中英文翻譯：10個“你以為是”英語的單詞

“English; A language that lurks in dark alleys, beats up other languages, and rifles through their pockets for spare vocabulary.” (Bumper Sticker)

A humorous quote that is quite accurate, actually. Of 80,000 English words, roughly 28% originate from Latin, 28% from French, and 25% from Germanic languages (Pie Chart: Wikipedia).
So, to honor those countries that have shared their vocabulary, by choice or by force, here is a list of ten words that native English speakers may not know as foreign. Granted, there are thousands of words to choose from, and to pick ten was difficult. After all, how many know that tycoon comes from the Japanese word “taikun” (great lord)? Or, that gung ho is Mandarin Chinese for “gongye hezhoushe” (work in harmony)?

Impress your friends with your new knowledge of the English language as you explain the interesting origin of words like robot (robota, Czech for “drudgery”), chic (originally schick, German for “elegance”), and kiosk (Turkish for “pavilion” or “palace”):

10. Poltergeist

As so vividly demonstrated in the numerous Poltergiest and Amityville Horror movies, a poltergeist is some sort of paranormal (and usually violent) activity taking place around those who are deeply troubled or have been traumatized. The word itself comes from the German words “poltern”, meaning to make noise, and “geist”, meaning ghost. Most of this activity has been attributed to various physical or electrical explanations by skeptics, but like with anything paranormal, there are cases that are too weird for explanation.

9. Placebo.

You’ve probably heard of the placebo effect, especially in drug testing. A placebo is “an innocuous or inert medication; given as a pacifier or to the control group in experiments on the efficacy of a drug” (wordnetweb.princeton). The noun placebo comes from a Latin verb, meaning “I shall please”, in reference to some participants’ belief that the “medication” had an effect. What is actually happening however is that the participant may be unwilling to say that they experienced nothing out of fear of failure or of disappointing the researcher.

8. LootLoot, swag, plunder.

No matter what word you use, you know that you’re talking about treasure. The word loot itself is an Anglo-Indian word with a root in the Hindi word “lut”. As a Hindi word, loot is an item stolen during war or riot. The word came into the English language during the British occupation of India during the eighteenth century.
7. Kudos

An ancient Greek word that means “glory” or “reknown”. In ancient Greek culture, glory was found on the battlefield, much like every other civilization. When a solider was refused his earned due, or kudos, it was considered a very serious insult. One of the most famous examples of kudos is in the Iliad when Agamemnon takes the maiden Briseis from the soldier Achilles as a gift of honor- kudos earned from his glory in battle.

6. Khaki.

If there is one thing that the British Army was known for up until the nineteenth century, it was their bright red uniforms, earning them the nickname “redcoats”. This made them an easy target no matter where they went, and in combination with their emphasis on holding their formation, they were sitting ducks especially during the American Revolution. However, if one looks at the British Army now, they wear a different and more sensible color: khaki. The British began using the cloth and color found in their colonization of India, hence the name khaki, which means “dusty” or “earth” in Hindi.

5. Juggernaut

While most people think of the X-Men villain when they hear this word, it actually dates back to pre-colonial times. Juggernaut is actually Sanskrit for “lord of the universe”, and is a form of the Hindu deity Krishna. The word came into the English language when British visitors to India witnessed a parade famous to the Jagannath Temple, in which statues of deities that were forty-five feet tall on platforms with wheels seven feet in diameter are rolled through the streets. Ironic, as Juggernaut himself is represented as a young boy, often playing a flute.

4. Glitch

A word for “slip up”, glitch is believed to be a conglomeration of two words, both that meant to slip or slide, around 1962: “glitshen” (Yiddish) and “glitschen” (German). It was first used in English by American astronauts when there was a spike in an electrical current, and then broadened to other technical mishaps. (Image: GLITCH – Designing Imperfection.)

3. Confetti

Traditionally, confetti is an Italian word to mean “candy”, specifically sugared almonds and other sweet confections eaten during special religious occasions like weddings, baptisms, and first communions. The custom of throwing confetti however, does not come from Italy. In times of antiquity, small food items such as rice, dates, or nuts were thrown during times of celebration to represent fertility and abundance.
2. Berserk

Berserk refers to an Old Norse word used to describe the Viking warriors. The word itself means “bear shirt” for the bearskins that the warriors used instead of armor. They believed that by wearing the skins and working themselves into their war frenzy, that they would be endowed with the bear’s energy. Sir Walter Scott began using the word in the 1822 in his book The Pirate, more than one thousand years after the Viking invasions.

1. Assassin

The origins of this Arabic word date back to the ninth century, when an Islamic sect was led to overthrow the Suni Muslims. Yemeni Shiite Hasan-I Sabbah was the founder of the group and set about his mission by targeting the enemies’ leaders. The group was given the name Hashshashin, meaning hashish-eaters, and was converted into English in 1603 as “assassin”.

“英語就像是潛伏在小巷中的一種事物，它攻擊其他語言后，將其他語言占為己有。” (Bumper Sticker)

這確實是相當準確而幽默的一句話。在8萬英語單詞中，大約有28%來自拉丁語，28％來自法語，還有25%來自日爾曼語系。因此，可以說是為了紀念這些國家分享他們語言的行為，無論是被選中還是強制性的，下列是10個可能英語母語國家的人都不知道是外來語的單詞。從成千上萬個單詞中選出10個真的很困難，有多少人知道TYCOON來自日文 “TAIKUN” (大亨)呢？又有多數(shù)人知道GUNG HO是中文中工業(yè)合作社的意思呢？

給你的朋友解釋單詞來源來增強他們對你的印象吧——ROBOT來自捷克語，本意是苦工；CHIC是?？苏Z，在德文中意為優(yōu)雅的；還有KIOSK是土耳其語中建筑物或?qū)m殿的意思。下面是我們選出的10個：

10. Poltergeist（喜歡惡作劇的鬼）

喜歡惡作劇的鬼在鬼屋等恐怖片給了我們很生動的形象，它是一種發(fā)生在受過巨大創(chuàng)傷人周圍的超?，F(xiàn)象（通常是暴力的）。單詞來源于德文“POLTERN”和“GEIST”, , 意為制造噪音和鬼。無神論者認為這些幽靈的大多數(shù)行為是可以通過物理或電的原理來解釋的，但就和其他超常的事物一樣，有些發(fā)生了的事情實在古怪到無法解釋。

9. Placebo（安慰劑）

你可能聽說過安慰劑效應(yīng)，尤其在藥品測試期間。安慰劑是“一種無害而緩慢的藥物，通常給予藥品測試的樣本人員”。安慰劑這個名詞來自于拉丁語的一個動詞，本意為“我應(yīng)該高興”。有些樣本人員認為藥物總是會有負效應(yīng)的，然而事實上，他們無需恐懼和害怕實驗失敗，也不用擔心研究結(jié)果會讓研究者失望。

8. Loot（戰(zhàn)利品）Loot, swag, plunder（意思均為戰(zhàn)利品或贓物）

無論你用哪個單詞，你都知道你在討論的是一種寶物。LOOT這個單詞本身是英印語，其中包含了北印度語的詞根 “lut”. 在北印度語中，LOOT指在戰(zhàn)爭或暴亂中失竊的物品。在英軍占領(lǐng)印度The word came into the English language during the British occupation of India during the eighteenth century.
7. Kudos（榮譽）

這是個古老的希臘單詞，意為光榮或聲譽。在古希臘文化中，和其他古文明一樣，認為光榮來自戰(zhàn)場。如果一個士兵拒絕接受他應(yīng)得的報酬或榮譽，那可以說是一種很嚴重的侮辱。關(guān)于榮譽，一個最為著名的例子是在《伊利亞特》中，阿伽門農(nóng)將布里塞伊斯從阿喀琉斯的軍隊中帶回本陣，因為戰(zhàn)場上的這一表現(xiàn)，他贏得了榮譽。

6. Khaki（卡其布的）

說到對19世紀英軍的印象，那應(yīng)該就是他們亮紅的軍服，這也讓給了他們“紅衣軍”的名號。無論他們走到哪里，這個顏色使得他們很容易被敵人發(fā)現(xiàn)。外加上他們對維持陣形的堅持，他們在戰(zhàn)爭中簡直就是活靶子，尤其在獨立戰(zhàn)爭中。然而，如果你看看現(xiàn)在的英軍，他們現(xiàn)在穿的和以前不同了，是種更合理的顏色：卡其色。英國人在殖民印度期間開始使用卡其布和卡其色，因此KHAKI來自北印度語，本意為滿是灰塵的或泥土。

5. Juggernaut（重型卡車）

聽到這個單詞時可能大多數(shù)人會想到X戰(zhàn)警是惡棍，但這個詞的來源要追溯到前殖民時期。Juggernaut在梵文中意為“宇宙之王”，在北印度語中意為女神訖哩什那神。當英國人在印度看到一場到Jagannath Temple的閱兵式，在那場儀式中有數(shù)尊高約45英尺，底下裝有直徑達7英尺輪子的雕像，他們靠輪子一路滾過大街。諷刺的是，Juggernaut本意是吹奏長笛的男孩。

4. Glitch（小失誤）

GLITCH意為小失誤， 被認為是意第緒語中“glitshen” 和德語中“glitschen”的合體詞。該詞首先由美國宇航員使用，當時是為了說明電流中有尖刺的狀況，爾后擴展到了其他技術(shù)問題的范疇。

3. Confetti（糖果）

傳統(tǒng)上該詞來源于意大利語，意為糖果，尤其指在諸如婚禮、洗禮或圣餐儀式等特定宗教場合所食用的杏仁或其他甜品。但是扔糖果的風俗并不來自意大利。久遠的過去，在慶祝會上扔擲像大米、棗子或干果等小食物來代表豐收和富饒的愿望。

2. Berserk（狂暴）

該詞來源于古代斯堪的納維亞語，本意用來指代維京戰(zhàn)士。該詞本意是指戰(zhàn)士代替盔甲穿在身上的熊皮，他們相信穿著熊皮可以借助熊的力量讓他們在戰(zhàn)斗中更瘋狂。1822年，在維京人入侵1000年后，Walter Scott爵士第一次在他的著作《海盜》使用該詞。

1. Assassin（刺客）

該阿拉伯單詞的來源要追溯到19世紀，那時伊斯蘭教的一個教派要去推翻Suni穆斯林（另一個伊斯蘭教教派）。當時Yemeni Shiite Hasan-I Sabbah是那個教派的創(chuàng)建者，他定下了擒賊先擒王的戰(zhàn)略目標。他領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的隊伍被成為HASHSHASHIN，意為吸食大麻者。1603年以ASSASSIN的形式成為英語單詞。
 

原創(chuàng)文章如轉(zhuǎn)載請注明©轉(zhuǎn)載自譯雅馨深圳翻譯公司轉(zhuǎn)載請以鏈接形式標明本文地址深圳翻譯