crap的词源
英文词源
- crap (v.)
- "defecate," 1846, from one of a cluster of words generally applied to things cast off or discarded (such as "weeds growing among corn" (early 15c.), "residue from renderings" (late 15c.), underworld slang for "money" (18c.), and in Shropshire, "dregs of beer or ale"), all probably from Middle English crappe "grain that was trodden underfoot in a barn, chaff" (mid-15c.), from Middle French crape "siftings," from Old French crappe, from Medieval Latin crappa, crapinum "chaff." Related: Crapped; crapping.
Despite folk etymology insistence, not from Thomas Crapper (1837-1910) who was, however, a busy plumber and may have had some minor role in the development of modern toilets. The name Crapper is a northern form of Cropper (attested from 1221), an occupational surname, obviously, but the exact reference is unclear. Crap (v.) as a variant of crop (v.) was noted early 19c, as a peculiarity of speech in Scotland and the U.S. Southwest (Arkansas, etc.).
Draw out yere sword, thou vile South'ron!
Red wat wi' blude o' my kin!
That sword it crapped the bonniest flower
E'er lifted its head to the sun!
[Allan Cunningham (1784-1842), "The Young Maxwell"]
- crap (n.)
- "act of defecation," 1898; see crap (v.). Sense of "rubbish, nonsense" also first recorded 1898.
中文词源
词源不确定,可能来自拟声词。
该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版:crap 词源,crap 含义。
人们常把该粗俗词与发明抽水马桶的19世纪英国卫生工程师Thomas Crapper (1837 - 1910)相联系。有一种传统说法,认为crap 一词的各种形式,不管用作名词、动词还是感叹词,不管用于本义,指“屎”,还是用于引申义,指“废话”,都源于此人的姓氏Crapper,特别是它的相关词,意指“厕所”的crapper。这种说法似乎颇有道理。但Crapper是在1882年发明抽水马桶的,而crap一词则在多年以前就已见诸使用。由此看来,Crapper的大名只是一种有趣的巧合,当然他的发明很可能有助于crap 一词的传播和使用。究其根源,crap实源于中世纪荷兰语crappe‘scraps’(碎片,废物)。