve pursuit, are involved in the origin of the wordtrivial. The history oftrivial begins with the Latin word trivium, formed from the prefixtri-, "consisting of three of the things named,” and via, "road.” Trivium meant "the meeting place of three roads, especially as a place of public resort.” Hence it also had a pejorative sense,which we express by the phrasethe gutter, as in "His manners were formed in the gutter.”The adjectivetriviālis, derived from trivium, meant "appropriate to the street corner, commonplace, vulgar.” Trivial entered Middle English in senses that need not detain us here,first being recorded in a sense identical to that oftriviālis in 1589. Shortly after thattrivial is recorded in the sense most familiar to us, "of little importance or significance.”Trivial Pursuit 从词源学的角度来看是合理的词， 因为可能涉及到追求的道路和旅行都与trivial 这个词的来源有关。 trivial 的历史从拉丁词 trivium 开始， 由前缀tri- 意思是“由三个给定的东西组成的”和 via “道路”构成。 Trivium 的意思是“三条路交汇的地方，尤指公众常去的地方”。 自此它又有了一层带贬意的意思，我们用短语贫民区里的 来表示这层意思， 如在句子”他的礼仪是在贫民区学成的”。从trivium 派生出来的形容词 trvialis 意思为“用于街道角落的，平凡的，粗俗的”。 Trvial 进入了中古英语， 当时的意思不会使我们停止不前。最早的记录是在1589年，意思与trivialis 相同。 不久以后，trivial 的意思变得与我们更接近了， 即“琐碎的，不重要的或无价值的”〔flammable〕Historically,flammable and inflammable mean the same thing. However, the presence of the prefixin- has misled many people into assuming that inflammable means "not flammable" or "noncombustible.” In the circumstances,it is therefore advisable to use onlyflammable in contexts imparting warnings or on product labels, where a misinterpretation might have more serious consequences for the reader than an etymological mistake would deserve. 历史上，flammable 和 inflammable 的意思是一样的。 然而，前缀in- 的存在误导了许多人，使他们以为 inflammable 意思为“不可燃的”或“不易燃烧的”。 基于此情况，在发出警告或制作标签时，建议只用flammable ，因为解释的错误可能比词源学的错误带来的后果更严重 〔theater〕Those who have theories about the theater are no doubt quite observant,at least the etymology of the word leads one to think so.The wordstheory and theater are related in ancestry if we look back to the Greek sources of our words. The Greek ancestor oftheater is theatron, "a place for seeing, especially for dramatic representation, theater.” Theatron is derived quite logically from the verb theasthai, "to gaze at, contemplate, view as spectators, especially in the theater,” fromthea, "a viewing.” The Greek ancestor oftheory is theōria, which meant among other things"the sending oftheōroi (state ambassadors sent to consult oracles or attend games),” "the act of being a spectator at the theater or games,” "viewing,” "contemplation by the mind,” and "theory or speculation.” The source oftheōria, theōros, "an envoy sent to consult an oracle, spectator,” is a compound of thea, "viewing,” and -oros, "seeing.” Thus, viewing is at the root of a theory and the theater.有戏剧理论的人无疑是相当善于观察的，至少这个词的词源学让我们这么想。如果我们追溯它们的希腊词源，单词theory 和 theater 的起源相关。 theater 的希腊语前身是 theatron （“尤指看喜剧表演的地方，剧院”）。 theatreon 相当符合逻辑地来自动词 theasthai （“盯着，注视，观看，尤指在剧院作为观众”）， 来自thea, “观看”。 theory 的希腊语前身是 theoria ， 其意义介于其它几件事物之间，它们是“派遣theoroi （派出咨询神谕或参加竟技会的政府使节）”“在剧院或竞技会上作为观众的行为”，“观看”，“专心注视”，和“看法和推测”。 theoria,theoros （“派出咨询神谕的使节；观众”）是 thea （“观看”）和 -oros （“看见”）的复合词。 这样，观看是theory（理论）和theater（剧院）的根源〔carry〕A non-Southerner is always amused when a Southerner offers to "carry" rather than to drive him or her somewhere,imagining it to be an invitation to be picked up and bodily lugged to the destination.However, the verbcarry, which to Southerners means "to transport (someone) in a motor vehicle, such as an automobile,” is etymologicallymore precise in the Southern usage than anywhere else.Carry derives from the Latin noun carrus, "cart,” from which we get the nounscarriage and our modern car. Therefore,carry is more closely related to car than is drive, which only makes literal sense if the vehicle is drawn by a team of animals.当一个南方人提出把一个非南方人“运送”而不是开车带到某地时，这个非南方人总是觉得好笑，会以为是一个把他或她“拖运”到某地的邀请。然而，carry 这个动词对南方人来说意思是“用机动车辆（例如汽车）运送某人，” 从词源学的角度来讲，该词在南部的用法比在其它任何地方者更为确切。Carry 一词从拉丁语中的名词 carrus “货车”发展而来， 从此我们又得到了名词carriage 和现在的 car 。 因此，carry 比 drive 而更为与 car 的关系密切， 因为如果一辆车由一组动物拉着，那么它就只能表示字面上的意思〔athlete〕Athletes who believe that winning is the most important aspect of athletics have etymological support for their view,even if the way one plays the game is more important than winning a prize.The wordathlete may ultimately go back to the Greek word athlos, "contest, especially a contest for a prize.” Two other possible sources areathlon, "prize won in a contest,” and .athleus, "one who competes.” The Greek wordathlētēs, derived from at least one of these sources, meant "combatant, champion,” and was used especially for competitors in games.Our wordathlete, borrowed from Greek by way of Latin, is first recorded in Middle English (possibly before 1425) with reference to wrestlers.那些坚信体育比赛中取胜是最重要一面的运动员，有词源学根据来支持他们的观点，甚至参加运动的方式比获取奖品更重要。athlete 这个单词可以最终追溯到希腊单词 athlos “比赛， 尤指为获取奖品的竞赛。”另外两个可能的词源是athlon “体育竞赛中获得的奖品”和 athleus “参加体育竞赛的人”。 athletes 这个希腊单词至少从这些词源之一发展而来，意思是“竞技者、冠军”， 尤其用来指体育比赛中的竞技者。这个词athlete 通过拉丁语从希腊语中借用， 最早记录于中世纪英语（大约在1425年以前），用来指摔跤运动〔tycoon〕Business tycoons may consider themselves captains or even princes of industry,but by virtue of being calledtycoons, they have already achieved princely status,at least from an etymological point of view.Tycoon came into English from Japanese, which had borrowed the title, meaning "great prince,” from Chinese.Use of the word was intended to make the shogun,the commander in chief of the Japanese army, more impressive to foreigners (his official titleshōgun merely meant "general"). In fact, the shogun actually ruled Japan,although he was supposedly acting for the emperor.When Matthew C. Perry opened Japan to the West in 1854,he negotiated with the shogun, thinking him to be the emperor.The shogun's title,taikun, was brought back to the United States after Perry's visit.Abraham Lincoln's cabinet members usedtycoon as an affectionate nickname for the President. The word soon came to be used for business and industry leaders—perhaps at times for those who had as much right to such an impressive title as did the shogun.The word itself now has an old-fashioned sound,but when we encounter it,we should think back to the days of Commodore Perry and President Lincoln,both of whom were real tycoons in their own ways.商界大亨可能把他们自己当成是工业界的长官或甚至王子，但是因为被叫做tycoon ， 他们早已达到了王子般的地位，至少从词源学的观点来说是这样。Tycoon 由日语进入英语， 而日语的这个头衔是从汉语借来的，意思是“大王”。使用这个词是为了使幕府将军，日本军队的总指挥官给外国人以深刻的印象（他的官方头衔shogun 的意思仅仅是“将军”）。 实际上，是幕府将军统治着日本，尽管他被认为是为天皇办事。当马修·C·佩里1854年使日本向西方开放时，他和幕府将军进行了谈判，以为他就是日本天皇。幕府将军的头衔taikun ， 在佩里访问美国后带到了美国。亚伯拉罕·林肯的内阁成员把tycoon 用作总统的充满感情的绰号。 这个词很快也被用于商界和工界的领导人，也许有时这些人象幕府将军那样有权以致给人深刻的印象。这个词本身听起来有点老派，但是当我们遇到它时，我们应该回想起佩里海军准将和林肯总统的时代，他们两人以各自的方式成为真正的巨头〔till〕Till is actually the older word, withuntil having been formed by the addition to it of the prefix un-, meaning "up to.” In the 18th centurythe spelling'till became fashionable, as iftill were a shortened form of until. Although'till is now nonstandard, 'til is sometimes used in this way and is considered acceptable, though it is etymologically incorrect. Till 实际上是这两个词中较早使用的一个， 在它前面加一个表示“直到”的前缀un- 构成了 until 。 在18世纪，'till 这种拼写方式很时髦， 似乎till 成了 until 的缩写形式。 尽管'till 现在不是标准的用法， 即使从词源学角度讲它是不正确的，'til 有时还这样使用，而且被认为是可以接受的 〔cushy〕Sincecushy has such an informal, breezy, American ring, it is difficult to believe that it is an import, as some etymologists claim.Members of the British army in India are supposed to have picked up the Anglo-Indian version of the Hindi word±hūush, meaning "pleasant,” to which the suffix-y, as in empty and sexy, was added, thus forming a new English word. Cushy, however, is actually first recorded in a letter from the European battlefront during World War I. This fact, in conjunction with our inability to find an Anglo-Indian source,casts some doubt on the Hindi or Anglo-Indian origin ofcushy. Two other possibilities are thatcushy is a shortening of cushion with the -y suffix or that it is a borrowing of Frenchcouchée, "lying down; a bed.” 既然cushy 一词具有如此非正式的、愉快的美国意义， 很难相信某些词源学者所认为的说它是一个外来词。驻印度的英国军队士兵被认为是选用了印度英语±hūush 的英语说法，意思是“愉悦的”， 并如同empty 和 sexy 等词在其上加了 -y 这个后缀，从而形成了一个新英语单词。 然而，事实上cushy 一词却最先被记录在第一次世界大战期间发自欧洲战斗前线的一封信里。 这一事实，再加上我们无法找到其印度英语的词源，使我们对于cushy 一词源于印地语或印度英语的说法产生了某些怀疑。 另两种可能性，一种是cushy ，它是 cushion 的缩略形式再加上后缀 -y ； 另一种是法语couchee “躺下；床”的外来语 〔etymological〕Of or relating to etymology or based on the principles of etymology.词源学的：属于，关于词源学的或根据词源学原则的〔etymology〕The branch of linguistics that deals with etymologies.词源学：有关词源的一门语言学分支 |
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