中英文翻譯：10個(gè)“你以為是”英語(yǔ)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(yǔ)就像是潛伏在小巷中的一種事物，它攻擊其他語(yǔ)言后，將其他語(yǔ)言占為己有。” (Bumper Sticker)

這確實(shí)是相當(dāng)準(zhǔn)確而幽默的一句話。在8萬(wàn)英語(yǔ)單詞中，大約有28%來(lái)自拉丁語(yǔ)，28％來(lái)自法語(yǔ)，還有25%來(lái)自日爾曼語(yǔ)系。因此，可以說(shuō)是為了紀(jì)念這些國(guó)家分享他們語(yǔ)言的行為，無(wú)論是被選中還是強(qiáng)制性的，下列是10個(gè)可能英語(yǔ)母語(yǔ)國(guó)家的人都不知道是外來(lái)語(yǔ)的單詞。從成千上萬(wàn)個(gè)單詞中選出10個(gè)真的很困難，有多少人知道TYCOON來(lái)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(lái)源來(lái)增強(qiáng)他們對(duì)你的印象吧——ROBOT來(lái)自捷克語(yǔ)，本意是苦工；CHIC是?？苏Z(yǔ)，在德文中意為優(yōu)雅的；還有KIOSK是土耳其語(yǔ)中建筑物或?qū)m殿的意思。下面是我們選出的10個(gè)：

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(dòng)的形象，它是一種發(fā)生在受過(guò)巨大創(chuàng)傷人周圍的超?，F(xiàn)象（通常是暴力的）。單詞來(lái)源于德文“POLTERN”和“GEIST”, , 意為制造噪音和鬼。無(wú)神論者認(rèn)為這些幽靈的大多數(shù)行為是可以通過(guò)物理或電的原理來(lái)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(shí)在古怪到無(wú)法解釋。

9. Placebo（安慰劑）

你可能聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)安慰劑效應(yīng)，尤其在藥品測(cè)試期間。安慰劑是“一種無(wú)害而緩慢的藥物，通常給予藥品測(cè)試的樣本人員”。安慰劑這個(gè)名詞來(lái)自于拉丁語(yǔ)的一個(gè)動(dòng)詞，本意為“我應(yīng)該高興”。有些樣本人員認(rèn)為藥物總是會(huì)有負(fù)效應(yīng)的，然而事實(shí)上，他們無(wú)需恐懼和害怕實(shí)驗(yàn)失敗，也不用擔(dān)心研究結(jié)果會(huì)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(wú)論你用哪個(gè)單詞，你都知道你在討論的是一種寶物。LOOT這個(gè)單詞本身是英印語(yǔ)，其中包含了北印度語(yǔ)的詞根 “lut”. 在北印度語(yǔ)中，LOOT指在戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)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(yù)）

這是個(gè)古老的希臘單詞，意為光榮或聲譽(yù)。在古希臘文化中，和其他古文明一樣，認(rèn)為光榮來(lái)自戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)。如果一個(gè)士兵拒絕接受他應(yīng)得的報(bào)酬或榮譽(yù)，那可以說(shuō)是一種很嚴(yán)重的侮辱。關(guān)于榮譽(yù)，一個(gè)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(duì)中帶回本陣，因?yàn)閼?zhàn)場(chǎng)上的這一表現(xiàn)，他贏得了榮譽(yù)。

6. Khaki（卡其布的）

說(shuō)到對(duì)19世紀(jì)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(hào)。無(wú)論他們走到哪里，這個(gè)顏色使得他們很容易被敵人發(fā)現(xiàn)。外加上他們對(duì)維持陣形的堅(jiān)持，他們?cè)趹?zhàn)爭(zhēng)中簡(jiǎn)直就是活靶子，尤其在獨(dú)立戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)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(guó)人在殖民印度期間開(kāi)始使用卡其布和卡其色，因此KHAKI來(lái)自北印度語(yǔ)，本意為滿是灰塵的或泥土。

5. Juggernaut（重型卡車）

聽(tīng)到這個(gè)單詞時(shí)可能大多數(shù)人會(huì)想到X戰(zhàn)警是惡棍，但這個(gè)詞的來(lái)源要追溯到前殖民時(shí)期。Juggernaut在梵文中意為“宇宙之王”，在北印度語(yǔ)中意為女神訖哩什那神。當(dāng)英國(guó)人在印度看到一場(chǎng)到Jagannath Temple的閱兵式，在那場(chǎng)儀式中有數(shù)尊高約45英尺，底下裝有直徑達(dá)7英尺輪子的雕像，他們靠輪子一路滾過(guò)大街。諷刺的是，Juggernaut本意是吹奏長(zhǎng)笛的男孩。

4. Glitch（小失誤）

GLITCH意為小失誤， 被認(rèn)為是意第緒語(yǔ)中“glitshen” 和德語(yǔ)中“glitschen”的合體詞。該詞首先由美國(guó)宇航員使用，當(dāng)時(shí)是為了說(shuō)明電流中有尖刺的狀況，爾后擴(kuò)展到了其他技術(shù)問(wèn)題的范疇。

3. Confetti（糖果）

傳統(tǒng)上該詞來(lái)源于意大利語(yǔ)，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(chǎng)合所食用的杏仁或其他甜品。但是扔糖果的風(fēng)俗并不來(lái)自意大利。久遠(yuǎn)的過(guò)去，在慶祝會(huì)上扔擲像大米、棗子或干果等小食物來(lái)代表豐收和富饒的愿望。

2. Berserk（狂暴）

該詞來(lái)源于古代斯堪的納維亞語(yǔ)，本意用來(lái)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?cè)趹?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(lái)源要追溯到19世紀(jì)，那時(shí)伊斯蘭教的一個(gè)教派要去推翻Suni穆斯林（另一個(gè)伊斯蘭教教派）。當(dāng)時(shí)Yemeni Shiite Hasan-I Sabbah是那個(gè)教派的創(chuàng)建者，他定下了擒賊先擒王的戰(zhàn)略目標(biāo)。他領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的隊(duì)伍被成為HASHSHASHIN，意為吸食大麻者。1603年以ASSASSIN的形式成為英語(yǔ)單詞。
 

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