英語口語中那些“四字炸彈”的歷史來源

Sometimes, everyday speech just can't convey your meaning. You need words with a little more oomph — expletives.

有時候，日常用語無法傳達你的意思。你需要更有魄力的一些詞——臟話。

For the sake of knowledge though, we looked into the etymology of a few of these words. Learn where they originated below.

為了學習知識，我們探尋了一部分咒罵語的詞源。下面來了解一下它們的起源。

The "F" Bomb

The oldest theories trace the expletive-to-end-all-expletives back to Norwegian fukka and Swedish focka, both meaning "to copulate."

關于這個完爆所有其他咒罵語的詞最早可以追溯到挪威語fukka和瑞典語focka，都是“交配”的意思。

Unfortunately, we don't have much evidence of use in English, partly because the original Oxford English Dictionary's creators reportedly considered it taboo. The OED's second edition, however, cites "fukkit" in 1503, but the earliest current spelling appears as "Bischops ... may f*** thair fill and be vnmaryit" from poet Sir David Lyndesay in 1535.

不幸的是，我們在英語里并沒有發現這個詞使用的淵源，部分原因據說是牛津英語詞典的最初編寫者認為這個詞是禁忌。然而，牛津英語詞典第二版在1503年引用了"fukkit"。但是，這個詞的拼寫最早出現在1535年，詩人Sir David Lyndesay寫道:"Bischops ... may f*** thair fill and be vnmaryit."

The "S" Word

Here, we actually have two words and two separate origins to consider: the noun and the verb.

在此，我們其實要考慮兩個單詞和兩個不同的起源：名詞和動詞。

The noun nods to Old English scitte, meaning "purging, diarrhea." And just the basic form of excrement stems from Old English scytel. The action, however, has a much more widespread history — Dutch schijten and German scheissen. The Proto-Indo-European base skie conveys the idea of separation, in this case, from the body.

名詞來自古英語scitte，意為“凈化、腹瀉。”只不過是從古英語scitte起源的基本排泄物形式。然而，這個行為有更廣泛的歷史——荷蘭語schijten和德語scheissen。這個原始印歐語系詞在這里，傳達的含義是與身體的分離。

Piss

Again, English includes two forms of this word, a noun and verb. The verb appeared in the 1300s from French pissier, "to urinate," and vulgar Latin, "pissiare." The noun came later, in the 1400s, and eventually morphed into an intensifying adjective — piss-poor, piss-ugly, etc. — around World War II.

同上，英語中這個詞有兩種形式，名詞和動詞。動詞是在14世紀起源于法語pissier"小便"和通俗拉丁語"pissiare" 。名詞出現于15世紀，要晚一些，最后在二戰前后演變成一個激烈的形容詞——比如說piss-poor（極其貧窮的）、 piss-ugly（極其丑陋的）等等。

Goddamn

Obviously a compound word of "God" and "damn." "Damn" comes from Latin damnare which means "to condemn." And God originated with Norse goth. But when and how did we put the two together as a blasphemy?

這顯然是一個由"God" 和 "damn"構成的合成詞。"Damn"是起源于拉丁文damnare，意思是“譴責"。God 起源于北歐歌特。但是，我們是什么時候以及怎么把這兩個詞結合起來作為褻瀆神明的言詞呢？

Let's thank the French for that. They started referring to the English as "les goddems" during the Hundred Years War because of their frequent profanity, according to Geoffrey Hughes' book, "A Social History of Foul Language, Oaths, and Profanity in English."

我們應該感謝法國人。根據杰弗里·休斯的著作《英國充斥粗言穢語、咒罵、褻瀆”的社會歷史》，他們在百年戰爭期間開始用"les goddems"形容英國人，因為他們經常褻瀆神靈。

Hell

Our word for the worst possible place (religious or not) comes from Proto-Germanic haljo, "the underworld." Some relationship also exists between "cell" and "hell" through the Proto-Indo-European word for "to cover" or "conceal" — kel.

我們用來形容可能出現的最壞的世界（無論是否與宗教相關）的詞來源于原始日耳曼語haljo——“陰間”。 "cell" 和 "hell"還在原印歐語詞存在某些關系，意為“覆蓋”或“隱藏”。

Interestingly enough, the Biblical use of hell may stem from Old Norse Hel, the name of Loki's daughter in Norse mythology. She rules over the evil dead much like Hades does in Greek tales.

有趣的是，圣經對地獄的用法可能起源于古斯堪的納維亞語Hel，北歐神話中Loki的女兒的名字。就像希臘傳說中的哈德斯，她統治著邪惡的死亡魂靈。

Bitch

Almost everyone knows a bitch is a female dog, probably from Old Norse bikkjuna. Its use as a term of contempt to women, though, began in the 1400s.

幾乎所有人都知道bitch 是一條母狗。這可能源自古斯堪的納維亞語bikkjuna。然而，直到15世紀，它才開始被用來蔑視婦女。

The word is first seen used this way in the Chester Plays of the 1400s. "Who callest thou queine, skabde bitch?" Basically, "Who are you calling a whore, you miserable bitch?”

這個詞第一次這么用是在15世紀的切斯特劇。"Who callest thou queine, skabde bitch?"大致意思是“你個死婊子，你叫誰賤人呢？”

The verb, meaning "to complain," evolved as late at the 1930s.

動詞用法直到20世紀30年代才出現，意為“抱怨”。

（來源：滬江英語，編輯 Helen）