原文標題：
Johnson
Stranger than fiction
Some popular etymologies are apocryphal. But real ones can be entertaining, too
約翰遜專欄
比虛構(gòu)故事還奇怪
一些流行的詞源故事是虛構(gòu)的。但真實版本也很有趣

Some well-known etymologies are too good to be true
But lots of genuine ones are fascinating and entertaining
一些著名的詞源太炫了以致于不真實
但很多真的詞源故事也很有趣

[Paragraph 1]
SALARY, AS THE classically minded know, is a salty term.
正如古典主義者所知，“工資”是一個與salty相關(guān)的詞。

Not that it is unfit for company, but because it comes from the Latin for “salt”: Roman soldiers were given an allowance of salt, or paid in it entirely.
這并不是說它不適合攜帶，而是因為它來源于拉丁語中“鹽”：羅馬士兵獲得的津貼是鹽，或者全部用鹽支付薪水。

It is a tale made for a cocktail party, memorable, revealing of ancient habits—and very probably wrong.
這是派對上令人難忘的談資，揭示了古老的慣例--但很可能是錯誤的。

[Paragraph 2]
No classical source whatsoever reports that Roman soldiers were paid in salt, said Peter Gainsford, a classicist in New Zealand, in an article on the topic several years ago.

幾年前，新西蘭古典學家彼得·蓋恩斯福德就這個話題寫文論述過：沒有任何古典資料有記錄用鹽支付給羅馬士兵。

They mention salt and pay in the same context, and later etymologists used the similarity of salarius (pertaining to salt) and salarium (stipend, salary) to assume a salt allowance, or even payment in salt.

他們在相同的上下文中提到鹽和工資，后來的詞源學家使用salarius（與鹽有關(guān)）和salarium（津貼、薪水）的相似性構(gòu)想出了“鹽”津貼，甚至“鹽”薪水。

But, Mr Gainsford calculated, Roman soldiers’ daily pay would have bought about 6.6kg (over 14 pounds) of the stuff; had they consumed it all, the army would have collapsed from hypertension before conquering the known world.
但根據(jù)蓋恩斯福德的計算，羅馬士兵的日薪可以購買大約6.6公斤（超過14磅）鹽；如果他們?nèi)汲缘?，那么軍隊在征服已知世界之前，就會因高血壓而潰敗?br>
[Paragraph 3]
There could still be a link between salt and salary.

鹽和薪水之間仍存在聯(lián)系。

Mr Gainsford guessed that extra pay for sundries might have been known metaphorically as salt money, even if it was not intended specifically for salt, though that is just a supposition.

蓋恩斯福德先生猜測，即使不是專門用鹽額外支付的雜項費，也可能被比喻為鹽錢，然而這只是一個假設(shè)。

Then again, the salt-for-pay story, which emerged only in the 18th century, was always guesswork.

再說一遍，18世紀才出現(xiàn)“以鹽代薪”的故事版本是一種猜想。

This providence puts it among what some experts call “folk etymologies”: pleasing and memorable just-so stories.
這種猜想使它成為專家口中的“民間詞源故事”之一：如此有趣又難忘的故事。

[Paragraph 4]
A particularly odd source of these is the collection of purported acronymic derivations of common words.

其中一個特別奇怪的詞源故事是收集了常見單詞的首字母縮略詞。

You will hear people say with a straight face that two of the English language’s most venerable swear words derive from Fornication Under Consent of the King, and Ship High In Transit.But both words became part of English long before acronyms were common.

你會聽到人們板著臉時會說出英語中最莊嚴的2個臟話“f*ck,sh*t”，它們分別來源于“國王頒發(fā)的同意書”和“船在運輸”的首字母縮寫。但這2個詞早在首字母縮略詞流行之前就有了。

Acronymic origins are also offered for golf, posh and cop, all false.
高爾夫、時髦、警察這些詞來源于首字母縮略詞，但都是假的。

[Paragraph 5]
Another source of folk etymologies is the purported involvement of famous people.

民間詞源故事的另一個來源是傳說有名人參與。

Some believe that marmalade was given to Mary, Queen of Scots when she was ill, her French nurse saying “Marie est malade”.

一些人認為，marmalade “果醬”一詞源自于蘇格蘭瑪麗女王生病時吃了果醬，她的法國護士說“瑪麗病了”。

But notables have far less influence on language than that (thankfully).

但名人對語言的影響力遠小于此（值得慶幸）。

The belief that pumpernickel bread is named after the kind fed to Napoleon’s horse, or pain pour Nicole, is another tall tale.

人們認為pumpernickel bread “南瓜面包”源自于拿破侖的馬以這種面包為食，或者“痛苦的尼科爾”，這是另一個荒誕的故事。

[Paragraph 6]
Famous people do sometimes invent words, as Norman Mailer did with factoid. But such instances are very much the exception.

名人有時確實會發(fā)明詞語，就像諾曼·梅勒發(fā)明了factoid“仿真陳述”那樣。但這類例子非常少。

In fact words rarely have sudden and exciting origin stories.

事實上，單詞幾乎不會突然出現(xiàn)令人激動的詞源故事。

In English, the great majority of them descend from a stock of roots shared among the Indo-European family of languages.

英語是印歐語系的一支。

[Paragraph 7]
All these sub-families are related.

所有這些子系語言都是相關(guān)的。

This is the kind of thing that professional etymologists work out; fascinating stuff, but harder to explain over a drink.
這是專業(yè)語源學家所研究的事情；有趣但很難一下子解釋清楚。

[Paragraph 8]
That said, etymological discovery provides endless delights, and has never been easier.

也就是說，詞源學研究能給提供無盡的樂趣，但并非易事。

The American Heritage Dictionary lists its Index of Indo-European Roots free online, so curious readers can research how poppycock and cacophony share an old root that means, well, Ship High In Transit.

《美國傳統(tǒng)詞典》在網(wǎng)上免費列出了英語的印歐根源索引，因此好學的讀者可以研究poppycock和poppycock這兩個詞的共同詞根，意思是sh*t。

The Oxford English Dictionary traces the gradual changes in a word’s form and meaning, buttressed by literary citations over centuries.

《牛津英語詞典》記錄了一個詞的詞形和詞義的逐漸演變過程，且在幾個世紀的文學作品中引用強化。

[Paragraph 9]

And if you want a salty fact, here’s one. Should your partner enjoin you to eat less salt, you can push the salad they have placed before you away.

如果你想要一個關(guān)于salty的真實故事，這里就有一個。如果你的伴侶要求你少吃鹽，你可以把他們放在你面前的沙拉推開。

Salad, you can declare, comes after all from herba salata, Latin for salted vegetables.

你可以這樣說，沙拉畢竟來自沙拉草，拉丁語中是咸菜的意思。

Alas, you will also have to swear off salsa (from the Latin for salted seasonings), and, for that matter, any sauce (which is just the French adaptation of salsa).

唉，你還得發(fā)誓不吃salsa（來自拉丁語，意為“腌制調(diào)味料”），也不吃任何醬汁（這只是salsa的法語改編）。

You will further have to forgo sausage and salami (both descended from Latin’s salcisus, applied to salted meat).
你還必須得放棄香腸和salami（都源于拉丁語salcisus，表示“咸肉”）。

[Paragraph 10]
You can do without stories of the salt-and-salary type. Genuine etymology is enough to keep life well-seasoned.
你可以不用“鹽和薪水”的故事版本。真實的詞源故事足以讓你的生活豐富多彩。

（恭喜讀完，本篇英語詞匯量779左右）
原文出自：2023年2月4日《The Economist》Culture 版塊。

精讀筆記來源于：自由英語之路

本文翻譯整理: Irene本文編輯校對: Irene
僅供個人英語學習交流使用。

【補充資料】（來自于網(wǎng)絡(luò)）
薪水salary最初的詞源版本：鹽被用作一種交易媒介，就像今天使用貨幣一樣。為帝國服務的古羅馬戰(zhàn)士每天都會得到一把鹽的報酬。羅馬歷史學家老普林尼在《自然史》中關(guān)于海水的討論中說：“在羅馬……士兵的工資原來是鹽，工資一詞就是從鹽中衍生出來的。”金錢、食鹽或食鹽錢工資是雇主向雇員支付或補償?shù)墓潭ê统Ｒ?guī)形式，以換取他們的服務或完成的工作。Salary一詞源于中古英語單詞“salarie”和拉丁語單詞“salarium”，意思是“鹽錢”。慢慢的，salarium(源于拉丁語，指“鹽的”)一詞逐漸用來指代發(fā)給士兵的軍餉以及給官員的錢資，直至后來，用來統(tǒng)指“薪水，薪資”。由于鹽不像今天那么容易買到，在古代它是一種有價值的商品，因此被用作貨幣。

網(wǎng)飛出了一部劇，完美示范了什么叫“一本正經(jīng)地胡說八道”。它就是由尼古拉斯·凱奇主持的《臟話史》，沒錯，它講了整整倆小時的“臟話”。這部劇一共有6集，讓你了解常見英文臟話F*ck、Sh*t，D*mn、D*ck、B*tch等詞的起源及用法，溯源它們的前世今生。雖然臟話看起來粗俗又充滿禁忌，但它背后的故事卻并不簡單。該劇采訪了歷史學家、藝人及語源學、流行文化等方面的專家，同時還探討了臟話對流行文化和歷史各個層面的影響。

Norman Mailer諾曼·梅勒，美國著名作家，國際筆會美國分會主席，美國“全國文學藝術(shù)院”院士，“美國文學藝術(shù)研究院”院士。他成功地將小說的寫作技巧融入到紀實作品中，如今這樣一種寫作手法被許多記者所模仿。無怪乎他被譽為20世紀最偉大的美國作家之一的同時，也被稱為20世紀偉大的記者。

?
【重點句子】（3?個）
This providence puts it among what some experts call “folk etymologies”: pleasing and memorable just-so stories.
這種猜想使它成為專家口中的“民間詞源故事”之一：如此有趣又難忘的故事。

A particularly odd source of these is the collection of purported acronymic derivations of common words.
其中一個特別奇怪的詞源故事是收集了常見單詞的首字母縮略詞。

Another source of folk etymologies is the purported involvement of famous people.
民間詞源故事的另一個來源是傳說有名人參與。