A brief history of plural word...s - John McWhorter

譯者: Rosaline Mei-Yin Chen 審譯者: Marssi Draw

There are a lot of ways

從許多方面看來

this marvelous language of ours,

我們使用的這個奇妙的語言

English, doesn't make sense.

也就是英語， 顯得不太合理

For example, most of the time

舉個例子來說明

when we talk about more than one of something,

當我們講到的東西數目多於一個

通常會在字尾加上「S」

we put an S on the end.

One cat, two cats.

一隻貓是「cat」，兩隻貓是「cats」

But then, there's that handful of words

但還有一些其他的字

where things work differently.

不遵守這個規則

Alone you have a man;

一個人是「man」

if he has company, then you've got men,

當這人有了同伴，他們叫做「men」

or probably better for him, women too.

加入的如果是幾位女士，會被稱為「women」

Although if there were only one of them,

但若只有一位女性

it would be a woman.

會被稱為「woman」

Or if there's more than one goose,

或是當鵝 (goose) 多於一隻

they're geese,

牠們叫做「geese」

but why not lots of mooses, meese?

那為什麼麋鹿 (moose) 的複數不是「meese」？

Or if you have two feet,

既然腳 (foot) 的複數是「feet」

then why don't you read two beek

為什麼書 (book) 的複數不是「beek」

instead of books.

而是「books」？

The fact is that if you were speaking English

事實上，如果你講英語的時代

before about a thousand years ago,

是在大約 1000 年以前

beek is exactly what you would have said

你的確會用「beek」這個字

for more than one book.

來表示多於一本的書

If Modern English is strange,

如果說現代英語有點怪怪的

Old English needed therapy.

古代英語可是需要進醫院了

Believe it or not,

信不信由你

English used to be an even harder language

和現代的英語比較起來

to learn than it is today.

古代英語是很難學的語言

Twenty-five hundred years ago,

在 2500 年以前

English and German were the same language.

英語和德語曾經是相同的語言

They drifted apart slowly,

它們慢慢有了分別

little by little becoming more and more different.

一點一點地變得越來越不同

That meant that in early English,

也就是說像德文一樣

just like in German,

在早期的英語裡

inanimate objects had gender.

無生命的物體是有性別的

A fork, gafol, was a woman;

叉子 (fork，德文gafol) 是女性

a spoon, laefel, was a man;

湯匙 (spoon，德文 laefel) 是男性

and the table they were on, bord,

擺這些餐具的桌子 (table，德文 bord)

was neither, also called neuter.

男女都不是，又叫做中性

Go figure!

我的天啊！

Being able to use words

要能夠使用字

meant not just knowing their meaning

不只是要知道字的意思

but what gender they were, too.

還要弄清楚它們的性別

And while today there are only about a dozen plurals

今天的英語中只有一部分字的複數

that don't make sense,

沒有規則可言

like men

and geese,

例如人 (men)

還有鵝 (geese)

in Old English, it was perfectly normal

古代英語中，複數沒有規則很正常

for countless plurals to be like that.

這樣的字還多到數不完

You think it's odd that more than one goose is geese?

你覺得鵝 (goose) 的複數是「geese」很奇怪嗎？

Well, imagine if more than one goat

那就想想看，如果一隻山羊 (goat) 的複數

was a bunch of gat,

變成了一群「gat」

or if more than one oak tree

或者一棵橡樹 (oak) 的複數

was a field of ack.

變成了一片「ack」

To be able to talk about any of these,

講話時要能提到這些字

you just had to know the exact word for their plural

必須確實記住它們的複數型態

rather than just adding the handy S on the end.

而不能直接在字尾加 S

And it wasn't always an S at the end either.

更別說字尾加的不一定是 S 了

In merry Old English,

在可愛的古代英語中

they could add other sounds to the end.

還有別的字可以加在複數字尾

Just like more than one child is children,

如同孩子 (child) 的複數是「children」一樣

more than one lamb was lambru,

小羊 (lamb) 的複數是「lambru」

you fried up your eggru,

鍋裡炒的蛋是「eggru」

and people talked not about breads,

人們也不把麵包叫做「breads」

but breadru.

而是「breadru」

Sometimes it was like sheep is today -

有時候就像綿羊 (sheep) 這個字

where, to make a plural, you don't do anything.

變成複數時什麼字也不必加

One sheep,

一隻綿羊是「sheep」

two sheep.

兩隻綿羊還是「sheep」

In Old English, one house,

古代英語的房子一間是「house」

two house.

兩間也是「house」

And just like today, we have oxen instead of oxes.

公牛 (ox) 的複數和現在一樣 是「oxen」而不是「oxes」

Old English people had toungen instead of tongues,

古代英語中舌頭 複數是「toungen」而不是「tongues」

namen instead of names,

名字的複數是「namen」而不是「names」

and if things stayed the way they were,

如果這些古代字保持原樣到今天

today we would have eyen instead of eyes.

我們的眼睛就叫「eyen」而不叫「eyes」

So, why didn't things stay the way they were?

那為什麼這些字沒有保持原樣呢？

In a word, Vikings.

因為維京人

In the 8th century, Scandinavian marauders

八世紀時，這些斯堪地納維亞的掠奪者

started taking over much of England.

開始佔據英國大部分的領土

They didn't speak English,

他們不會說英語

they spoke Norse.

他們說諾爾斯語

Plus, they were grown-ups,

而且他們已經是成人了

and grown-ups aren't as good

成人在學新語言時

at learning languages as children.

沒辦法像小孩學得那麼好

After the age of roughly 15,

超過 15 歲之後

it's almost impossible to learn a new language

人學講新語言時想不帶有腔調

幾乎是不可能的

without an accent

and without slipping up here and there

也會三不五時出個錯

as we all know from what language classes are like.

在外語課堂上常看到這種情形

The Vikings were no different,

維京人當然也一樣

so they had a way of smoothing away

所以他們找了個方法

the harder parts of how English worked.

來搞定英語裡比較難的部分

Part of that was those crazy plurals.

當中包含令人抓狂的複數

Imagine running up against a language

想像一下，如果在學語言的時候

with eggru

要背蛋是「eggru」

and gat

山羊是「gat」

on the one hand,

作為複數型態的一種

and then with other words,

還有另一種型態是

all you have to do is add 's'

只要加上 S 就變成複數

and get days

很多天是「days」

and stones.

很多石頭是「stones」

Wouldn't it make things easier

兩者相比較之下

to just use the 's' for everything?

直接加 S 不是簡單多了嗎？

That's how the Vikings felt too.

維京人也是這麼想的

And there were so many of them,

而且維京人的人數很多

and they married so many of the English women,

他們和很多英國女人結了婚

that pretty soon, if you grew up in England,

於是短時間內，在英國長大的人

you heard streamlined English as much as the real kind.

他們聽到改良式英語的機會 和正統英語一樣多

After a while nobody remembered the real kind any more.

再一段時間之後 就沒有人記得正統英語了

Nobody remembered that once you said doora

沒有人記得門的複數曾經是「doora」

instead of doors

而不是「doors」

and handa instead of hands.

很多隻手是「handa」而不是「hands」

Plurals made a lot more sense now,

現在的複數型態合理多了

except for a few hold-outs like children

不過還有一些字沒改，像是「children」

and teeth

that get used so much

還有「teeth」

這些字太常用了

that it was hard to break the habit.

要把它們改掉相當困難

The lesson is

所以我們學到了

that English makes a lot more sense than you think.

英語其實比我們所想的還要合理

Thank the ancestors of people

感謝哥本哈根人

in Copenhagen and Oslo for the fact

和奧斯陸人的祖先

that today we don't ask for a handful of pea-night

我們今天想吃花生不必記得「pea-night」

instead of peanuts.

只要記「peanuts」

Although, wouldn't it be fun,

但如果能幫花生改名幾個禮拜

if for just a week or two,

應該會滿好玩的

we could?

對吧？