It is interesting to learn how the words for animals and meat developed.
了解一下表示動物和表示肉類的詞匯是如何發展的很有趣。
After the Norman Conquest, many English people worked as servants who raised animals.
諾曼征服之后,很多英國人淪為諾曼人的仆人,他們為諾曼人飼養牲畜。
Therefore, the words we use for most animals raised for food, such as cow, sheep and pig, came from Old English,
所以,我們現在所用的大多數表示專為肉食而飼養的動物的單詞都是從古英語里來的,如cow(母牛)、sheep(羊)、Pig(豬)。
However, the words for the meat of these animals, which was served to the Normans, came from Old French: beef, mutton, pork and bacon.
而表示這些動物肉的詞匯,是諾曼人用的,源自古法語:如beef(牛肉)、mutton(羊肉)、pork(豬肉)以及bacon(熏豬肉,咸豬肉)。
Old French made other contributions to Middle English as well.
古法語對中世紀英語還有其他的貢獻。
In Old English, the Germanic way of making words plural was used. For example, they said housen instead of houses, and shoen instead of shoes.
在古英語里,單詞變復數采用的是日爾曼語中單詞變復數的方法。例如,他們說“housen”,而不是“house”;是“shoen”,而不是“shoes”。
After the Normans took control, they began using the French way of making plurals, adding an -s to house and shoe.
諾曼人控制以后,他們開始使用法語單詞變復數的方式,在“house”和“shoe”后加“-s”。
Only a few words kept their Germanic plural forms, such as man/men and child/children.
只有為數不多的單詞保留了日耳曼單詞變復數的方式,如man/men和child/children。