单词 | 词源学家 |
释义 | 〔intrapreneur〕The wordentrepreneur is more than 150 years old, having come into English from French in 1828.But it is not until very recently that we find its intracorporate counterpart,intrapreneur, meaning "a person within a large corporation who takes direct responsibility for turning an idea into a profitable finished product through assertive risk-taking and innovation.”This coinage is generally attributed to management consultant Gifford Pinchot,author of the 1985 book entitledIntrapreneuring; others insist its true originator was Norman Macrae, deputy editor of theEconomist, although Macrae himself denies it.Still, whatever its exact source,in the scant number of years since its inception the termintrapreneur has gained currency very quickly. It has also given rise to various derivatives,such as the aforementioned gerundintrapreneuring, the noun intrapreneurship (as in a September 30, 1985, interview with Stephen Jobs inNewsweek : "The Macintosh team was what is commonly known as intrapreneurship—only a few years before the term was coined—a group of people going in essence back to the garage, but in a large company"),the adjectiveintrapreneurial, and another noun, intrapreneurialism ("what has become known as intrapreneurialism, where people within the corporation acquire more adventurous small business outlooks,” by Ian Hamilton-Fazy in "An Uneasy Co-existence,”Financial Times, October 23, 1984). Broad use of a word and the development of numerous derivatives are strong signals predicting staying power within the language.Intrapreneur and its spinoffs are of particular interest to etymologists and lexicographers because they illustrate the constant changes inherent in a living language.entrepreneur 一词已有150多年的历史, 于1828年从法语传入英语。但是直到最近我们才发现其在公司内部的对应人物intrapreneur , 意为“对通过果断地承担风险和革新使想法变为有利可图的成品这一过程承担直接责任的大公司里的高级成员”。这个新造的词普遍认为应归功于业务顾问吉福德·平肖,1985年出版的名为Intrapreneuring 一书的作者; 其他人坚持其真正的发明者是经济学家 杂志的副编辑诺曼·麦克里, 虽然麦克里本人否认这一点。然而,不管其准确的起源是什么,自它开始出现以来的短短几年中,intrapreneur 一词已很快流行开来。 它同样产生了多个衍生词,例如前面提到的动名词intrapreneuring ,名词 intrapreneurship (例如新闻周刊 于1985年9月30日斯蒂芬·乔布斯的采访中: “马金托什队通常地以出色的企业运作而闻名——仅仅是这个词条被发明的几年前——一群实质上是回到汽车房的人,而现在不过是大公司的汽车房罢了”),形容词intraprenurial 以及另一个名词 intrapreneurialim (以企业运作主义出名的地方,在那儿公司内部的职员获得更为冒险的商业前景”,伊恩·汉密尔顿一费茨的“不稳定的共存”,金融时报 1984年10月23日出版)。 一个词的广泛运用以及无数派生词的产生是预示语言内部持久力的强烈的信号。词源学家以及词典编纂者对intrpreneur 以及它的派生词产生了独特的兴趣, 因为它们说明现用语言所固有的持续不断的变化〔chagrin〕The ultimate etymology of the wordchagrin, which comes directly to us from French, is considered uncertain by many etymologists. At one timechagrin was thought to be the same word as shagreen, "a leather or skin with a rough surface,” derived from French chagrin. The reasoning wasthat in French the word for this rough material, which was used to smooth and polish things,was extended to the notion of troubles that fret and annoy a person.It was later decided, however,that the sense "rough leather" and the sense "sorrow" each belonged to a different French wordchagrin. Other etymologists have offered an alternative explanation,suggesting that the French wordchagrin, "sorrow,” is a loan translation of the German word Katzenjammer, "a morning-after-the-night-before feeling.” A loan translation is a type of borrowing from another languagein which the elements of a foreign word,as inKatzen, "cats,” and Jammer, "distress, seediness,” are assumed to be translated literally by corresponding elements in another language,in this case,chat, "cat,” and grigner, "to grimace.” The actual etymology is less colorful,with the word probably going back to a Germanic word,.gramī, meaning "sorrow, trouble.”Chagrin is first recorded in English in 1656 in the now obsolete sense "anxiety, melancholy.”我们从法语直接借用的词chagrin 的最终词源被许多词源学家认为是不能确定的。 Charin 曾经被认为和由法语词 chagrin 派生出来的 shagreen “有粗糙表面的皮革或皮肤”是同一个词。 理由是,这种粗糙材料是用来打磨和抛光物品用的,法语里的这个词被引申到有了使人懊恼和烦恼的意思。但后来才确定,“粗糙的皮革”的含义和“沮丧”的含义分属于一个不同的法语词chagrin 。 别的词源学家提出了另外一种解释,说法语词chagrin “沮丧”是借译于日耳曼语词 Katzenjammer “醉后的难受感”。 借译是借用另一种语言,即外语词的成分,如Katzen “猫”,和 Jammer “沮丧,不舒服”, 并照那种语言的对应成分直译过来,在这种情况下为chat “猫”和 grigner “做怪相”。 实际的语源没有这么富于趣味,这个词极可能要追溯到日耳曼语词grami , 意思为“愁苦,麻烦”。Chagrin 第一次出现在英语里有记载的时间是在1656年, 当时的含义“焦虑,忧郁”现已过时不用〔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” 〔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。”〔internecine〕In the first edition of theAmerican Heritage Dictionary 91 percent of the Usage Panel approved the use ofinternecine relating to internal struggle within a nation or organization that did not necessarily imply fatal or destructive conflict.The objection that had been overcome for most of the Panel was thatinternecine should imply such destruction because it came from the Latin wordinternecīnus, a variant ofinternecīvus, "fought to the death, murderous,” ultimately derived fromnecāre, "to kill.” Inter- in this compound is simply an intensive, supplying the notion of "all the way to" in the sense "fought to the death.”Internecine in English, first recorded in 1663, indeed meant "deadly, destructive,”but Samuel Johnson, inserting the word in his dictionary of 1755,thought thatinter- meant "mutual" and so defined it as "endeavoring mutual destruction.”This definition set the word incorrectly on its present course,and wheninternecine was further extended simply to mean "relating to internal struggle,” the original error was compounded.However, the point is that the meaning of words can be changed by mistakes and that mistaken meanings adhere to words.Only an occasional etymologist points out that the emperor's new clothes are patched.在美国经典辞书 第一版中, 百分之九十一的用法专题使用小组成员赞同internecine 与一个国家或组织内部的斗争有关, 但并不一定是致命的或有破坏性的冲突。为大多数小组成员说服的反对意见为internecine 应该暗指这种破坏, 因为它来源于拉丁词internecinus , 是internecivus 的变体,意为“战至死亡的,谋杀的”, 它最终来源于意为“杀害”的necare 。 在这个复合词中inter- 只是简单的一个强调成分, 在“战至死亡的”这个意义上加上“一直”这个概念。在英语中internecine 最早记载于1663年, 确实意味着“致死的,破坏性的”,但是塞缪尔·约翰逊在其1755年的字典中插入此词,认为inter- 意为“共同的”, 并且将它定义为“竭力造成共同破坏的”。这个定义造成此词今日用法的不准确,而且当internecine 更进一步被简单地引申为“关于内部斗争的”时, 其起源的错误就加重了。但是,重要的是词的意思被错误改变并且为错误意思所追随。只有偶尔的一个词源学家指出“皇帝的新衣服打满补丁”〔pie〕The etymology of the wordpie turns etymologists into Simple Simons, that is, we do not know what it is for certain.It may come from Medieval Latinpica or pia, "pie, pasty,” but we do not know the origins of these wordsand the earliest use of the Middle English wordpie is earlier (1199) than the first use of Medieval Latin pica (c. 1310) or pia (1230). It has been suggested that Medieval Latinpica may be from Latin pīca, "magpie.” The connection could have been made because the miscellaneous nature of pie ingredients might have brought to mind either the magpie's piebald coloration or its habit of collecting miscellaneous items.In any case, the first pies contained fowl, fish, or meat;the first certain recorded mention of a fruit pie is in Robert Greene'sArcadia, published in 1590: "Thy breath is like the steame of apple-pyes.”Pie 的词源把词源学家变成了傻子, 也就是说我们对它的来源无法确定。它可能来源于中世纪拉丁语pica 或 pia 意为“馅饼,面团,” 但我们不知道这些词的词源,并且中世纪英语pie 的最早使用(1199年)比中世纪拉丁语 pica (公元1310年)或 pia (1230年)的最早使用还要早。 也有人说中世纪拉丁语pica 可能来源于意为“喜鹊”拉丁文 pica。 其联系大约是因为馅饼原料混杂的特性让人联想到喜鹊杂色的毛或其收集各种各样东西的习惯。无论怎样,最初的馅饼包有禽肉、鱼肉或兽内;对水果派最早的、有确定记录的叙述出现在出版于1590年的罗伯特·格林的作品阿卡底亚 中: “你的呼吸如苹果派的香气”〔kludge〕The wordkludge is not "etymologist-friendly,” having many possible origins,none of which can be definitively established.This term, found frequently in the jargon of the engineering and computer professions,denotes a usually workable but makeshift system, modification, solution, or repair.Kludge has had a relatively short life (first recorded in 1962 although it is said to have been used as early as 1944 or 1945) for a word with so many possible origins. The proposed sources of the word, Germanklug, kluge, "intelligent, clever,” or a blend ofklutz and nudge or klutz and refudge, do not contain all the necessary sounds to give us the word,correctly pronounced at least.The notions thatkludge may have been coined by a computer technician or that it might be the last name of a designer of graphics hardware seem belied by the possibility that it is older than such origins would allow.It seems most likely that the wordkludge originally was formed during the course of a specific situation in which such a device was called for.The makers of the word,if still alive,are no doubt unaware that etymologists need informationso they can stop trying to "kludge" an etymology together.单词kludge 不是“词源学家的朋友”, 有很多可能的来源,每一个都不能准确成立。这个词,经常在工程和电脑业的行话中找到,表示一个通常能工作但是临时凑合的系统、修改、解答或修理。作为一个有这么多可能的来源的词,kludge 却有一个相对小的年纪(1962年第一次有记载,尽管据说早到1944年或1945年就已经使用)。 该词被推荐的来源是德文klug, kluge “聪明的,灵巧的”, 或者klutz 和 nudge 的混合或 klutz 和 refudge 的混合, 没有包含能向我们给出这个词的所有必需的声音,至少是正确的发音。kludge 可能是由电脑技术人员杜撰的或者它可能是图形显示硬件的一名设计者的姓, 这些看法由于它比这些来源能允许的时间要早的可能性而被误解。看起来最可能的是单词kludge , 最早是在需要这样的设备的特定环境中形成的。这一单词的制造者,如果还健在的话,毫无疑问意识不到词源学家需要此类信息,这样他们才能终止“临时搭配”成一个词源的努力 |
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