美国国家公共电台 NPR U.K. Researchers Look To Revive Forgotten English Words

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Now we're going to dust off some old words, starting with this one - dotard.

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

It means an old person, especially one who has become weak or senile. It was popular during Shakespeare's time.

SIEGEL: Last week North Korea's Kim Jong Un called President Trump¹ a dotard. And then Trump fired back, calling Kim a madman.

CHANG: Now, had the president wanted to match Kim's archaic² vocabulary, he could have used one of these words.

DOMINIC WATT³: Nickum, rouker, losenger.

SIEGEL: Nickum - a cheating or dishonest person.

CHANG: Rouker - someone who spreads rumors⁴.

SIEGEL: Losenger - a lying rascal⁵.

WATT: It's nice to have new ways of expressing old ideas.

CHANG: That's Dr. Dominic Watt, senior linguistic⁶ lecturer at the University of York in the U.K. Recently he and a team of researchers combed through historical texts and dictionaries looking for old words they thought could be useful today.

SIEGEL: They came up with a list of 30, including snoutfair.

WATT: George Clooney is very snoutfair.

SIEGEL: Snout as in nose, fair as in handsome - as in, you've got a nice nose. You're a good-looking person.

CHANG: There's also...

WATT: Momist.

CHANG: That's a harsh critic. A momist is always finding fault with things.

SIEGEL: And then there's this old word.

WATT: Betrump.

SIEGEL: Betrump - it's a verb.

WATT: To swindle or to deceive, to cheat somebody.

CHANG: And while it sounds like something a critic of the president might have coined on Twitter, Dominic Watt says betrump actually dates back to the 16th century, found in a Scottish translation of Virgil's epic⁷ poem "The Aeneid."

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 archaic   

adj.(语言、词汇等)古代的，已不通用的

参考例句：

• The company does some things in archaic ways,such as not using computers for bookkeeping.这个公司有些做法陈旧，如记账不使用电脑。
• Shaanxi is one of the Chinese archaic civilized origins which has a long history.陕西省是中国古代文明发祥之一，有悠久的历史。

3 watt   

n.瓦，瓦特

参考例句：

• The invention of the engine is creditable to Watt.发动机的发明归功于瓦特。
• The unit of power is watt.功率的单位是瓦特。

4 rumors   

n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷

参考例句：

• Rumors have it that the school was burned down. 有谣言说学校给烧掉了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Rumors of a revolt were afloat. 叛变的谣言四起。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 rascal   

n.流氓；不诚实的人

参考例句：

• If he had done otherwise,I should have thought him a rascal.如果他不这样做，我就认为他是个恶棍。
• The rascal was frightened into holding his tongue.这坏蛋吓得不敢往下说了。

6 linguistic   

adj.语言的，语言学的

参考例句：

• She is pursuing her linguistic researches.她在从事语言学的研究。
• The ability to write is a supreme test of linguistic competence.写作能力是对语言能力的最高形式的测试。

7 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。