你熟知这5个词 却不知道它们的历史之久

　　1.计算机

　　Computer goes back over 400 years. Computer referring to the ‘electronic device (or system of devices) which is used to store, manipulate, and communicate information’ isn’t found until the 1940s, but computeras a machine for performing calculations dates to 1869, according to current OED research.

　　Computer这词有400多年的历史，直至二十世纪四十年代，computer才意为用于信息储存、操作和交流的电子设备（或系统设备），但根据牛津英语字典最近做的调查，computeras意指能进行运算的机器可追溯到1869年。

　　2. Email

　　2. 邮件

　　The term for messages sent via the Internet (or a system for sending these messages) comes from the late 1970s; it is the obsolete¹ email meaning ‘enamel’ that is found as far back as 1594, from the (still current) French word émail, ‘enamel’.

　　这个词汇起源于二十世纪七十年代末，指通过网络发送出去的信息（或用来发送这些信息的系统）。而email之前还意为珐琅（enamel），人们发现它的这层含义最远能追溯到1594年，来源于现在仍在使用的法语单词émail（英文单词为enamel）。

　　3. Punk

　　3. 朋克

　　The word punk first entered the mainstream² thanks to the punk rock music scene in the 1970s. Punk had already had a long and varied³ history, though. It is first found in the 16th century, designating a prostitute. After this, it had various different sexual connotations. Later still it was used of a coward, and an amateur, before being reclaimed⁴ and celebrated⁵ by rebellious⁶ 1970s music fans.

　　多亏了二十世纪七十年代的朋克音乐现场，punk一词第一次进入主流视野。然而它在那之前却已经有一段漫长曲折的历史。Punk最早出现于16世纪，意指妓女。在此之后，它曾意指许多不同的性暗示。在二十世纪七十年代的音乐迷抗议着要为punk重新定义、庆祝其新含义前，它仍被用来形容胆小者和业余爱好者。

　　4. Crib

　　4. 婴儿床

　　The earliest sense of crib is a ‘barred receptacle for fodder⁷ used in cowsheds’. More surprisingly, the informal use of crib, chiefly North American, to mean ‘a person’s apartment or house’ has a long heritage. Shakespeare himself used crib to mean ‘a small habitation’ or a confined space, in Henry IV, Part 2: ‘Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs, Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee and hushed with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber⁸, than in the perfumed chambers⁹ of the great, under the canopies¹⁰ of costly¹¹ state, And lulled¹² with sounds of sweetest melody?’.

　　Crib最早指牛棚里装饲料的木制容器。而更出人意料的是，crib主要在北美的非正式用法（取公寓或房子之意）由来已久。莎翁自己就在《亨利四世》的第二部分用crib指代小住处/密闭的空间——“为什么睡眠，你宁愿栖身在烟熏的茅屋里，在不舒适的草荐上伸展你的肢体，让嗡嗡作声的蚊虫催着你入梦，却不愿偃息在烟雾氤氲的王侯的深宫之中，在华贵的宝帐之下，让最甜美的乐声把你陶醉？”

　　5. Hobbit

　　5. 霍比特人

　　Earlier than The Hobbit (1937), hobbit (or hobbet) – albeit¹³ with an entirely¹⁴ different etymology¹⁵ – was used to mean ‘a seed-basket’ or a local measure meaning two of something; these uses date as far back as 1863, according to OED research.

　　尽管词源迥异，Hobbit/ hobbet在1937年小说《霍比特人》出版前指种子盆栽或是当地用来指代一些事物中某两个的方法。据牛津英语字典的调查显示，这些用法最早能追溯到1863年。

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