寻找失落的语言：学者“救回”30个英语单词

近日，约克大学的专家们发起了一个寻回失落语言的活动，列出了30个已被废弃但仍和今天的生活有关联的英语单词，希望人们能够重拾这些旧时代的语言。来猜猜这30个单词都是什么意思?

如果有人说你snout-fair，你是会高兴还是生气呢?

那么被称为dowsabel或percher呢?

这些单词是约克大学专家寻回的30个遗失的英语单词的其中几个，这些专家认为这些单词至今仍然有用。

Dominic Watt, senior lecturer in Language and Linguistic Science at the university, said he hoped people would re-engage with the language of old.

约克大学语言和语言学专业的高级讲师多米尼克•瓦特说，他希望人们能够重新使用旧时代的语言。

The researchers have drawn up the list in an effort to persuade people that these defunct words can still have a relevance.

研究人员拟出了这份清单，试图说服人们这些被废弃的单词仍然和今天的生活有关联。

The team spent three months searching through old books and dictionaries to create the list.

该团队花了三个月时间搜遍了旧书旧词典，创建了这个列表。

先来见识几个“失落”的单词：

Nickum: A cheating or dishonest person

Nickum：作弊或不诚实的人

Peacockize: To behave like a peacock; esp. to pose or strut ostentatiously

Peacockize：表现得像只孔雀，尤其是招摇卖弄、大摇大摆

Rouzy-bouzy: Boisterously drunk

Rouzy-bouzy：醉酒吵闹

Ruff: To swagger, bluster, domineer. To ruff it out / to brag or boast of a thing

Ruff：虚张声势、夸口、盛气凌人。To ruff it out：吹嘘某事

Tremblable: Causing dread or horror; dreadful

Tremblable: 令人恐惧的;可怕的

Awhape: To amaze, stupefy with fear, confound utterly

Awhape: 使惊呆，使惊慌失措

Mr Watt wants to bring these words back into modern conversations.

瓦特想将这些词重新带回现代会话中。

"We've identified lost words that are both interesting and thought-provoking, in the hope of helping people re-engage with language of old,"he said.

他说：“我们认定了一些又有趣又发人深思的失落的词语，希望帮助人们重新拾起旧时代的语言。”

"Snout-fair", for example, means "having a fair countenance; fair-faced, comely, handsome", while "sillytonian"refers to "a silly or gullible person, esp one considered as belonging to a notional sect of such people".

比如，Snout-fair意思是“面容姣好、漂亮、清秀、英俊”，而sillytonian指的是“易受骗的傻瓜，尤其是被认为属于某一派别的人”。

"Dowsabel"is "applied generically to a sweetheart, 'lady-love'".

Dowsabel是对情人的称呼，相当于lady-love(情妇)。

Margot Leadbetter, the snobby neighbour from 1970s BBC sitcom, The Good Life, could be seen as an arch example of a "percher"- someone "who aspires to a higher rank or status; an ambitious or self-assertive person".

20世纪70年代BBC情景喜剧《美好生活》中的势力邻居玛戈特•利百特可以看作是percher的典型例子，指那种“想谋高位、攀高枝的人，野心勃勃、孤行专断的人”。

The BBC series Trust Me is the story of a "quacksalver"- a person who "dishonestly claims knowledge of, or skill in, medicine; a pedlar of false cures".

BBC电视剧《相信我》讲的就是quacksalver的故事——一个“谎称自己懂医的人、卖假药的江湖郎中”。

The list of 30 "lost words"are grouped into three areas the researchers feel are relevant to modern life: post-truth (deception); appearance, personality and behaviour; and emotions.

这30个“失落的单词”被划入研究人员认为和现代生活相关的三个区域：后真相(欺骗);外表、人格和行为;情感。

The final list also includes the words "ear-rent"- described as "the figurative cost to a person of listening to trivial or incessant talk", "slug-a-bed"- meaning "a person who lies in late", and "merry-go-sorry"- a phrase used to describe "a mixture of joy and sorrow".

最终版清单还包括ear-rent，指“碎碎念给人带来的象征性伤害”，slug-a-bed意思是“睡懒觉的人”，merry-go-sorry形容“悲喜交加”的情绪。