| 释义 |
un·der·ling AHD[ŭnʹdər-lĭng] D.J.[ˈʌndəlɪŋ]K.K.[ˈʌndəlɪŋ]n.（名词）- One of lesser rank or authority than another; a subordinate.下属，属下：等级或权力小于他者的人；下属
注释- People trying to build their vocabulary often study affixes,a not unreasonable way to proceed.But studying a group of words that share an affix can be fascinating in its own right in the way that studying common features in a photograph of an extended family can be fascinating.The suffix-ling is Germanic in origin and had several uses already in Old English.For example, it could be added to a noun to make a second noun that referred to something connected with or similar to the first noun;thus, adding the suffix to the Old English wordyrth, "ploughland,” produced the Old English word yrthling, "plowman.” The suffix could also be added to an adjective to make a noun that referred to something having the quality denoted by the adjective:from Old Englishdēore, "dear, beloved,” was derived dēorling (Modern English darling ). Adding-ling to an adverb produced a noun referring to something having the position or condition denoted by the adverb: from Old Englishunder came underling. The last use of the-ling family to be described here was actually borrowed from another Germanic source, Old Norse. The Old Norse version of the-ling suffix was used to form diminutives; thus, our wordgosling was a borrowing in Middle English of an Old Norse word, gæslingr, "gosling.” 想要扩大词汇量的人常常去研究词缀，这不失为一种明智的方式。就象研究一个扩大了的家庭的照片中家人的共同特征一样吸引人，研究一组词缀相同的单词本身可能也会令人意醉神迷。-ling 这一后缀源于日耳曼语， 在中古英语中便已有已几种用法。例如，它可以和一个名词相连形成另一个与之关联或相似的名词；这样，把这个后缀加到古英语单词yrth “耕地”后边便形成了另一古英语单词 yrthling “农夫”。 这个后缀还可以加在一个形容词后边形成具有该形容词所示特征的名词：从古英语单词deore, “亲爱的，被爱的”中派生出 deorling （现代英语中的 darling )。 把-ling 加在一副词后边可以产生具有该副词所示情况或状态的名词： 从中古英语的under 形成 underling 。 这里所要描述的-ling 家族的最后一个用法事实上是来源于另一支日耳曼语言，古挪威语。 在古挪威语中-ling 这一后缀被用作小后缀； 这样，我们的单词gosling 便是中世纪英语中的一个外来词，来源于古挪威语单词 goeslingr, “小鹅”
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