Birth of a nickname - John McWhorter

綽號是怎麼來的 - John McWhorter

譯者: Chun-Ting Li 審譯者: Elaine Cheng

English, like all languages,

英文，就像所有語言一樣

is a messy business.

是件棘手的差事

You can be uncouth but not couth.

你可以表現得既粗俗也不文雅

You can be ruthless,

你可以無情(ruthless)

but good luck trying to show somebody

但你如果想表現得

that you have ruth

有情(ruth)一點...祝你好運

unless you happen to be married

除非你剛好與

to someone named Ruth.

名為「有情」(Ruth)的女孩結婚。

It's bad to be unkempt

蓬頭垢面(unkempt)不是件好事

but impossible to be kempt,

但要一塵不染(kempt)又不太可能，

or sheveled as opposed to disheveled.

或是比較整理好的(shelved) 跟被弄亂的(di-sheveled).

There are other things

that make no more sense than those

還有其他

比以上的例子更無邏輯可言。

but that seem normal now

不過這些事現在看來都十分平常

because the sands of time

因為時間之砂

have buried where they came from.

掩蓋了這些變化的來源

For example, did you ever wonder

例如，你是否想過

why a nickname for Edward is Ned?

為何Edward的綽號是Ned

Where'd the N come from?

這裡的N是從哪裡來呢?

It's the same with Nellie for Ellen.

這和Nellie是Ellen的綽號是相同變化

Afterall, if someone's name is Ethan,

但追根究柢，如果有個人叫Ethan

we don't nickname him Nethan,

我們不會叫他Nethan呀

nor do we call our favorite Maria, Nmaria.

我們也不會把Maria叫成Nmaria

In fact, if anyone did,

事實上，假如有人這麼做

our primary urge would be to either scold them

我們的第一反應不是責罵他

or gently hide them away

就是當作沒發生

until the company had departed.

直到這樣的錯誤不再發生

All these nicknames trace back to a mistake,

然而，這些綽號的源起都是可以追溯回某些錯誤

although, a perfectly understandable one.

但，那是些可理解的錯誤。

In fact, even the word nickname is weird.

事實上，就連綽號(nickname)這個字的由來都很古怪

What's so "nick" about a nickname?

「綽」號究竟有多麼錯誤呢?

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

是因為某個名字裡面有個裂縫(nick)嗎?

Let's face it, not likely.

當然...不是這樣。

Actually, in Old English, the word was ekename,

事實上在古英文裡，確實有個字叫ekename

and eke meant also or other.

eke是「其他、或」的意思

You can see eke still used

你仍可以在喬叟的

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

坎特伯里故事集當中讀到eke 這個字，有個句子說

"Whan Zephyrus eek with his sweete breeth,"

"當Zephyrus以彼如蜜般的喘息"

which meant,

意思是指

"When Zephyr also with his sweet breath."

Zephyr用他那甜美的呼吸

Ekename meant "also name."

ekename有「別名」的意思

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

這是因為當以前的人在說an ekename

it could sound like they were saying,

會聽起來想再說

"a nekename,"

a "nekename"

and after a while,

久而久之

so many people were hearing it that way

因為大家都誤解了

that they started saying,

所已他們開始告訴別人說

"That's my nickname,"

這是我的nickname

instead of, "That's my ekename."

而不是，這是我的ekename

Now, the word had a stray n at the front

因此到現在這個字就有個N出現在字頭

that started as a mistake,

這本來是個錯誤

but from now on was what the word really was.

但久而久之就積非成是。

It was rather as if you had gum

就像是有塊口香糖

on the bottom of your shoe

黏在你鞋子底下

and stepped on a leaf,

接著你踩到一片葉子

dragged that leaf along for the rest of your life,

然後踏著那片葉子走過你的一生

were buried wearing that shoe

死的時候那鞋也跟著你一起埋葬

and went to heaven in it

上天堂時你也穿著那鞋

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

從此那片在腳底下的葉子 彷彿就成了你身體的一部分

Ekename picked up an n and never let it go.

同樣的道理，ekename自從帶上N後，從此也離不開它了

The same thing happened with other words.

相同的事也發生在其他的字上面

Old English speakers cut otches into wood.

古英文說在木頭上砍出一個缺口應該是 "cut an otch"

But after centuries of being asked

但從沒有人搞清楚是cut an otch 還是 cut a notch

to cut an otch into something,

過了幾世紀

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

人們也遺忘了notch的正確唸法應該是otch，

and pretty soon you were.

事情就是這樣來的。

In a world where almost no one could read,

在一個多數人不識字的時代

it was easier for what people heard

人們很容易搞混，

to become, after awhile,

並且把所聽到的錯誤說法

what it started to actually be.

當作原本正確的發音。

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

這就是為何N開頭的綽號會出現

Old English was more like German

古英文比起現代英文

than our English is now,

更像是德文。

and just as in German, my is mein,

在德文中，「我的」唸做mein

in Old English, my was meen.

等同於在古英文裡「我的」(my) 唸做meen

You would say meen book,

你會說我的(meen)書，

actually boke in Old English,

事實上古英文裡的"書" 是念boke，

or meen cat.

或是meen(我的)貓

And just as today,

就像今天

we might refer to our child

我們會把我們的小孩

as my Dahlia

叫成我的Dahlia

or my Laura,

或是我的Laura

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

在古英文我們會說 Meen Ed (我的小艾德)

That is mein Ed,

就是在德文的 mein Ed (我的小艾德)

mein Ellie.

mein Ellie (我的小愛莉)

You see where this is going.

從上面的例子你可以看到整個發展脈絡

As time passed, meen morphed

隨著時間演進 meen

into the my we know today.

變成今天我們熟知的樣子(my)

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

以前人在說 Mein ED (我的小艾德)

it sounded like they were saying my Ned.

就像他們在說 my Ned

That is, it sounded like whenever someone

聽來就像

referred to Edward affectionately,

親切地叫某個人Edward

they said Ned instead of Ed.

因此久而久之人們就把Ed 叫成Ned

Behold, the birth of a nickname!

你看! 綽號(nickname)就是這樣來的

Or an ekename.

或說「錯號(ekename)」是這樣來的

Hence, also Nellie for Ellen

同樣道理可以解釋 Nellie跟Ellen

and Nan for Ann,

以及 Nan 與 Ann

and even in the old days, Nabby for Abigal.

或古早日子常說的 Nabby 跟 Abigal

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

前總統約翰˙亞當的妻子Abigail綽號就是Nabby

All sorts of words are like this.

其他類型的字型變換也都像這樣

Old English speakers wore naprons,

古英國人穿napron

but a napron sounds like an apron,

可是napron聽起來像apron(圍裙)

and that gave birth to a word apron

apron(圍裙)這個貝奧武夫時代的人不會認得的字

that no one in Beowulf would have recognized.

因此誕生。

Umpire started as numpires, too.

umpire(裁判)這個字也是從numpires變化而來。

If all of this sounds like something sloppy

如果你覺得以上的例子都是

that we modern people would never do,

在現代不會發生的粗心錯誤，

then think about something you hear all the time

想想有個你一直聽到、或許常常說的

and probably say,

例外

"A whole nother."

「另一個全然不同的 (A whole nother)」

What's nother?

什麼是nother ?

We have the word another, of course,

字典裡有「其他(another)」這個字

but it's composed of an and other,

但它是由an 跟 other所組成的啊!

or so we thought.

你真的這麼確定?

Yet, when we slide whole into the middle,

如果把「全部(whole)」插入到句子中間，

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

我們不會說 a whole other

we clip that n off of the an

而是把n從an中拿下來

and stick it to other

放到other前面

and create a new word, nother.

nother因此誕生

For a long time, nobody was writing

有很長的一段時間沒有人寫下

these sort of things down

這類的變化

or putting them in a dictionary,

或把他們收入到字典

but that's only because writing

但那是因為書寫系統

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

在一千多年前並沒有當今如此的完善

So, when you see a weird word,

所以當你看到一個奇怪的字

remember that there might be

記住，它很可能有

a whole nother side to the story.

另一個你意想不到的(a whole nother) 故事