8天攻克英语六级8000词汇(六)
2009-10-15来源:和谐英语
INAUGURATE: they studied the birds first
In modern days when we inaugurate a president, we induct him into office with solemn and suitable ceremonies. But in olden times such important affairs were not left to chance. The Latin Word inauguratus splits up into in-, “in”, and augur, “diviner.” The augurs and prophets of those days studied the flights and habits of birds, and from their findings told the emperors and governors what the future held in store. And the advice of the soothsayers was usually followed. The Emperor Claudius, however, became impatient during the Punic Wars. When the sacred birds refused to come out of their cage, he tossed them into the sea, declaring: “If they won’t eat, they must drink.” In modern days our presidents and governors receive no help from the diviners when they are inaugurated and are forced to take their own chances.
LOBBY: began as an arbor
The word lobby that describes the operations of the political pressure groups in Washington shows us that some words have moved from German to Latin to English. We are wont to believe that Latin is always original in its contributions. In Old High German lauba meant a shelter of foliage. This term entered the Latin of the Middle Ages as lobia and in the 16th century was adopted by English as lobby, “a cover ed walk,” which meaning was modified to a “passage” or “anteroom.” In 1640 it was first applied to the anteroom of the House of Commons, and here the lobby began and the lobbyist went to work.
MACHIAVELLIAN: from a stateman’s name
In the days of the wicked Lucrezia Borgia, there lived a famous statesman and diplomat by the name of Niccola Machiavelli. Even the characteristics of his face and manner suggested his practices. He was thin-lipped, with an aquiline nose; his was vulgar in his humor, feverishly active in his ways, and acidly sarcastic. Machiavelli had a mind that was startling in its brilliance and keen in its analytical powers, and he was thought of as “the idea man” for the politicians of early 16th-century Florence. In time he lost favor with the ruling Medici family. For this reason he was forced to stop his active practice of politics, and started to write down his theories about them instead. Through his book Il principe he has become known as the founder of political science. Unfair critics have maligned him, claiming that he believed a ruler to be justified in using any means, no matter how unscrupulous., to maintain his power. For this reason a machiavellian policy now means a policy of craft, cunning, and bad faith.
MUGWUMP: great man
In 1884 there was a split in the Republican party, and a large number of members refused to support James G. Blaine for president. They were accused by the regulars of assuming a superior attitude and such epithets as “Pharisees” and mugwumps were hurled at them. Apparently mugwump, or mugquomp as it was spelled in one of the Massachusetts dialects, was an Algonquian Indian word meaning “great man” or even “chief.” Today the word is applied to anyone who takes a position independent of “the party line.” Albert J. Engel is reported to have said in the House of Representatives in April, 1936, that a mugwump has “his mug on one side of the political fence and his wump on the other,” although this joke is thought to be older than Engel.
PLATFORM: it’s flat
In French plat means “flat,” so a platform is really a “flat-form.” Since the 1800’s the word platform, in the political argot of the United States, has signified the basis of a party’s appeal to the public. The party leaders carry on endless arguments about the “planks” that are to be put in the platform, and these “planks” take us right back to the broad pieces of sawed lumber that make up the familiar speaker’s platform.
POLL: first a human head
Poll is a term that has a meaning quite different from the one it began with. In Middle English the word was spelled polle and meant “head,” or more particularly, the “top of the head,” for that was the part of a person that could be seen above the crowd when a count of “heads” was being taken. In this way the word came to mean the registering of votes. A poll tax, of course, is a “head” tax.
PROTOCOL: first concerned glue
We are familiar with the sharp protocol of diplomacy that determines what official shall call on whom first, and where the ambassador’s wife shall sit at a formal dinner party. The word protocol itself travels back finally to the Greek term protokollon. Which was the first leaf glued to the front of a manuscript with an index of the contents written on it. The elements of the word are protos, “first,” and kolla, “glue.” Our word protocol from which an official treaty or document was eventually drawn. Then the meaning was extended to the rules of etiquette of the diplomatic corps and others.
RADICAL: to the root of things
This word now is not much more than a general term of abuse, although it started off innocently enough. It comes directly from the Latin radicalis from radix, “root.” This same word radix gave us the name of our homely vegetable the radish which is nothing more than an edible “root.” Therefore a radical, essentially, is merely a person who likes to go to the “root” of a matter. In its original sense, radical meant “fundamental” or “primary.” But around the end of the 18th century, a group of English politicos came to be known as radical reformers because they wanted to go right to the root of things and revamp the existing political set-up. No one called them “reds,” however, because their special badge happened to be a white hat. They were soon a hated crew, for folks don’t like change, and the word radical eventually became a name of low reproach.
SENATE: a group of old men
Our sometime comment about the “nine old men” of the Supreme Court indicates that our young nation doesn’t look upon old age with as much respect as the Romans did. For their word senatus, “senate,” derived from the Latin senex, “an old man,” and their senate, thus, was a revered council of elders. We Americans are more apt to look upon old age as senile, which also is a derivative of senex.
TAMMANY: an Indian saint
Tammany Hall was founded in New York City as a private social club in 1789. It was said to have been sharpened into a political weapon by Aaron Burr, and with its new power practically swung the political election to Thomas Jefferson. People were indignant and complained about a private club playing politics. So Tammany split up. One half took out a charter as a social and benevolent outfit, bought a meeting-place called “The Hall,” and rented the space to the other and political half. They borrowed the name for their association from a Delaware Indian chief of the 17th to 18th centuries called Tammany or Taminy. Chief Tammany was described as a friend of George Washington, and may have been the Indian with whom William Penn had his famous negotiations for the land which became Penn’s woods, or Pennsylvania. Later on the Delaware chief was facetiously canonized as the patron saint of the republic, and so for more than 160 years New York City has often been ruled by the loyal Sons of Saint Tammany.
7. War Words and Their Histories
ADMIRAL:a Saracen chief
Originally an admiral was an amir, or a Saracen chief. The amir-al-bahr was commander of the sea.Amir,"commander," al,"the ,"bahr,"sea."This was his official title in the early days of Spain and Sicily.The first tow parts of the Arabic word were taken into French as amiral which was later reinterpreted as admiral due to the equivalence of Old French a-and Latin ad-.This word passed into English and was associated with the navy as early as the 13th century.Later,a flagship was called the Admiral which led to the word's application in modern English to a sea commander.
ALARM: to arms'
If we are alarmed at any time, we should spring to arms for that is what the Italian cry all'arme meant.In later years the Italians combined the two word s into allarme and the meaning was extended from the military command itself to the emotion was fright that had been felt on hearing it shouted.Now,very often, alarm has only to do with the warning of the morning alarm clock.The word had even reached this low point at the time of Samuel Pepys who noted in his Diary on July 15,1665, after a hard day at the Exchequer:"And so to bed,to be up betimes by the helpe of a larum watch,which by chance I borrowed of my watchmaker today which my owne is mending."
AMNESTY:loss of memory
When a lawyer begs amnesty for his client, he is actually asking the judge to have and attack of amnesia.The first person in history to grant amnesty was reported to have been a Greek general who said that he would forgive his enemies and " not remember"(Greek a-,"not,"mnasthai,"to remember")their misdeeds.And from this we inherited our two English words, amnesia,"loss of memory ,"and amnesty ,"a pardon for offenses."
ANNOY:once a military term
In the 16th century the English had a Jury of Annoyances to deal with such public nuisances as the "slaughter of bestes within the cyte."The word annoy was much stronger then.An attacking enemy would "annoy a town."This term ternm traces back by changes of spelling to the Latin phrase in odio which meant "in hatred."The French took the Latin word over in the derived form enuier,"displease,"and from this term we inherited in English the tow words annoy and ennui,the fist meaning "to displease"and the second,"the act of being bored by unpleasantness,"or just boredom in general.Another useful English word comes from the same Latin parentage.The word could have been annoy-some but we reduced this to the less awkward word noisome,meaning"disgusting," "offensive,"which is the extremity of annoyance.
In modern days when we inaugurate a president, we induct him into office with solemn and suitable ceremonies. But in olden times such important affairs were not left to chance. The Latin Word inauguratus splits up into in-, “in”, and augur, “diviner.” The augurs and prophets of those days studied the flights and habits of birds, and from their findings told the emperors and governors what the future held in store. And the advice of the soothsayers was usually followed. The Emperor Claudius, however, became impatient during the Punic Wars. When the sacred birds refused to come out of their cage, he tossed them into the sea, declaring: “If they won’t eat, they must drink.” In modern days our presidents and governors receive no help from the diviners when they are inaugurated and are forced to take their own chances.
LOBBY: began as an arbor
The word lobby that describes the operations of the political pressure groups in Washington shows us that some words have moved from German to Latin to English. We are wont to believe that Latin is always original in its contributions. In Old High German lauba meant a shelter of foliage. This term entered the Latin of the Middle Ages as lobia and in the 16th century was adopted by English as lobby, “a cover ed walk,” which meaning was modified to a “passage” or “anteroom.” In 1640 it was first applied to the anteroom of the House of Commons, and here the lobby began and the lobbyist went to work.
MACHIAVELLIAN: from a stateman’s name
In the days of the wicked Lucrezia Borgia, there lived a famous statesman and diplomat by the name of Niccola Machiavelli. Even the characteristics of his face and manner suggested his practices. He was thin-lipped, with an aquiline nose; his was vulgar in his humor, feverishly active in his ways, and acidly sarcastic. Machiavelli had a mind that was startling in its brilliance and keen in its analytical powers, and he was thought of as “the idea man” for the politicians of early 16th-century Florence. In time he lost favor with the ruling Medici family. For this reason he was forced to stop his active practice of politics, and started to write down his theories about them instead. Through his book Il principe he has become known as the founder of political science. Unfair critics have maligned him, claiming that he believed a ruler to be justified in using any means, no matter how unscrupulous., to maintain his power. For this reason a machiavellian policy now means a policy of craft, cunning, and bad faith.
MUGWUMP: great man
In 1884 there was a split in the Republican party, and a large number of members refused to support James G. Blaine for president. They were accused by the regulars of assuming a superior attitude and such epithets as “Pharisees” and mugwumps were hurled at them. Apparently mugwump, or mugquomp as it was spelled in one of the Massachusetts dialects, was an Algonquian Indian word meaning “great man” or even “chief.” Today the word is applied to anyone who takes a position independent of “the party line.” Albert J. Engel is reported to have said in the House of Representatives in April, 1936, that a mugwump has “his mug on one side of the political fence and his wump on the other,” although this joke is thought to be older than Engel.
PLATFORM: it’s flat
In French plat means “flat,” so a platform is really a “flat-form.” Since the 1800’s the word platform, in the political argot of the United States, has signified the basis of a party’s appeal to the public. The party leaders carry on endless arguments about the “planks” that are to be put in the platform, and these “planks” take us right back to the broad pieces of sawed lumber that make up the familiar speaker’s platform.
POLL: first a human head
Poll is a term that has a meaning quite different from the one it began with. In Middle English the word was spelled polle and meant “head,” or more particularly, the “top of the head,” for that was the part of a person that could be seen above the crowd when a count of “heads” was being taken. In this way the word came to mean the registering of votes. A poll tax, of course, is a “head” tax.
PROTOCOL: first concerned glue
We are familiar with the sharp protocol of diplomacy that determines what official shall call on whom first, and where the ambassador’s wife shall sit at a formal dinner party. The word protocol itself travels back finally to the Greek term protokollon. Which was the first leaf glued to the front of a manuscript with an index of the contents written on it. The elements of the word are protos, “first,” and kolla, “glue.” Our word protocol from which an official treaty or document was eventually drawn. Then the meaning was extended to the rules of etiquette of the diplomatic corps and others.
RADICAL: to the root of things
This word now is not much more than a general term of abuse, although it started off innocently enough. It comes directly from the Latin radicalis from radix, “root.” This same word radix gave us the name of our homely vegetable the radish which is nothing more than an edible “root.” Therefore a radical, essentially, is merely a person who likes to go to the “root” of a matter. In its original sense, radical meant “fundamental” or “primary.” But around the end of the 18th century, a group of English politicos came to be known as radical reformers because they wanted to go right to the root of things and revamp the existing political set-up. No one called them “reds,” however, because their special badge happened to be a white hat. They were soon a hated crew, for folks don’t like change, and the word radical eventually became a name of low reproach.
SENATE: a group of old men
Our sometime comment about the “nine old men” of the Supreme Court indicates that our young nation doesn’t look upon old age with as much respect as the Romans did. For their word senatus, “senate,” derived from the Latin senex, “an old man,” and their senate, thus, was a revered council of elders. We Americans are more apt to look upon old age as senile, which also is a derivative of senex.
TAMMANY: an Indian saint
Tammany Hall was founded in New York City as a private social club in 1789. It was said to have been sharpened into a political weapon by Aaron Burr, and with its new power practically swung the political election to Thomas Jefferson. People were indignant and complained about a private club playing politics. So Tammany split up. One half took out a charter as a social and benevolent outfit, bought a meeting-place called “The Hall,” and rented the space to the other and political half. They borrowed the name for their association from a Delaware Indian chief of the 17th to 18th centuries called Tammany or Taminy. Chief Tammany was described as a friend of George Washington, and may have been the Indian with whom William Penn had his famous negotiations for the land which became Penn’s woods, or Pennsylvania. Later on the Delaware chief was facetiously canonized as the patron saint of the republic, and so for more than 160 years New York City has often been ruled by the loyal Sons of Saint Tammany.
7. War Words and Their Histories
ADMIRAL:a Saracen chief
Originally an admiral was an amir, or a Saracen chief. The amir-al-bahr was commander of the sea.Amir,"commander," al,"the ,"bahr,"sea."This was his official title in the early days of Spain and Sicily.The first tow parts of the Arabic word were taken into French as amiral which was later reinterpreted as admiral due to the equivalence of Old French a-and Latin ad-.This word passed into English and was associated with the navy as early as the 13th century.Later,a flagship was called the Admiral which led to the word's application in modern English to a sea commander.
ALARM: to arms'
If we are alarmed at any time, we should spring to arms for that is what the Italian cry all'arme meant.In later years the Italians combined the two word s into allarme and the meaning was extended from the military command itself to the emotion was fright that had been felt on hearing it shouted.Now,very often, alarm has only to do with the warning of the morning alarm clock.The word had even reached this low point at the time of Samuel Pepys who noted in his Diary on July 15,1665, after a hard day at the Exchequer:"And so to bed,to be up betimes by the helpe of a larum watch,which by chance I borrowed of my watchmaker today which my owne is mending."
AMNESTY:loss of memory
When a lawyer begs amnesty for his client, he is actually asking the judge to have and attack of amnesia.The first person in history to grant amnesty was reported to have been a Greek general who said that he would forgive his enemies and " not remember"(Greek a-,"not,"mnasthai,"to remember")their misdeeds.And from this we inherited our two English words, amnesia,"loss of memory ,"and amnesty ,"a pardon for offenses."
ANNOY:once a military term
In the 16th century the English had a Jury of Annoyances to deal with such public nuisances as the "slaughter of bestes within the cyte."The word annoy was much stronger then.An attacking enemy would "annoy a town."This term ternm traces back by changes of spelling to the Latin phrase in odio which meant "in hatred."The French took the Latin word over in the derived form enuier,"displease,"and from this term we inherited in English the tow words annoy and ennui,the fist meaning "to displease"and the second,"the act of being bored by unpleasantness,"or just boredom in general.Another useful English word comes from the same Latin parentage.The word could have been annoy-some but we reduced this to the less awkward word noisome,meaning"disgusting," "offensive,"which is the extremity of annoyance.
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