Birth of a nickname - John McWhorter

昵称的诞生 - John McWhorter

翻译人员: Bin Chen 校对人员: Xuwen Zhu

English, like all languages,

英语，像所有语言一样，

is a messy business.

并不总是那么规规矩矩。

You can be uncouth but not couth.

你可以“粗俗”(uncouth)但却不能“文雅”(没有couth这个词)

You can be ruthless,

你可以“无情”(ruthless)，

but good luck trying to show somebody

但除非你和一个叫Ruth的女孩结婚，

that you have ruth

否则不可能告诉别人

unless you happen to be married

你有“情”

to someone named Ruth.

(英语里没有ruth这个词)

It's bad to be unkempt

“不整洁”(unkempt)是件很糟糕的事，

but impossible to be kempt,

但“整洁”(kempt)是绝对不可能的(因为没这个词)，

or sheveled as opposed to disheveled.

同样，不存在“整齐”(sheveled)，但我们有“凌乱”(disheveled)。

There are other things

that make no more sense than those

还有其他情况

比刚才所说的更加没有道理，

but that seem normal now

但现在看来却已经很稀松平常。

because the sands of time

因为经过时间的推移，

have buried where they came from.

人们已经不记得这些说法最初的来源了。

For example, did you ever wonder

举例来说，你是否想过

why a nickname for Edward is Ned?

为什么“爱德华”(Edward)的昵称是“奈德”(Ned)?

Where'd the N come from?

这个“N”从什么地方来的？

It's the same with Nellie for Ellen.

“艾伦”(Ellen)的昵称“奈丽”(Nellie)也面临同样的问题。

Afterall, if someone's name is Ethan,

毕竟，如果某人叫“伊桑”(Ethan)，

we don't nickname him Nethan,

那么我们不叫他“尼桑”(Nethan)，

nor do we call our favorite Maria, Nmaria.

同样我们不叫“玛丽亚”(Maria)为“娜玛丽亚”(Nmaria)。

In fact, if anyone did,

事实上，如果有人这么叫了，

our primary urge would be to either scold them

那么，我们的第一反应要不就是去训斥他们，

or gently hide them away

要不温柔一点，把这样叫的人藏起来

until the company had departed.

直到对方都离开。

All these nicknames trace back to a mistake,

所有这些昵称都来源于一个错误，

although, a perfectly understandable one.

尽管，这个错误完全可以理解。

In fact, even the word nickname is weird.

事实上，甚至“昵称”(nickname)这个词都很奇怪。

What's so "nick" about a nickname?

“昵称”(nickname)这个词的什么部分很“尼克”(nick)吗？

Is it that it's a name that has a nick in it?

是不是这个名字上面有一个“缺口”(nick)？

Let's face it, not likely.

好像不是这样子的。

Actually, in Old English, the word was ekename,

事实上，在古代英语中，这个词是“ekename”，

and eke meant also or other.

“eke”的意思是“也”或“另一个”。

You can see eke still used

你可以看到“eke”如下的用法，

in Chaucer's <em>Canterbury Tales</em> in a sentence like,

在乔叟的《坎特伯雷故事集》有这么一句话，

"Whan Zephyrus eek with his sweete breeth,"

"When Zephyrus eke with his sweete breeth,"

which meant,

意思是，

"When Zephyr also with his sweet breath."

"When Zephyr also with his sweet breath."（当Zephyr“同样”带着甜蜜的气息）

Ekename meant "also name."

“Ekename”的意思是“另一个名字”

What happened was that when people said, "an ekename,"

当人们说“一个另一个名字”(an ekename)，

it could sound like they were saying,

听起来好像在说

"a nekename,"

“一个昵称”(a nekename，英语里面音节的连读产生了这种效果)

and after a while,

过了一段时间以后，

so many people were hearing it that way

太多的人都听到了这种发音，

that they started saying,

以至于大家都开始说，

"That's my nickname,"

"那是我的“昵称”(nickname)",

instead of, "That's my ekename."

而不是，"那是我的“爱称”(ekename)"

Now, the word had a stray n at the front

这个有一个奇怪的“n”在前头的单词

that started as a mistake,

起源于一个错误，

but from now on was what the word really was.

但是现在已经是既定事实了。

It was rather as if you had gum

就像,

on the bottom of your shoe

你在鞋底粘了一个口香糖

and stepped on a leaf,

踏上了一张叶子，

dragged that leaf along for the rest of your life,

这张叶子粘在你的鞋底，陪伴了你的一生，

were buried wearing that shoe

死后穿着这双鞋埋葬于地下

and went to heaven in it

一起去了天堂

to spend eternity wedded to that stray, worn-out leaf.

然后这片古怪陈旧的叶子陪着你直到永恒。

Ekename picked up an n and never let it go.

“爱称”(ekename)就这样连上了开头的那个“n”，并永远留存。

The same thing happened with other words.

同样的事情也发生在其他单词上面。

Old English speakers cut otches into wood.

古代英语说在木头上刻“刻痕”(otches)

But after centuries of being asked

但是几百年来人们说

to cut an otch into something,

在一样东西上刻“一个刻痕”(an otch),

it was easy to think you were cutting a notch instead,

很容易被听成刻“一个裂痕”(a notch)，

and pretty soon you were.

然后大家就都这么说notch了。

In a world where almost no one could read,

在一个大家几乎都不识字的年代，

it was easier for what people heard

大家听到的（而不是写下来的文字）

to become, after awhile,

更容易在一段时间后

what it started to actually be.

代替原来的词变成真正的说法。

Here's where the Ned-style nicknames come in.

这就是“奈德”样式昵称的起源。

Old English was more like German

比起现代英语，

than our English is now,

古代英语更像德语，

and just as in German, my is mein,

正如在德语中，“我的”叫mein，

in Old English, my was meen.

在古英语中，“我的”是meen。

You would say meen book,

你会说“我的书”(meen book)，

actually boke in Old English,

事实上古英语里“书”是boke

or meen cat.

或者“我的猫”(meen cat)。

And just as today,

就如现代一样，

we might refer to our child

我们称我们的孩子为

as my Dahlia

我的达利亚(my Dahlia)

or my Laura,

或者我的劳拉(my Laura)，

in Old English, they would say, "Meen Ed".

在古英语中，他们说“我的艾德”（Meen Ed）。

That is mein Ed,

意思是“我的艾德”（德语mein Ed），

mein Ellie.

以及“我的艾丽”(mein Ellie)。

You see where this is going.

你猜到会发生什么了吧。

As time passed, meen morphed

随着时间流逝，“我的”(meen)

into the my we know today.

变成了我们今天所知道的单词,my。

That meant that when people said, "Mein Ed,"

这意味着当人们说“我的艾德”(Mein Ed)的时候，

it sounded like they were saying my Ned.

听起来好像在说“我的奈德”（my Ned）

That is, it sounded like whenever someone

那就是，听起来就像

referred to Edward affectionately,

每当人们亲昵的提到爱德华(Edward)时，

they said Ned instead of Ed.

他们听起来在用“奈德”(Ned)来代替“艾德”(Ed)的发音。

Behold, the birth of a nickname!

知道了吧，“一个昵称”(a nickname)，

Or an ekename.

或者，“一个爱称”(an ekename)就这么诞生了！

Hence, also Nellie for Ellen

同样，“奈丽”(Nellie)代替了“艾伦”(Ellen)

and Nan for Ann,

“南”(Nan)代替了“安”(Ann)，

and even in the old days, Nabby for Abigal.

甚至曾经，“南比”(Nabby)代替了“阿比盖尔”(Abigal)。

President John Adam's wife Abigail's nickname was Nabby.

总统约翰亚当的妻子阿比盖尔(Abigail)，她的昵称就是“南比”(Nabby)

All sorts of words are like this.

所有这些都是类似的情况。

Old English speakers wore naprons,

古代英语说穿"naprons"（围裙的古代单词）

but a napron sounds like an apron,

但是"a napron"听起来像“一块围裙”(an apron)

and that gave birth to a word apron

于是产生了一个新词“围裙”(apron)

that no one in Beowulf would have recognized.

apron这个词在贝奥武夫(有记载的最早一部英国文学作品)的年代可并不存在。

Umpire started as numpires, too.

同样，“裁判”(umpire)来源于“numpires”

If all of this sounds like something sloppy

这些变化听上去似乎都很草率

that we modern people would never do,

似乎现代人绝对不会这么做，

then think about something you hear all the time

那么，想想看你一直都听到的

and probably say,

听起来像

"A whole nother."

"整个另一边"(A whole nother)

What's nother?

什么是"nother"?（英语里没有nother这个词）

We have the word another, of course,

我们有个词“another”，没错，

but it's composed of an and other,

但是它包含了“一个”(an)和“其他”(other)

or so we thought.

（哪怕当初不是这么造出来的）但我们就是这么想的。

Yet, when we slide whole into the middle,

当我们把"whole"塞到中间,

we don't say, "a whole other,"

我们不说“一整个其他”(a whole other)，

we clip that n off of the an

我们把“n”从“an”上取下来

and stick it to other

粘到“other”上面

and create a new word, nother.

然后创造了一个新词“nother”。

For a long time, nobody was writing

有很长一段时间

these sort of things down

没人会把这些用法写下来

or putting them in a dictionary,

或者放到字典里，

but that's only because writing

仅仅是因为

is more codified now than it was 1,000 years ago.

1000年前古人做的整理编纂工作比现代人要少的多。

So, when you see a weird word,

所以，当你看到了一个奇怪的词，

remember that there might be

请记得，这或许是

a whole nother side to the story.

故事的“一整个另一面”(a whole nother)。