British Surnames

 

英国人的姓氏

The men and women of Anglo-Saxon England normally bore one name only.

英国的安格鲁撒克逊人无论男女通常只有一个名字。

Distinguishing epithets were rarely added.

有区别作用的称号很少加在他们的名字后。

These might be patronymic, descriptive or occupational.

这样的描述性词语可能源于父名，描述性词语或职业，

They were, however, hardly surnames.

但在过去这些词语很少被当作姓氏。

Heritable names gradually became general in the three centuries following the Norman Conquest in 1066.

在诺曼底人在1066年征服英格兰后的三个世纪中，可继承的名字才逐渐被人们广泛使用。

It was not until the 13th and 14th centuries that surnames became fixed,although for many years after that,the degree of stability in family names varied considerably in different parts of the country.

直到13,14世纪姓氏才稳定下来，尽管在此后的许多年里，姓氏的稳定性在英国不同的地区各不相同。

British surnames fall mainly into four broad categories:

英国人的姓氏主要可以分为四大类:

patronymic, occupational, descriptive and local.

一是源于父名，二是源于职业，三是源于描述性词语，再有就是源于地方名字。

A few names, it is true, will remain puzzling:

的确，仍然有少数名字是令人费解的，

foreign names, perhaps, crudely translated,adapted or abbreviated;or artificial names.

或许是由于外国人名在翻译，改造，缩写的时候过于粗拙，也许是因为这些名字是人们另造出来的。

In fact, over fifty per cent of genuine British surnames derive from place names of different kinds,and so they belong to the last of our four main categories.

事实上，在真正的英国人姓氏中，超过50%源于各种各样的地名，也就是属于以上所说类别的最后一类。

Even such a name as Simpson may belong to this last group,and not to the first,had the family once had its home in the ancient village of that name.

即使辛普森这样的一个名字也可能是属于最后一类，而并非属于第一类，如果这个家庭曾经在一个叫这个名字的古老的村庄安过家。

Otherwise, Simpson means the son of Simon,as might be expected.

否则的话，如人们所料，辛普森的意思就是西蒙之子。

Hundreds of occupational surnames are at once familiar to us,or at least recognisable after a little thought:

几百个职业姓氏对我们来说都是很熟悉的，或者至少稍加思考就可以辨认出来。

Archer, Carter, Fisher, Mason, Thatcher, Taylor,to name but a few.

比如阿彻，卡特，费希尔，梅森，撒切尔，泰勒等。

Hundreds of others are more obscure in their meanings and testify to the amazing specialisation in medieval arts, crafts and functions.

另外还有数百个职业姓氏在意思上要更加模糊，也证明了中世纪的艺术，技艺和工种等具有惊人的专业性，

Such are Day,and Walker.

如戴和沃克。

All these vocational names carry with them a certain gravity and dignity,which descriptive names often lack.

所有职业姓氏都带着一定的庄重和尊严，而这是那些描述性的名字都缺乏的。

Some, it is true, like Long, Short or Little, are simple.

不错，像朗，肖特或者利特尔这些姓氏很简单。

They may be taken quite literally.

这些名字可以按照字面去理解，

Others require more thinking:their meanings are slightly different from the modern ones.

但另外一些名字就需要人们思考一番，因为它们的意思跟现代的意思不一样。

Black and White implied dark and fair respectively.

布莱克和怀特分别暗含着皮肤黝黑和皮肤白皙的意思。

Sharp meant genuinely discerning, alert, acute rather than quick-witted or clever.

夏普的意思是明察秋毫般的机敏和锐利，而不是反应快或聪明。

Place-names have a lasting interest since there is hardly a town or village in all England that has not at some time given its name to a family.

人民一直对地名感兴趣，因为在英格兰几乎没有一个城镇或村庄的名字没有被人民用来做他们的姓氏，

They may be picturesque, even poetical;or they may be pedestrian, even trivial.

这些名字可能让人感到诗情画意，也可能感到平庸甚至卑微。

Among the commoner names which survive with relatively little change from old-English times are Milton and Hilton.

那些比较常见，从古英语时期流传至今变化甚少的名字有:米尔顿和希尔顿。