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| 2013/08/08 17:36:05瀏覽1107｜回應0｜推薦0 | |
如果查 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary “Way”這個字當名詞用就有 19 條意思, 底下還有31 個次意思(sub-senses), 次意思下又有 15 個次次意思(sub-subsenses)。該字典的助理編輯Emily Brewster 前一陣子寫了一篇關於路(way)的文章，挺有趣又有內容，想與大家分享。 先看她的開場白： Many of you will be taking to various highways and byways in coming weeks. You may also be taking to parkways and expressways and thruways and tollways and beltways. Those who fly will travel airways after taking off from runways. Bicyclists may traverse bikeways, and those in search of their sea legs may find them on the other side of a gangway. Railways and subways will no doubt move some of you to your destinations. You may make use of a causeway to reach a quaint beach cottage. You might take a right-of-way to get to some out-of-the-way place. You may have success on the fairway or at the raceway. At your very own home you may walk through a breezeway to retrieve items from a car parked in your driveway. You may even lose your way, though I hope for not too long 這兒出現的斜體字就是與Way有關的字： highways byways parkways expressways thruways tollways beltways. airways runways. bikeways, gangway. Railways subways causeway right-of-way out-of-the-way fairway raceway. breezeway driveway. 所謂 thruway 就是 expressway，比如 we took back roads on the way out, and the thruway on the way back. 至於 causeway 乃是指經過溼地或水域的挑高道路，也指古羅馬時的快速路(Highway) ，例句有 The island is linked by a causeway to the mainland. Causeway這個字甚至可當及物動詞使用。Gangway 係指 “a passage or way into, through, or out of any place.” 或指在群眾中開出的通路，比如 shouted out: “A gangway, lads,” and they made … room for me to go into the center — Arnold Bennett. 至於 breezeway 係指屋子與車庫間的通道，“a roofed open-air passage or porch connecting two buildings (as a house and garage) or forming a corridor between two halves of a building (as of a cabin)” 而 right-of-way 指的是 “ a legal right of passage over another person's ground ” 至於 out-of-the-way 則是指 “off the beaten track : rarely frequented, encountered, or experienced ” 比如 文作者 Emily Brewster 特別喜歡在故紙堆中尋找生趣，(She has deep affection for prepositions and articles, and loves to see old words used in new and surprising ways.) 所以諸多字均有古用法(archaic) , 像過去我們討論到“ out of the question ” (=impossible) 時，也有人提到“ out of question” 指 “沒問題”，那也是古用法 , “unquestionably” 古英文指的是西元1100以前人們所說的英語，中古英文則指西元1100至1500年附近人們所說的英語，也許前後有半個世紀的差距。“Way”這個字來自古英文的weg ， 也與古德文同源，再往上可溯源至梵文，意思是” 他負荷，拉動” 之意。 |
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