英语语言（续二）
2022-09-12 14:10阅读：
LEXICAL GROWTH AND CHANGE
The ever-increasing size of the
English vocabulary results from a variety of processes, mainly of
two kinds: (1) processes of growth, through which words enter the
language, and (2) processes of change, whereby words already in use
undergo alterations in meaning.
词法的增长与变化
英语词汇不断增长的规模是由各种过程造成的，主要是两种：（1）增长过程，通过它词汇进入语言，（2）变化过程，借此，已经在使用词汇发生了意思的改变。
Methods of Forming Words.
Although there are many word of unknown
origin, there are almost no “originals”—words created without a
source of some kind. The following represent the chief sources of
the English vocabulary:
构词方法。尽管存在许多不明来源的词，但几乎没有什么“原生词”---
是没有某种来源被创造出来的。以下描述了英语词汇的主要来源：
Borrowing from Other
Languages. The English language has
vast debts. In any dictionary some 80% of the entries are borrowed.
The majority are likely to come from Latin, and of those more than
half will come through French. A considerable number will derive
directly or indirectly from Greek. A substantial contribution will
come from Scandinavian languages, and a small percentage from
Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch. Scattered words will be
from various sources around the globe. The vocabulary has grown
from the 50,000 to 60,000 words in Old English to the tremendous
number of entries—650,000 to 750,000---in an unabridged dictionary
of today. The bulk of the word spoken and written by
English-speaking people, however, are native words, the nine most
frequently used being and, be,have, it,
of, the, to, will, and you. Borrowed words are
nevertheless immensely useful in enriching the vocabulary and
making the language flexible and resourceful.
从其它语言中借用的词。英语语言拥有巨大的债务。在任何词典中，大约有80%的词目是借用的。大多数可能来自拉丁语，而这些词的一半以上是经法语传播的。相当多的数目大概直接或间接地来自希腊语。斯堪的那维亚的语言可能也有大量的贡献，还有一小部分来自葡萄牙语、意大利语、西班牙语和荷兰语。零散的词汇可能来全球的各种来源。在古英语中的词汇量从5万至6万个词汇已增长到在今天的一部未删节词典中的65万至75万个大量条目。然而，说英语人们口头和书写的大量单词都是本土词汇。最常用的九个单词是and(和)，
be（是），have（有），it（它），of（…的）the（这，那）to（至）
will（将要）以及you（你，你们）。尽管如此，借用词汇在丰富词汇和语言灵活机智方面是极其有益的。
Compounding.
The most evident method of forming new words
is joining two or more words to make a new entry. It has been
common in all period of English. Some of the shortest and
simplest-appearing words were formed originally in this way—for
example, hussy, from Old English hus and wif
(“housewife”). Almost all parts of speech lend themselves to
compounding, though some combinations are far more useful than
others.
合成词。形成新词最明显的方法是连接两个或更多的词汇形成一个新词目。这在英语的所有时期都很常见。一些最短和最简单的词最初都是以这种方式形成的---例如，hussy（贱妇），来自古英语hus
和wif（“家庭主妇”）。几乎所有的词性都适合成词，尽管某些组合比其它组合更有用。
Examples of nouns formed by
compounding are houseboat or motorway (from two
nouns), blackberry or greenhouse (from adjective and
noun), popcorn (from verb and noun), touchdown (from
verb and adverb), and downpour or output (from adverb
and verb). Adjective so formed include footsore (from noun
and adjective) and overdue (from adverb and adjective).
There are also connective and particle compounds, such as
notwithstanding and insofar, and phrase oddities,
such as up-and-coming.
由合成词形成名词的例子有houseboat（居住船）
或motorway（快车道）（来自两个名词），blackberry（黑梅）
或greenhouse（温室）（来自形容词和名词），popcorn（爆米花）（来自动词和名词），touchdown（着陆）（来自动词和副词），而downpour（倾盆大雨）
或output（产量）（来自副词和动词）。这样形成的形容词包括footsore（脚痛的）（来自名词和形容词）以及overdue（未付的）（来自副词和形容词）。还有连接词和虚词的合成，比如notwithstanding（尽管如此）
和insofar（到这个程度），以及短语怪词，如up-and-coming（积极进取的）。
Formation by
Affixes. Another common process of
word making is that of adding a prefix or suffix to a single word.
Some affixes have existed from the Old English period, such a
un-, -ness, -less, and –ish, in words
like undo, frankness, useless, and
childish. Examples of living prefixes—those that can be
applied freely to new words –are anti-, ex-,
pro- super-, hyper-, post-, and many
more. A similar morphological wealth is seen in the suffixes.
Consider, for example, Latin –ation and –ative;
French –al, -able, -ous, and –ary (all
ultimately Latin); and Greek –ist, -ize, and –it is.
The number of word formed by affixes is constantly
growing.
由词缀形成的词。另一个常见的造词过程是给一个单词增加一个前缀或后缀。古英语时期一些词缀就已经存在，如un-，-ness，-less，和–ish，在一些词汇中，如undo（解开），frankness（率直），useless（无用的）和childish（孩子气的）。仍在使用的前缀例子---那些能够自由地应用于新词汇的前缀是anti-（反对）,
ex-（前…），pro-（剧前），super-（超级的），hyper-（在…之上）post-（在…之后），以及更多的例子。在后缀中可见到类似的大量形态。例如，拉丁语的–ation和–ative；法语的–al，-able，-ous，and
–ary（最终都是拉丁语）；以及希腊语的–ist，-ize，和
–itis。通过词缀形成的单词数量一直在不断增长。
Functional Shift.
The free interchange of functions, whereby one
part of speech is changed to another, is a significant feature of
Modern English. Functional shift between noun and verb is common;
for example, one may sew a button on a coat and then
button the coat. But many other changes are possible. A noun
may become an adjective, as in “home run,” or an adverb, in
“go home.” An adjective may become a noun, in “none but the
brave,” or a verb, in “brave the storm.” A
preposition may become an adjective, as in “a through
train”; and an adverb may become an adjective, as in “the
then minister.”
功能的转换。功能的自由互换，借此一种词性变成另一种词性，是现代英语的显著特征。在名词和动词之间的功能转换是很常见的；例如，人们可以在一件大衣上缝上一个钮扣（button），然后扣上大衣的扣子（button）。但许多其它的变化也是可能的。一个名词可以变成形容词，比如“全垒打（home
run）”，或一个副词，比如“回家（go
home）。一个形容词可以变成名词，比如“只有勇敢的人（none
but the
brave），或一个动词，比如“顶风冒雨（brave
the
storm）”。一个介词可以变成一个形容词，比如“一列直达快车（a
through
train）；以及一个副词可以变成一个形容词，比如“当时的部长（the
then minister）。
Figures of
Speech. In the creation of words,
imagery plays a great role, as in the original combination the
day’s eye, which finally became daisy, now a fossilized
image. Metaphors of this type are common in the English vocabulary,
as can be seen from names of other flowers, such as bleeding
heart and lady’s slipper (or lady slipper).
Likewise, imagery is evident in numskull (also spelled
numbskull) or pip-squeak and in the various uses of the word
head, originally naming a part of the body. Now, because of
the resemblance in shape, we speak of a “head of
cabbage,
