學習法律英語的過程也是學習英語的過程,而對普通英語知識的學習也會刺激法律英語的進步。本期推送,小編將分享一篇不錯的英語短文「the Development of Modern English」(現代英語的發展歷程),與大家一同學習。本文從歷史角度分析了英語的發展,同時為我們解析了英語詞彙之所以如此複雜混亂的歷史原因。
the Development of Modern English英語 中包含了許多不同歐洲語種的元素,也從其他語言中大量吸收各種詞彙。如果不了解一下不列顛群島的歷史,就無法理解這些影響因素是如何影響英語的。The English language contains elements from many different European languages and has also borrowed words from a wide variety of other languages. it is impossible to grasp how these influences affect the language without understanding a little about the history of the British isles.
公元 前55年,在羅馬入侵之前,英國居民講的是凱爾特方言。拉丁語是在公元597年隨著聖奧古斯丁傳播基督教來到英國,此前的英國幾乎不會見到拉丁語的身影。但此後拉丁語在英國被經常性地使用,特別是在專業類語言應用中。而在法律界,拉丁短語例如inter alia(其中)和per se(本身)等至今仍在使用。Prior to the Roman invasion in 55 BC, the inhabitants of Britain spoke a Celtic dialect. Latin made little impression until St. Augustine arrived in AD 597 to spread Christianity, Latin words are regularly used in English, particularly in professional language. In the legal profession, Latin phrases like inter alia (among others)and per se(in itself) remain in current use.
隨後,盎格魯人、撒克遜人和朱特人從北歐大陸入侵不列顛群島。他們帶來的語言構共同成了old English(古英語)的基礎。其中大約有100個最常用的英語詞彙(像God, man, woman, child, love, live, go, at, to)都是來自於此。Subsequently, the Angles, Saxons and Jutes invaded the British Isles from mainland northern Europe. The language they brought with them forms the basis of what is known as old English. This gives us the 100 most commonly used words in the English language ( words like God, man, woman, child, love, live, go, at, to).
維京 人從公元8世紀開始從斯堪地那維亞入侵英格蘭東北部。後來,相當多的維京人定居在這一地區,帶來了他們自己的語言(這可以從英格蘭東北部包括蘇格蘭地區的眾多地名中看出,這些地名大多以-by 或者-thorpe、-wick、-ham 結尾。而egg、human、law、take、knife等詞也來自於維京人)。The Vikings began to raid the northeast of England from Scandinavia from the eighth century onwards. At a later date, a significant number of vikings settled in this area, bringing with them their own linguistic contribution (which can be seen for example in the numerous place names in the northeast of England (and Scotland) ending in -by or -thorpe, -wick, ham and in words such as egg, husband, law, take, knife) .
1066 年,諾曼人從法國北部入侵並徵服了英國。諸如法院-court、議會-parliament、司法-justice、主權-sovereign和婚姻-marriage 等詞彙都來自這一時期。In 1066 the Normans invaded from northern France and conquered England. Words such as court, parliament, justice, sovereign and marriage come from this period.
後來,英國人開始從法語中自主學習並吸法語詞彙,例如司機-chauffeur、資產階級-bourgeois、精英-elite等詞都來自於法語。後來,隨著大英帝國的擴張,出現了更多的「借詞」的機會,諸如禁忌-taboo和純良的-pukka之類的詞都是從那個時期進入英語詞彙中。Later, the English helped themselves initially to further words from French, such as chauffeur, bourgeois, elite. As the British Empire expanded, further opportunities to borrow words arose -words such as taboo and pukka came into the English language from that period.
多種 語言的交融導致了英語的豐富多彩,同時帶來語法複雜,同義詞眾多的後果。例如,兩個或兩個以上的人聚在一起可以表述為 meeting or gathering(古英語)、assignation or encounter(古法語)、rendezvous, rally or reunion(法語)、 caucus(阿爾岡昆)、pow-wow(納拉甘塞特)或 tryst(古法語)。The result of this multiplicity of linguistic influences is a rich and diverse language with a complex grammar and many synonyms. For example, a coming together of two or more people could be a meeting or gathering (old English), assignation or encounter(old French), a rendezvous, rally or reunion(French), a caucus (Algonquin) pow-wow(Narragansett) or a tryst(Old French) .
投稿、合作、交流地址:17210270326@fudan.edu.cn
更多相關文章:
Quora精選:有【自己】起訴【自己】並勝訴的人嗎?
Quora精選:中國為什麼會成為大陸法系國家?
Quora精選:用「血」籤的合同有法律效力嗎?
Quora精選:新合同是否會自然地取代它的舊合同嗎?
Quora法律問答:優秀律師的9項能力
Quora精選:為什麼美國最高法院的法官叫『justices』 而不是 『judges』?
Quora精選:律師知道客戶有罪還要為其辯護嗎?
點擊右下角「在看」,分享給更多小夥伴
在文章下方留言,說出你學習中的困惑