[2008.09.20] 英文：词语的秘密生活

The English language
英文

The secret life of words
词语的秘密生活

Sep 18th 2008
From The Economist print edition

MANY will know that the word “muscle” comes from the Latin for “mouse” (rippling under the skin, so to speak). But what about “chagrin”, derived from the Turkish for roughened leather, or scaly sharkskin. Or “lens” which comes from the Latin “lentil” or “window” meaning “eye of wind” in old Norse? Looked at closely, the language comes apart in images, like those strange paintings by Giuseppe Arcimboldo where heads are made of fruit and vegetables.
很多人知道”肌肉”这个词来自于拉丁语中的”老鼠”（也就是说像老鼠一样在皮肤下滚动）。不过，像”悔恨”这类在土耳其语中表示”满是皱的皮革”或是”鳞状的鲨鱼皮”的词就鲜为人知了。有多少人知道”镜片”是来自于拉丁语中的”小扁豆”还有在古挪威语中”窗户”其实是指”风眼”呢？走近瞧瞧的话，会发现语言的组成是千姿百态的，就像是阿奇姆•波尔多那些奇怪的画一样，画中人物的头都是由水果和蔬菜组成的。（小棉袄语：看过这个大师的画，感觉不舒服极了）

Not that Henry Hitchings’s book is about verbal surrealism. That is an extra pleasure in a book which is really about the way the English language has roamed the world helping itself liberally to words, absorbing them, forgetting where they came from, and moving on with an ever-growing load of exotics, crossbreeds and subtly shaded near-synonyms. It is also about migrations within the language’s own borders, about upward and downward mobility, about words losing their roots, turning up in new surroundings, or lying in wait, like “duvet” which was mentioned by Samuel Johnson, for their moment.
并不是亨利•希秦斯的字典都是关于语言的超现实主义。你在读完这本真正关注英语发展前景的书后会感到额外的愉悦–因为此书强调英语在使其自身不断自由地转变、吸收外来词，忘却来源，演变为不断新增的外来词汇，并且和外来词互相交汇，以至于变为极为相似的同义词。同时此书也关注语言自身的变化，词义的拔高和贬低，失去词根的词，在新环境中改头换面的词，或者等着变化的词，比如”羽毛被褥”这个词塞缪尔•约翰逊在当年就提到过了。

All this is another way of writing history. The Arab etymologies of “saffron”, “crimson” and “sugar” speak of England’s medieval trade with the Arab world. We have “cheque” and “tariff” from this source too, plus “arithmetic” and “algorithm”-just as we have “etch” and “sketch” from the Dutch, musical terms from the Italians and philosophical ones from the Germans. French nuance and finesse are everywhere. At every stage, the book is about people and ideas on the move, about invasion, refugees, immigrants, traders, colonists and explorers.
所有这一切都是另一种书写历史的方式。阿拉伯语源学中的”藏红花色”、”深红色”和”糖果”都是中世纪时期英国与阿拉伯世界进行贸易往来时出现的词汇。”关税”与”计算”此类词汇源于阿拉伯语，而”蚀刻”、”素描”这类绘画词汇源于荷兰语，音乐词汇源于意大利语而哲学词汇源于德语。对法语的借用和引用则在英语中是随处可见。不管什么方面来说，此书都是关于不断进步的人和不断进步的思想，以及于侵略、难民、移民、商人、殖民者和探索者有关的。

This is a huge subject and one that is almost bound to provoke question-marks and explosions in the margins-soon forgotten in the book’s sheer sweep and scale. A balance between straight history and word history is sometimes difficult to strike, though. There is a feeling, occasionally, of being bundled too fast through complex linguistic developments and usages, or of being given interesting slices of history for the sake, after all, of not much more than a “gong” or a “moccasin”. But it is churlish to carp. The author’s zest and grasp are wonderful. He makes you want to check out everything-“carp” and “zest” included. Whatever is hybrid, fluid and unpoliced about English delights him.
这是一个宏大的主题。这个主题几乎必定会让人们质疑与争论不休–然而很快在书中纯粹的叙事推进中被遗忘。然而就一本书而言，如何平衡史料与语言史确有难度。偶尔，此书会给人在繁杂的语言学方面涉入过深的感觉。即使援引了一些有趣的历史素材，也仅仅是为了说明一些无关紧要的词的来历，像”gong（锣）”或”moccasin（鹿皮鞋）”之类（前者源自马来语，后者源自印第安语）。但是有点吹毛求疵了。作者的用意和领会都很到位。他使你想要检查所有的词–也包括”鲤鱼”和”用意”。英语的多源性，灵活性或自由性都会让他感兴趣。

English has never had its Académie Française, but over the centuries it has not lacked furious defenders against foreign “corruption”. There have been rearguard actions to preserve its “manly” pre-Norman origins, even to reconstruct it along Anglo-Saxon lines: “wheel-saddle” for bicycle, “painlore” for pathology. But the omnivorous beast is rampant still. More people speak it as their second language than as their first. Forget the language of Shakespeare. It’s “Globish” now, the language of aspiration. No one owns it, a cause for despair to some. Mr Hitchings admits to wincing occasionally, but almost on principle he is more cheerful than not.
英语世界里从来没有法兰西学院，但是几个世纪以来，她也从不缺乏愤怒的捍卫者抵抗外来的”腐蚀”。保留”男性化”前罗曼语的争论一直没有停止过，甚至重新构造安哥拉•撒克逊式的英语：将”车轮鞍座”指作”自行车”、”病痛知识”来指”病理学”。然而，杂食性动物都是直立行走的。更多的人将英语当作第二门语言，而不是母语来用。忘掉莎士比亚的语言吧！现在流行”全球性”，这是语言的灵感所在。没有人能够独霸英语，也许这会让有些人失望。希秦斯先生承认有时会有不足，但从英语语言学来说，他是更为高兴的。

译者：小棉袄　　http://www.ecocn.org/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=14291&extra=page%3D1

The Secret Life of Words: How English Became English
By Henry Hitchings
《词语的秘密生活：英语的由来》
作者：亨利•希秦斯