weird的词源
英文词源
- weird
- weird: [OE] Originally, weird was a noun, meaning ‘fate, destiny’. Etymologically it denoted ‘that which comes about’: for it was derived from the same base which produced the now obsolete English verb worth ‘come to be, become’ (a relative of German werden ‘become’). It was used adjectivally in Middle English in the sense ‘having power to control fate’ (which is where the weird sisters who confronted Macbeth come in), but the modern sense ‘uncanny’ did not emerge until the early 19th century, inspired by, but taking semantic liberties with, Shakespeare’s use of the word.
=> verse - weird (adj.)
- c. 1400, "having power to control fate, from wierd (n.), from Old English wyrd "fate, chance, fortune; destiny; the Fates," literally "that which comes," from Proto-Germanic *wurthiz (cognates: Old Saxon wurd, Old High German wurt "fate," Old Norse urðr "fate, one of the three Norns"), from PIE *wert- "to turn, to wind," (cognates: German werden, Old English weorðan "to become"), from root *wer- (3) "to turn, bend" (see versus). For sense development from "turning" to "becoming," compare phrase turn into "become."
The sense "uncanny, supernatural" developed from Middle English use of weird sisters for the three fates or Norns (in Germanic mythology), the goddesses who controlled human destiny. They were portrayed as odd or frightening in appearance, as in "Macbeth" (and especially in 18th and 19th century productions of it), which led to the adjectival meaning "odd-looking, uncanny" (1815); "odd, strange, disturbingly different" (1820). Related: Weirdly; weirdness.
中文词源
来自PIE*wer,弯，转，纺织，词源同versus,wreath。原指北欧神话中编织人命运之线的三女神，又称weird sisters,但这三姐妹在传说和文学作品中都被描绘成无比怪异的女巫形象，因此引申词义怪异的，奇怪的。
该词的英语词源请访问找单词词源英文版：weird 词源，weird 含义。
词根-weir-指“转；扭”，“扭曲的”即不正常，引申为“怪异的”。它的同源词太多，如后缀-ward（朝向，字面义“转向”），如forward（向前）；worm（蠕虫，“身体扭曲”）；词根vert、vers亦是同源，如pert（转移）、invert（反转）、revert（恢复）。
weird：古怪的；怪异的；奇特的
在莎翁的名剧《麦克白》（Macbeth, 1605）中，麦克白以weird sisters称呼他在荒野上遇见的三女巫，这并没有什么不敬之意。weird sisters原指神话中的命运三女神，相当于希腊、罗马神话中的Fates及北欧神话中的Norns；而weird一词在古英语中作wyrd，原本就是“命运”的意思。weird原为名词，经莎翁这么一用，此后便转类为形容词，有having power to control fate（能够控制命运的）之意。至于它的今义“怪异的”等则是到19世纪时因受雪莱和济慈等诗人和作家的青睐而通用起来的，一般用于口语。20世纪中期出现的weirdie和weirdo都是由weird衍生的，均指“怪人”或“怪物”。
weird（怪异的）：莎士比亚笔下长相怪异的命运三女神
英语单词weird（怪异的）来自古英语wyrd，本意是“命运”。从8世纪后期开始，英国人开始使用weird来表示古罗马神话中的“命运三女神”。这三位女神是三姐妹，分别负责纺织、丈量和剪断代表人的生命的纱线。15和16世纪时，苏格兰人开始使用“weird sisters”来表示“命运三女神”。英国大文豪莎士比亚在其名著《麦克白》中采纳了这种用法。在这部戏剧中，莎士比亚将命运三女神描绘成了三位长相怪异骇人的女巫，因此weird一词便衍生出“怪异的”之意。
weird：[wɪəd] adj.怪异的，不可思议的n.命运，预言
来自 PIE*wer,弯，转，纺织，词源同 versus,wreath.原指北欧神话中编织人命运之线的三女神， 又称 weird sisters,但这三姐妹在传说和文学作品中都被描绘成无比怪异的女巫形象，因此引 申词义怪异的，奇怪的。
