wiseacre的词源

英文词源

wiseacre

wiseacre: [16] Wiseacre has no etymological connection with acres. The word’s ancestral meaning is ‘person who sees or knows things, prophet’. It was borrowed from Middle Dutch wijsseggher, which denoted ‘soothsayer’ (with no derogatory connotations). And this in turn came from Old High German wīssago, an alteration (due to the similarity of wīs ‘wise’ and sagen ‘say’) of wīzago ‘prophet’, which was derived from the prehistoric Germanic base *wīt- ‘know’ (source of English wise and wit).

wiseacre (n.)

1590s, partial translation of Middle Dutch wijssegger "soothsayer" (with no derogatory connotation), probably altered by association with Middle Dutch segger "sayer" from Old High German wizzago "prophet," from wizzan "to know," from Proto-Germanic *wit- "to know" (see wit (v.)). The deprecatory sense of "one who pretends to know everything" may have come through confusion with obsolete English segger "sayer," which also had a sense of "braggart" (mid-15c.).

中文词源

wiseacre：自以为无所不知的人

wise,聪明的，智慧的，-acre,词源不详。词义贬义化。

该词的英语词源请访问找单词词源英文版：wiseacre 词源，wiseacre 含义。

wiseacre：自作聪明的人；自以为是的人

这是一个口语用词，意为“自作聪明的人”或“自以为无所不知的人”。关于它的由来，流传着以下一则趣闻轶事：

一位拥有大片土地的乡绅在舰队街（Fleet Street）魔鬼酒店（the Devil Tavern）当着英国剧作家、诗人、评论家琼森（Ben Jonson, 1572-1637）的面夸耀自己的地产。琼森打趣地说，“What care we for your dirt and clods? Where you have an acre of land, I have ten acres of wit.”（谁稀罕你那些泥块土垒？你有一英亩地，我就有十英亩才智。）“Good, Mr Wiseacre,”（说得好，Wiseacre先生）那位绅士说道。

另有一则关于音乐家贝多芬的类似轶闻。有一次，他收到一张署名“土地所有者”（landowner）的名片，他便将自己的名片回敬了一张给对方，并附上“智慧所有者”（brainowner）字样。

此类名人轶闻趣事可能有几分可信之处，然而词源学家却不以为然。他们认为wiseacre和acre在词源上没有任何联系，该词是16世纪末从意为“预言者”的中古荷兰语wijsseggher或德语Weissager（相当于英语wise-sayer）演化过来的，无疑俗词源在变化过程中是起了作用的。

wiseacre：自以为无所不知的人

wise,聪明的，智慧的，-acre,词源不详。词义贬义化。