| 单词 | 语源学 |
| 释义 | 〔erudite〕One might like to beerudite but hesitate to berude. This preference is supported by the etymological relationship betweenerudite and rude. Erudite comes from the Latin adjectiveērudītus, "well-instructed, learned,” from the past participle of the verbērudīre, "to educate, train.” The verb is in turn formed from the prefixex-, "out, out of,” and the adjective rudis, "untaught, untrained,” the source of our word rude. The English worderudite is first recorded in a work possibly written before 1425 with the senses "instructed, learned.”Erudite meaning "learned" is supposed to have become rare except in sarcastic use, at least during the latter part of the 19th century, but the word now seems to have been restored to favor.一个人想成为erudite （博学的）， 但却犹豫会成为rude （粗鲁的）。 这个优先选择可以由erudite 和 rede这两个词在语源学上的关系得出。 Erudite 源于拉丁语的形容词eruditus ，指“受过良好教育的、博学的，” 来源于动词erudire 的过去分词，指“教育、训练”。 这个动词反过来由前缀ex- ，（表示“出、离开”）和形容词 rudis 意为“没受教育的，没受训练的”组成，它又是现代词 rude 的来源。 英语单词erudite 最早记录于大约写在1425年以前的一本著作中， 那时意思是“受教育的、博学的”。至少在19世纪后半期，Erudite 意思为“博学的”，除了讽刺的用法外已经很少被人所用， 但是现在这个单词好象又逐渐被人们使用起来〔retire〕Despite the upbeat books written about retiringand the fact that it is a well-earned time of relaxation from the daily rigors of work,many people do not find it a particularly pleasant prospect.Perhaps the etymology ofretire may hint at why. The ultimate source of our word is the Old French wordretirer, made up of the prefixre-, meaning in this case "back,” and the verb tirer, "to draw,” together meaning "to take back or withdraw.” The first use of the English wordretire is recorded in 1533 in reference to a military force that withdraws.It is not until 1667 that we find the word used to mean "to withdraw from a position for more leisure.”In regard to the sting in all thiswe need to look at the source oftirer, "to draw, draw out, endure,”which ultimately may be from Old Frenchmartir, "a martyr,” probably reflecting the fact that martyrs had to endure the torture of being stretched up to and beyond the point of dislocating their bones.尽管有关于退休的乐观书籍，以及退休是从日常工作的严酷中解放出来的极好时光的事实，许多人并没有发现它特别令人愉悦的地方。也许retire 的语源学暗示了原因。 这个词最早的来源是古法语单词retirer ， 由在此意指“向后”的前缀re- 及意为“拉”的动词 tiver 合在一起组成，意为“撤回或退回”。 英语单词retire 的使用则最早记录于1553年， 指撤退的军队。直到1667年我们才发现该词用于表达“为得到更多的闲暇而退出职位。”考虑到所有这些词的负面含义，我们有必要看看tirer 的词源， 其意为“拉，拉出，容忍，”它可能最初源于意为“殉道者”的古法语martir ， 这可能反映了一个事实，即殉者不得不忍受四肢被拉直至骨肉脱离的酷刑〔exorcise〕An oath is to be found at the etymological heart ofexorcise, a term going back to the Greek wordexorkizein, meaning "to swear in,” "to take an oath by,” "to conjure,” and "to exorcise.” Exorkizein in turn is formed from the prefixex-, "thoroughly,” and the verb horkizein, "to make one swear, administer an oath to,” derived from horkos, "oath.” Our wordexorcise is first recorded in English in a work composed possibly before the beginning of the 15th century, and in this useexorcise means "to call up or conjure spirits" rather than "to drive out spirits,” a sense first recorded in 1546.誓言在语源学中是exorcise 的基本意思， 而这个词又可以追溯到希腊语exorkizein， 后者意味着“宣誓”、“发誓”、“恳求”和“驱赶”。 Exorkizein 依次由含有“完全地”这个意思的前缀ex- 和含有“使发誓，在誓言约束下”这个意思的动词 horkizein 构成，后者源自 horkos “誓言”。 我们现在用的exorcise 最早在英文中的记录出自一本可能早于15世纪初写的一本著作中。 在当时，exorcise 通常意味着“召回灵魂”， 而不是1546年才最早记录到的“驱赶鬼魂”这个含义〔hobnob〕The fact that hobnobbing with our social betters may at times be a hit-or-miss propositionhas an etymological justification.The verbhobnob originally meant "to drink together" and occurred as a varying phrase,hob or nob, hob-a-nob, or hob and nob, the first of which is recorded in 1763.This phrasal form reflects the origins of the verb in similar phrasesthat were used when two people were toasting each other.The probable reason that the phrases were so used is thathob is a variant of hab, asnob is of nab, and that these in turn are probably forms of have and its negative. In Middle English, for example, one finds the formshabbe, "to have,” and nabbe, "not to have.” Hab or nab, or simply hab nab, thus meant "get or lose, hit or miss,” and the varianthob-nob also meant "hit or miss.” Used in the drinking phrase,hob or nob would have probably meant "give or take,” and from a drinking situationhob nob spread to other forms of chumminess. 与社会地位比我们高的人亲切交谈有时候是一种随随便便的行为，这种事实是有语源学上的根据的。动词hobnob 的初义为“一起喝酒”， 并有许多变体，如hob or nob ， hob-a-nob 或 hob and nob ， 其中第一个首见于1763年的记录中。这种词组构成反应了类似词组中的动词来源，他们都用于两个人互相敬酒的情况。这种词组如此使用的原因可能因为hob 是 hab 的变体， 而nob 是 nab 的变体，而且这两者又可能是 have 和其否定式的变体。 例如人们在中古英语中可发现habbe “有”和 nabbe “没有”的形式。 Hab or nab 或简作 hab nab， 就指“得到或失去，成功或不成功”， 其变体hob-nob 也有同样的意思“成功或不成功”。 在与饮酒有关的词汇中，hob or nob 可能指“自饮或敬酒，” 并从饮酒情况下使用的hob nob 扩展到其他亲密的场合 〔menu〕An enormous menu might be considered an oxymoronif one were to restrict the word etymologically.Menu can be traced back to the Latin word minūtus, meaning "small in size, amount, or degree"and also "possessing or involving minute knowledge.”Latinminūtus became Old French menut and Modern French menu, "small, fine, trifling, minute.” The French adjective came to be used as a nounwith the sense of "detail, details collectively,” and "detailed list.”As such, it was used in the phrasemenu de repas, "list of items of a meal,” which was shortened tomenu. This word was borrowed into English,being first recorded in 1837.The French word had been borrowed before,perhaps only briefly,as a shortening of the French phrasemenu peuple, "the common people.” This usage, however, is recorded in only one text, in 1658.“一个庞大的菜单”这一说法可能会被看成是一种矛盾的修辞法，如果人们从语源学角度对这个词进行限制的话。Menu 这个词的词源可上溯到拉丁词 minutus， 意为“尺寸、数量或程度小的”，或者“具备或涉及到精细知识的。”这个拉丁词minutus 而后又成为古法语单词 menut 和现代法语单词 menu， 意为“小的、精巧的、琐碎的、详细的。” 这个法语形容词逐渐被用作名词，意为“细节、诸多细节”及“详细的名单”。就这样，它被用于词组menu de repas， 意为“一张菜肴明细单”， 后来这个词组又被简略为menu。 这个简略词被引入英语中，最早出现于1837年。这个法语单词以前也曾被英语借用过，但也许只用了很短一段时间，而且是作为意为“普通民众”的法语词组menu peuple 的简略词。 然而这一用法仅在1658年的一篇文章中出现过〔acorn〕A thoughtful glance at the wordacorn might produce the surmise that it is made up of oak and corn, especially if we think ofcorn in its sense of "a kernel or seed of a plant,” as in peppercorn. The fact that others thought the word was so constituted partly accounts for the present formacorn. Here we see the workings of the process of linguistic change known as folk etymology,an alteration in form of a word or phrase so that it resembles a more familiar term mistakenly regarded as analogous.Acorn actually goes back to Old English æcern, "acorn,” which in turn goes back to the Indo-European root ōg-, meaning "fruit, berry.” 对acorn 稍加分析我们可能会产生这样的假设，它是由 oak 和 corn 两个词组成的， 特别是当我们想到corn 作为“植物的核或种子”的意思用时，如 胡椒粒。 有人认为这种组合方式就可解释现在acorn 这种形式。 在这我们就看到了语言学上被称为俗语源学的语言变化形式。一词或词组在形式上改变从而错误地被认为是类似性地代表另一个更为熟悉的词。Acorn 在古英语中实际上是 æcern， "acorn"的印欧语系中的词根是 og- ，意指“水果，浆果。” |
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