average的词源
英文词源
- average
- average: [15] The word average has a devious history. It began in Arabic, as ‘awārīya, the plural of ‘awār, a noun derived from the verb ‘āra ‘mutilate’; this was used as a commercial term, denoting ‘damaged merchandise’. The first European language to adopt it was Italian, as avaria, and it passed via Old French avarie into English (where in the 16th century it acquired its -age ending, probably by association with the then semantically similar damage).
Already by this time it had come to signify the ‘financial loss incurred through damage to goods in transit’, and this passed in the 17th century to the ‘equal sharing of such loss by those with a financial interest in the goods’, and eventually, in the 18th century, to the current (mathematical and general) sense of ‘mean’.
- average (n.)
- late 15c., "financial loss incurred through damage to goods in transit," from French avarie "damage to ship," and Italian avaria; a word from 12c. Mediterranean maritime trade (compare Spanish averia; other Germanic forms, Dutch avarij, German haferei, etc., also are from Romanic languages), which is of uncertain origin. Sometimes traced to Arabic 'arwariya "damaged merchandise." Meaning shifted to "equal sharing of such loss by the interested parties." Transferred sense of "statement of a medial estimate" is first recorded 1735. The mathematical extension is from 1755.
- average (adj.)
- 1770; see average (n.).
- average (v.)
- 1769, from average (n.). Related: Averaged; averaging.
中文词源
英语单词average一般译作“平均”，但在保险业中，该词却是“海损”（海运货物损失）的意思。单词average是怎么从“海损”之意衍生出“平均”之意呢？原来，average源自阿拉伯语awariya，意思是“损坏的货物”。在海运活动中，当船只遇到恶劣天气等危险，往往会抛弃一部分货物以减轻载重，避免船只倾覆。单词average原本指的就是这种海运货物损失。
海损由相关各方平均分摊，这在古代西方已经形成习惯。在古罗马的《十二铜表法》中就已有明文规定。后来欧洲各国沿用这一惯例，形成本国的法律。average在17世纪时引申出“平均分摊”之意，又从中引申出“平均”、“普通”之意。但在保险业中，它依然保留了“海损”这一原意。
average： ['æv(ə)rɪdʒ] n.平均，平均数，海损adj.平均的，普通的vt.平均分配，算出……的平均值vi.平均为，呈中间色
该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：average 词源，average 含义。
来自阿拉伯语，指海损货品，在古时没有保险机构的情况下，各货主按各自货品价值共同承担损失，后词义转为平均，原义见保险行业术语general average, 共同海损。
average：平均数，一般水平，平均的，一般的
源于阿拉伯语awariya‘damaged goods’(损坏的货物)，但却是15世纪末从法语avarie‘damaged or lost cargo’（损坏或损失的货物）借用过来的，16世纪时受pilotage（领航），towage(牵引费）等航海术语的词尾-age影响，而逐渐演变为average。所以average最初仅作海事法或保险用语，意为“海损”。所谓海损是指海上财产（船舶或所载货物）因遇海难或其他意外事故而遭受的损失。此类损失通常由有关各方平均分担，公元6世纪的罗马法中就已有明确规定。各航海国家都接受并沿用这一法理，把它作为本国海事法的一部分。据此，average 一词在17世纪时由原义引申出“平均分担”一义，而今天它所用各义，如“平均数”、“平均”、“一般水平”、“普通的”、“中等的”等都是由此进一步引申或演变过来的。除了英语之外，欧洲多数语言也都通过不同渠道吸收了这个阿拉伯词，如西班牙语作averia，荷兰语作averij，意大利语作avaria等，而且至今它们都还保留了原始词义。
