The secret life of words
詞語的秘密生活

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 “l(fā)ens” which comes from the Latin “l(fā)entil” 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”這個(gè)詞來自于拉丁語中的”老鼠”（也就是說像老鼠一樣在皮膚下滾動(dòng)）。不過，像”悔恨”這類在土耳其語中表示”滿是皺的皮革”或是”鱗狀的鯊魚皮”的詞就鮮為人知了。有多少人知道”鏡片”是來自于拉丁語中的”小扁豆”還有在古挪威語中”窗戶”其實(shí)是指”風(fēng)眼”呢？走近瞧瞧的話，會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)語言的組成是千姿百態(tài)的，就像是阿奇姆•波爾多那些奇怪的畫一樣，畫中人物的頭都是由水果和蔬菜組成的。（小棉襖語：看過這個(gè)大師的畫，感覺不舒服極了）

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•希秦斯的字典都是關(guān)于語言的超現(xiàn)實(shí)主義。你在讀完這本真正關(guān)注英語發(fā)展前景的書后會(huì)感到額外的愉悅–因?yàn)榇藭鴱?qiáng)調(diào)英語在使其自身不斷自由地轉(zhuǎn)變、吸收外來詞，忘卻來源，演變?yōu)椴粩嘈略龅耐鈦碓~匯，并且和外來詞互相交匯，以至于變?yōu)闃O為相似的同義詞。同時(shí)此書也關(guān)注語言自身的變化，詞義的拔高和貶低，失去詞根的詞，在新環(huán)境中改頭換面的詞，或者等著變化的詞，比如”羽毛被褥”這個(gè)詞塞繆爾•約翰遜在當(dāng)年就提到過了。

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.
所有這一切都是另一種書寫歷史的方式。阿拉伯語源學(xué)中的”藏紅花色”、”深紅色”和”糖果”都是中世紀(jì)時(shí)期英國與阿拉伯世界進(jìn)行貿(mào)易往來時(shí)出現(xiàn)的詞匯。”關(guān)稅”與”計(jì)算”此類詞匯源于阿拉伯語，而”蝕刻”、”素描”這類繪畫詞匯源于荷蘭語，音樂詞匯源于意大利語而哲學(xué)詞匯源于德語。對法語的借用和引用則在英語中是隨處可見。不管什么方面來說，此書都是關(guān)于不斷進(jìn)步的人和不斷進(jìn)步的思想，以及于侵略、難民、移民、商人、殖民者和探索者有關(guān)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.
這是一個(gè)宏大的主題。這個(gè)主題幾乎必定會(huì)讓人們質(zhì)疑與爭論不休–然而很快在書中純粹的敘事推進(jìn)中被遺忘。然而就一本書而言，如何平衡史料與語言史確有難度。偶爾，此書會(huì)給人在繁雜的語言學(xué)方面涉入過深的感覺。即使援引了一些有趣的歷史素材，也僅僅是為了說明一些無關(guān)緊要的詞的來歷，像”gong（鑼）”或”moccasin（鹿皮鞋）”之類（前者源自馬來語，后者源自印第安語）。但是有點(diǎn)吹毛求疵了。作者的用意和領(lǐng)會(huì)都很到位。他使你想要檢查所有的詞–也包括”鯉魚”和”用意”。英語的多源性，靈活性或自由性都會(huì)讓他感興趣。

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.
英語世界里從來沒有法蘭西學(xué)院，但是幾個(gè)世紀(jì)以來，她也從不缺乏憤怒的捍衛(wèi)者抵抗外來的”腐蝕”。保留”男性化”前羅曼語的爭論一直沒有停止過，甚至重新構(gòu)造安哥拉•撒克遜式的英語：將”車輪鞍座”指作”自行車”、”病痛知識”來指”病理學(xué)”。然而，雜食性動(dòng)物都是直立行走的。更多的人將英語當(dāng)作第二門語言，而不是母語來用。忘掉莎士比亞的語言吧！現(xiàn)在流行”全球性”，這是語言的靈感所在。沒有人能夠獨(dú)霸英語，也許這會(huì)讓有些人失望。希秦斯先生承認(rèn)有時(shí)會(huì)有不足，但從英語語言學(xué)來說，他是更為高興的。