在新詞層出不窮的2020年，卻有一個詞同時被韋氏詞典和Dictionary.com（詞典網）選為年度詞彙，這個詞就是pandemic（大流行病）。
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For the first time, two US dictionary companies on Monday declared the same word their word of the year: 「pandemic」.
本周一（11月30日），兩家美國詞典公司宣布了同一個年度詞彙「大流行病」，這還是有史以來首次。
The challenges of 2020, Oxford Languages said, 「brought a new immediacy and urgency to the role of the lexicographer. In almost real-time, lexicographers were able to monitor and analyze seismic shifts in language data and precipitous frequency rises in new coinages」.
牛津語言表示，2020年的挑戰是「給詞典編纂者帶來了一種新的即時性和緊迫性；詞典編纂者幾乎是實時監測和分析語言數據的突然變化和新詞陡增的頻率」。
seismic [sazmk]: adj. 突然的
precipitous [prspts]: adj. （變化）突然的；急劇的
Because the coronavirus pandemic brought on gargantuan language changes, the report said, 「2020 is a year which cannot be neatly accommodated in one single 『word of the year』.」
報告稱，因為新冠疫情造成了語言的巨大變化，「2020年不能用一個年度詞彙來概括」。
gargantuan [ɡɑrɡntun]: adj. 龐大的，巨大的
Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com disagreed, though both also noted enormous shifts toward other related words.
韋氏詞典和Dictionary.com不同意這一觀點，不過二者也都指出了其他相關詞彙的巨大變化。
Pandemic 「probably isn’t a big shock」, said Peter Sokolowski, editor at large for Merriam-Webster.
韋氏詞典的特邀編輯皮特·索科洛夫斯基說，大流行病（當選年度詞彙）「很可能並沒有讓人大吃一驚」。
"Often the big news story has a technical word that’s associated with it and in this case, the word pandemic is not just technical but has become general. It’s probably the word by which we』ll refer to this period in the future.」
「重大新聞報導往往含有與大流行病相關的術語，在這種情況下，大流行病不只是一個術語，而是具有更普遍的意義。它很可能會成為將來我們指代這段時期的詞語。」
John Kelly, senior research editor at Dictionary.com, said searches for 「pandemic」 spiked more than 13,500% on 11 March, the day the World Health Organization declared an outbreak of the novel coronavirus a global health emergency.
Dictionary.com的高級調研編輯約翰·凱利表示，世界衛生組織在3月11日宣布新冠肺炎暴發成為全球衛生緊急事件後，對「大流行病」一詞的搜索量在當天暴增超13500%。
The spike, he said, was 「massive, but even more telling is how high [pandemic] has sustained significant search volumes throughout the entire year」.
他說，搜索量漲幅「很高，但更能說明問題的是該詞在全年都保持著極高的搜索量」。
Month over month, lookups for pandemic were up more than 1,000%. For about half the year, the word was in the top 10% of all lookups on Dictionary.com, Kelly said.
凱利指出，自那以後的每一個月，對「大流行病」的搜索量漲幅都超過了1000%。半年來，該詞在Dictionary.com上的搜索量一直排在前10%。
At Merriam-Webster.com, searches for 「pandemic」 on 11 March were 115,806% higher than spikes experienced on the same date last year, Sokolowski said.
索科洛夫斯基稱，在韋氏詞典的網站上，「大流行病」一詞在3月11日的搜索量漲幅比去年同期高出了115806%。
Pandemic, with roots in Latin and Greek, is a combination of 「pan」, for all, and 「demos」, for people or population, Sokolowski said, adding that the latter is also the root of 「democracy」.
索科洛夫斯基指出，pandemic（大流行病）一詞詞根源於拉丁語和希臘語，是pan（全部）和demos（人或人口）的組合。他補充道，demos還是democracy（民主）一詞的詞根。
The word 「pandemic」 dates to the mid-1600s, used broadly for 「universal」 and more specifically to disease in a medical text in the 1660s, after the plagues of the Middle Ages, Sokolowski said.
英語中的「大流行病」一詞要追溯到17世紀中期，當時被廣泛使用的意思是「普遍的」，在中世紀大瘟疫後特指17世紀60年代醫學文本中的疾病。
The pandemic, Kelly said, also saw searches grow for words including 「aerosols」, 「contact tracing」, 「social distancing」 and 「herd immunity」, along with the intricacies of therapeutic drugs, tests and vaccines that can help save lives.
凱利指出，疫情期間「氣溶膠」、「接觸者追蹤」、「社交隔離」和「群體免疫」等詞以及救命的各種複雜的治療藥物、檢測和疫苗詞彙的搜索量都出現了增長。
Merriam-Webster began designating a word of the year in 2008, with 「bailout」. Its word of 2019 was 「they」, after lookups increased by 313%.
韋氏詞典從2008年開始評選年度詞彙，當年的年度詞彙是「救助」。2019年度詞彙是「他們/她們」，當時該詞的搜索量增加了313%。
Dictionary.com has been in the game since 2010, when it went with 「change」. Its word of the year in 2019 was 「existential」, in a year that climate change, gun violence, the nature of democracy and Forky from Disney’s Toy Story 4 helped propel search.
Dictionary.com從2010年開始評選年度詞彙，當年的年度詞彙是「改變」。2019年度詞彙是「和存在有關的」，這一年氣候變化、槍枝暴力、民主本質和迪士尼動畫《玩具總動員4》中叉叉的搜索量也大增。
Oxford Languages went with two words last year: 「climate emergency」.
牛津語言去年的年度詞彙「氣候緊急事件」包含兩個英語單詞。
Kelly, Sokolowski and Oxford Languages noted other search trends in 2020. After the death in May of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, words around racial justice experienced spikes, including 「fascism」, 「anti-fascism」, 「defund」 and 「white fragility」, Kelly said.
凱利、索科洛夫斯基和牛津語言還指出了2020年的其他搜索趨勢。凱利稱，在今年五月喬治·弗洛伊德死於明尼阿波裡斯市警察的膝蓋下後，和種族平等有關的詞彙搜索量大增，包括「法西斯主義」、「反法西斯主義」、「停止撥款」和「白人脆弱性」。
英文來源：衛報
翻譯&編輯：丹妮
來源：中國日報網