Jodie Whittacker in the BBC series "Trust Me" - the story of a "Quacksalver" |
如果有人說你snout-fair,你是會(huì)高興還是生氣呢?
那么被稱為dowsabel或percher呢?
這些單詞是約克大學(xué)專家尋回的30個(gè)遺失的英語單詞的其中幾個(gè),這些專家認(rèn)為這些單詞至今仍然有用。
Dominic Watt, senior lecturer in Language and Linguistic Science at the university, said he hoped people would re-engage with the language of old.
約克大學(xué)語言和語言學(xué)專業(yè)的高級(jí)講師多米尼克•瓦特說,他希望人們能夠重新使用舊時(shí)代的語言。
The researchers have drawn up the list in an effort to persuade people that these defunct words can still have a relevance.
研究人員擬出了這份清單,試圖說服人們這些被廢棄的單詞仍然和今天的生活有關(guān)聯(lián)。
The team spent three months searching through old books and dictionaries to create the list.
該團(tuán)隊(duì)花了三個(gè)月時(shí)間搜遍了舊書舊詞典,創(chuàng)建了這個(gè)列表。
先來見識(shí)幾個(gè)“失落”的單詞:
Nickum: A cheating or dishonest person
Nickum:作弊或不誠(chéng)實(shí)的人
Peacockize: To behave like a peacock; esp. to pose or strut ostentatiously
Peacockize:表現(xiàn)得像只孔雀,尤其是招搖賣弄、大搖大擺
Rouzy-bouzy: Boisterously drunk
Rouzy-bouzy:醉酒吵鬧
Ruff: To swagger, bluster, domineer. To ruff it out / to brag or boast of a thing
Ruff:虛張聲勢(shì)、夸口、盛氣凌人。To ruff it out:吹噓某事
Tremblable: Causing dread or horror; dreadful
Tremblable: 令人恐懼的;可怕的
Awhape: To amaze, stupefy with fear, confound utterly
Awhape: 使驚呆,使驚慌失措
Mr Watt wants to bring these words back into modern conversations.
瓦特想將這些詞重新帶回現(xiàn)代會(huì)話中。
"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.
他說:“我們認(rèn)定了一些又有趣又發(fā)人深思的失落的詞語,希望幫助人們重新拾起舊時(shí)代的語言!
"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“易受騙的傻瓜,尤其是被認(rèn)為屬于某一派別的人”。
"Dowsabel" is "applied generically to a sweetheart, 'lady-love'".
Dowsabel是對(duì)情人的稱呼,相當(dāng)于lady-love(情婦)。
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世紀(jì)70年代BBC情景喜劇《美好生活》中的勢(shì)力鄰居瑪戈特•利百特可以看作是percher的典型例子,指那種“想謀高位、攀高枝的人,野心勃勃、孤行專斷的人”。
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電視劇《相信我》講的就是quacksalver的故事——一個(gè)“謊稱自己懂醫(yī)的人、賣假藥的江湖郎中”。
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.
這30個(gè)“失落的單詞”被劃入研究人員認(rèn)為和現(xiàn)代生活相關(guān)的三個(gè)區(qū)域:后真相(欺騙);外表、人格和行為;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".
最終版清單還包括ear-rent,指“碎碎念給人帶來的象征性傷害”,slug-a-bed意思是“睡懶覺的人”,merry-go-sorry形容“悲喜交加”的情緒。