Where do new words come from? - Marcel Danesi

翻译人员: xiao gu 校对人员: Yinchun Rui

Every year, about 1,000 new words are added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

每年有1000个新词加到牛津英文字典。

Where do they come from,

它们从哪里来？

and how do they make it into our everyday lives?

它们是如何融入我们的日常生活？

With over 170,000 words currently in use in the English language,

目前在使用的英文单词有超过17万个，

it might seem we already have plenty.

可能虽然看起来已经足够多了。

Yet, as our world changes,

但随着世界在变化，

new ideas and inventions spring forth,

新的点子和新的发明不断涌现，

and science progresses,

科技在进步，

our existing words leave gaps in what we want to express

现存的词汇已经不足于表达我们的想法，

and we fill those gaps in several ingenious,

我们开始用一些巧妙的、

practical,

实践中的、

and occasionally peculiar ways.

偶尔也有特别的方法来弥补。

One way is to absorb a word from another language.

一种是从其他语言中吸收。

English has borrowed so many words over its history

历史上，英语一直从其他语言中吸收词汇，

that nearly half of its vocabulary comes directly from other languages.

几乎一半的词汇都是外来的。

Sometimes, this is simply because the thing the word describes

有时，仅仅因为这个词所形容的东西

was borrowed itself.

本身就是外来的。

Rome and France brought legal and religious concepts,

罗马和法国给中世纪的英格兰

like altar and jury, to Medieval England,

带来了法律和宗教概念， 比如“祭坛” (altar) 和“陪审团” (jury)，

while trade brought crops and cuisine,

随着交换农作物和美食，

like Arabic coffee,

比如，阿拉伯的“咖啡” (coffee)，

Italian spaghetti,

意大利的“面条” (spaghetti)，

and Indian curry.

和印度的“咖喱” (curry)。

But sometimes, another language has just the right word

有时，外来语言更容易表达

for a complex idea or emotion,

复杂的思想或情感，

like naïveté

比如，“天真” (naïveté)、

machismo,

“男子气概” (machismo)、

or schadenfreude.

或 “幸灾乐祸” (schadenfreude)。

Scientists also use classical languages to name new concepts.

科学家也用传统语言命名新概念

Clone, for example, was derived from the Ancient Greek word for twig

例如，克隆 (clone)，来自于古希腊词“枝杈”

to describe creating a new plant from a piece of the old.

描述新枝从老枝中被创造出来。

And today, the process works both ways,

如今，这是双向的，

with English lending words like software to languages all over the world.

英文向全世界的语言输出了 诸如“软件” (software) 这样的词语。

Another popular way to fill a vocabulary gap

另一个造词的流行方法是——

is by combining existing words that each convey part of the new concept.

通过组合存在的词，创造新概念。

This can be done by combining two whole words into a compound word,

链接2个已知词汇形成一个合成词，

like airport

比如，“机场” (airport)，

or starfish,

“海星” (starfish)，

or by clipping and blending parts of words together, like spork,

或者剪切，混合部分词汇，如：“叉勺” (spork)，

brunch,

“早午餐” (brunch)，

or internet.

“互联网” (internet)。

And unlike borrowings from other languages,

和其他外来词不同，

these can often be understood the first time you hear them.

这些词汇我们一见就能明白意思。

And sometimes a new word isn't new at all.

有时新词根本就不是新的。

Obsolete words gain new life by adopting new meanings.

过气的词汇获取了新的定义获得重生。

Villain originally meant a peasant farmer, but in a twist of aristocratic snobbery

“恶棍” (villain) 最初是指农夫，但是被贵族阶级曲解了，

came to mean someone not bound by the knightly code of chivalry

意味着没有骑士精神的人，

and, therefore, a bad person.

实际就是指一个坏人。

A geek went from being a carnival performer

“极客” (geek) 来自于狂欢节上的表演者，

to any strange person

意思发展成有怪癖的人，

to a specific type of awkward genius.

直到意为古怪的天才。

And other times, words come to mean their opposite through irony,

有时，词汇正好相反，通过讽刺，

metaphor,

隐喻，

or misuse,

或者误用，

like when sick or wicked are used to describe something literally amazing.

比如说“sick”和“wicked”指的是令人惊叹。

But if words can be formed in all these ways,

如果词汇通过以上所有方法被创造，

why do some become mainstream while others fall out of use

为什么一些广为应用，另外一些被遗弃，

or never catch on in the first place?

或者完全没有使用？

Sometimes, the answer is simple,

有时，答案是显而易见的，

as when scientists or companies give an official name to a new discovery

当科学家或公司给新发明或新技术

or technology.

定义了一个官方的名字。

And some countries have language academies to make the decisions.

一些国家有专门的语言学术机构作出决定。

But for the most part, official sources like dictionaries

但大部分情况下，官方来源比如字典，

only document current usage.

仅记录当前的词语含义。

New words don't originate from above, but from ordinary people

新词汇不是来自官方，而来通过普通人

spreading words that hit the right combination

广为传播，

of useful and catchy.

广为使用。

Take the word meme,

比如这个词“meme”，

coined in the 1970s by sociobiologist Richard Dawkins

1970年代被社会学家理查德·道金斯创造出，

from the Ancient Greek for imitation.

来自于古希腊词模仿。

He used it to describe how ideas and symbols propagate through a culture

用来描述想法和符号通过文化如何被传播，

like genes through a population.

就像是人群的基因。

With the advent of the Internet,

随着互联网的到来，

the process became directly observable in how jokes and images

笑话和图像以闪电般的速度

were popularized at lightning speed.

广为传播。

And soon, the word came to refer to a certain kind of image.

很快，这个词被用来指表情包。

So meme not only describes how words become part of language,

“meme”不仅描述新词汇如何成为语言的一部分，

the word is a meme itself.

“meme”也代表了自身。

And there's a word for this phenomenon of words that describe themselves:

这类词汇自我描述的现象称为——

autological.

同调。

Not all new words are created equal.

不是所有新词生来平等。

Some stick around for millennia,

一些存在很久，

some adapt to changing times,

一些跟随时代变化，

and others die off.

还有些消亡了。

Some relay information,

一些传递信息，

some interpret it,

一些解释信息，

but the way these words are created

但词汇被创造的方式，

and the journey they take to become part of our speech

以及它们成为我们日常对话的一部分，

tells us a lot about our world and how we communicate within it.

传达了我们这个世界以及 我们是如何交流的诸多信息。