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寻找失落的语言:学者“救回”30个英语单词

 近日,约克大学的专家们发起了一个寻回失落语言的活动,列出了30个已被废弃但仍和今天的生活有关联的英语单词,希望人们能够重拾这些旧时代的语言。来猜猜这30个单词都是什么意思?

 

 

寻找失落的语言:学者“救回”30个英语单词

 

Jodie Whittacker in the BBC series "Trust Me" - the story of a "Quacksalver"

 

如果有人说你snout-fair,你是会高兴还是生气呢?

那么被称为dowsabel或percher呢?

这些单词是约克大学专家寻回的30个遗失的英语单词的其中几个,这些专家认为这些单词至今仍然有用。

Dominic Watt, senior lecturer in Language and Linguistic Science at the university, said he hoped people would re-engage with the language of old.
约克大学语言和语言学专业的高级讲师多米尼克•瓦特说,他希望人们能够重新使用旧时代的语言。

The researchers have drawn up the list in an effort to persuade people that these defunct words can still have a relevance.
研究人员拟出了这份清单,试图说服人们这些被废弃的单词仍然和今天的生活有关联。

The team spent three months searching through old books and dictionaries to create the list.
该团队花了三个月时间搜遍了旧书旧词典,创建了这个列表。

先来见识几个“失落”的单词:

Nickum: A cheating or dishonest person
Nickum:作弊或不诚实的人

Peacockize: To behave like a peacock; esp. to pose or strut ostentatiously
Peacockize:表现得像只孔雀,尤其是招摇卖弄、大摇大摆

Rouzy-bouzy: Boisterously drunk
Rouzy-bouzy:醉酒吵闹

Ruff: To swagger, bluster, domineer. To ruff it out / to brag or boast of a thing
Ruff:虚张声势、夸口、盛气凌人。To ruff it out:吹嘘某事

Tremblable: Causing dread or horror; dreadful
Tremblable: 令人恐惧的;可怕的

Awhape: To amaze, stupefy with fear, confound utterly
Awhape: 使惊呆,使惊慌失措

Mr Watt wants to bring these words back into modern conversations.
瓦特想将这些词重新带回现代会话中。

"We've identified lost words that are both interesting and thought-provoking, in the hope of helping people re-engage with language of old," he said.
他说:“我们认定了一些又有趣又发人深思的失落的词语,希望帮助人们重新拾起旧时代的语言。”

"Snout-fair", for example, means "having a fair countenance; fair-faced, comely, handsome", while "sillytonian" refers to "a silly or gullible person, esp one considered as belonging to a notional sect of such people".
比如,Snout-fair意思是“面容姣好、漂亮、清秀、英俊”,而sillytonian指的是“易受骗的傻瓜,尤其是被认为属于某一派别的人”。

"Dowsabel" is "applied generically to a sweetheart, 'lady-love'".
Dowsabel是对情人的称呼,相当于lady-love(情妇)。

Margot Leadbetter, the snobby neighbour from 1970s BBC sitcom, The Good Life, could be seen as an arch example of a "percher" - someone "who aspires to a higher rank or status; an ambitious or self-assertive person".
20世纪70年代BBC情景喜剧《美好生活》中的势力邻居玛戈特•利百特可以看作是percher的典型例子,指那种“想谋高位、攀高枝的人,野心勃勃、孤行专断的人”。

The BBC series Trust Me is the story of a "quacksalver" - a person who "dishonestly claims knowledge of, or skill in, medicine; a pedlar of false cures".
BBC电视剧《相信我》讲的就是quacksalver的故事——一个“谎称自己懂医的人、卖假药的江湖郎中”。

The list of 30 "lost words" are grouped into three areas the researchers feel are relevant to modern life: post-truth (deception); appearance, personality and behaviour; and emotions.
这30个“失落的单词”被划入研究人员认为和现代生活相关的三个区域:后真相(欺骗);外表、人格和行为;情感。

The final list also includes the words "ear-rent" - described as "the figurative cost to a person of listening to trivial or incessant talk", "slug-a-bed" - meaning "a person who lies in late", and "merry-go-sorry" - a phrase used to describe "a mixture of joy and sorrow".
最终版清单还包括ear-rent,指“碎碎念给人带来的象征性伤害”,slug-a-bed意思是“睡懒觉的人”,merry-go-sorry形容“悲喜交加”的情绪。

英文来源:BBC

 

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