英語裡有漢語與漢語英語化

Timothy Kiefer康思德(美)

　　正如任何一個學了英語的中國人所能證實的，只有極個別的詞在中文和英文裡是一樣的，這是中國與歐洲的歷史導致的直接結果。在過去的幾千年中，中國曾是自給自足的社會，與歐洲的聯繫極少。這種分隔的結果，成為了漢語與歐洲各種語言之間沒有相互借用很多詞語的部分原因。相比之下，當今東南亞主要語言中大多有着很多來自英語的外來語。反過來，英語也吸收了來自印度語、馬來語的數百個詞，如loot(搶劫)、tank(坦克)等詞，如今已完全融入了英語，以至於幾乎沒有哪個英國人或美國人對它們來源於亞洲有略微的了解。

　　然而，上幾個世紀見證了西方與中國接觸程度的提高。其結果，數量雖不多但一直在增長的一批漢語詞彙找到了進入英語的路徑。在這些詞中，包括豆腐(它是通過日本進到英語中的)、風水、功夫、白菜，大多是英語中比較新的詞，大多數英語是母語的人仍然把這些詞視為外來語。但有一小部分漢語詞彙已經徹底英語化了，以至於說起它們來源於中國還讓人有點吃驚。下面的3個就是這類詞：

　　Ketchup(西紅柿醬)

　　上次你去麥當勞吃薯條時蘸的西紅柿醬一詞，似乎是典型的美國詞。然而，該詞根本就不是美國詞，人們認為它來自中國(福建)閩南話“茄汁”。它是指一種用醋和魚做成的調味醬，當年由中國商人帶到了東南亞，並且以kechap的拼法進入到馬來語當中。歐洲的航海者把這種醬帶回了歐洲，英語國家的人稱它ketchup或是catsup，前者第一次被記載在英文中是1711年，後者是1730年，兩種拼法至今都在使用，但ketchup在美國用得更為普遍。

　　十八世紀和十九世紀的ketchup與我們今天所知道的西紅柿醬大不一樣，那時候這個詞可以指任何一種以醋為主料的一系列調味醬，包括蘑菇醬和核桃醬，最終，西紅柿與醋做的醬發明出來，並且廣為流行。(它還被正確地稱之為西紅柿ketchup，但多數人將西紅柿一詞從名稱中略掉了)。隨着美國快餐連鎖店如麥當勞的擴展，以西紅柿為主料的ketchup已為世界所熟悉。

　　Chow(狗，食物，吃)

　　在英語中chow至少有兩個講法，這兩個都來源於中文。第一個chow(通常是重疊形式chowchow)是一種源於中國的狗。這種狗以長長的紅毛或是黑毛以及藍舌頭為人所知。可以認為，chow一詞來源於漢語普通話或廣東話中的“狗”，但究竟是怎麼來的並不清楚。

　　第二個chow的意思是：當名詞用時是食物，當動詞用時是吃，這兩種用法都是俚語，特別是名詞形式在美國口語中用得特別普遍。作為動詞，chow常常是短語動詞“to chow down”或是“to chow on”的一部分，其意隱含着吃得多或吃得快；而名詞形式的chow直到20世紀中期以前，一直是西方人和中國商人所使用的混雜英語中的詞彙。

　　做食物講的chow的來源並不清楚，有些學者提出它來源於普通話中的“雜”或是餃子的“餃”，但也有一些其他推測，這些推測至少聽上去是有一定道理的。chow的兩個講法都來源於漢語也支持了那種認為這個詞的兩種意思都來源於“狗”的說法。牛津英文字典(1989年版)解釋chow的第二個意思“食物”時說“可以認為這是因為窮人將狗作為食物”。

　　Gung-ho(熱切的)

　　Gung-ho是個形容詞，意為“非常熱切的”，這個詞確確實實用於口語。雖說它偶爾用於正式的書面語，但卻在商界或專業圈子內的口語中非常流行，用以指對某一建議或項目的態度。例如：A：你們部門的工程師們怎麼看新的設計項目？B：噢，他們非常gung-ho——也就是說，他們熱切地想為這個項目的成功貢獻力量。該詞是在第二次世界大戰中進入到英語中的。那時美國士兵來到中國，幫助中國戰友打擊日本侵略者，在中國他們與名為“中國工業合作社”(該組織今天依舊存在)的機構有很多接觸。Gung-ho(工合)是該組織名稱的縮寫，被一些美國海軍陸戰隊的部門作為了座右銘，用來代表美國意欲與中國共同作戰打敗日本。戰爭結束後，這個詞也乘着回家的美國軍隊運輸船來到了美國，變成了“(為共同的目標)而有獻身精神的”或是“熱切的”同義詞。

　　
　　As any Chinese who has studied English can attest, there are very few words that English and Chinese share. This is a direct result of Chinese and European history. For thousands of years, China was a self-contained civilization with very little contact with Europe. Partly as a result of this separation, Chinese and the languages of Europe have not borrowed many words from each another.In contrast, most of the main languages of South and East Asia are now full of loanwords from English.English, in turn, has absorbed hundreds of words from Indian languages and Malay - with some like "loot" and "tank" now so utterly at home in English that few Britons or Americans have any inkling of their Asian origin.

　　Nevertheless, the last few centuries have seen an increasing level of contact between the West and China. As a result, a small but growing number of Chinese words have found their waysintosthe English language. Most of these words, including "tofu", which arrived via Japan, "feng shui", "kung fu" and "bok choy" are relative newcomers to English, and most English speakers still regard these words as "foreign".But a handful of Chinese words have been so thoroughly anglicized that their Chinese provenance comes as a bit of a surprise. Here are three of them:

　　Ketchup

　　The ketchup you may have put on your French fries the last time you visited McDonald's seems quintessentially American. However, the word "ketchup" is not American at all. It is believed to come from the (Hokkien) Minnan word "ke-tsiap", denoting a vinegar-and-fish sauce that Chinese traders took to Southeast Asia. There the word entered Malay as "kechap". European sailors took the sauce to Europe,swheresEnglish-speakers called it either "ketchup", first recorded in English in 1711, or "catsup", first recorded in 1730. Both spellings are in use today, but "ketchup" is more common in the US.

　　The "ketchup" of the 1700s and 1800s was quite different from the ketchup we know today. The word referred to any one of a number of vinegar-based sauces, including mushroom ketchup and walnut ketchup. Eventually the tomato-and-vinegar version was created and became popular.(It is still correctly known as "tomato ketchup", but most people drop the "tomato" from the name.) With the spread of American fast-food chains such as McDonald's, tomato-based ketchup has become familiar worldwide.

　　Chow

　　There are at least two words "chow" in English, and both of them come from Chinese. The first "chow" (often in the double form "chowchow") is a breed of dog which originated in China. Chows are known for their long red or black fur and their blue tongues. Supposedly this word "chow" derives from the Mandarin or Cantonese word "gou", but precisely how is unclear.

　　A second "chow" means "food" (noun) or "to eat" (verb). In both uses "chow" is a slang term, and the noun in particular is very common in colloquial American. As a verb, "chow" is normally part of the phrasal verbs "to chow down" or "to chow on"; these carry a connotation of eating a lot or eating quickly. The noun "chow" was in the vocabulary of the pidgin English used by Westerners and Chinese merchants until the mid-20th century.

　　The origin of the chow that refers to food is obscure.Some scholars suggest that it came from the Mandarin "za" (mixed) or from the "jiao" ofjiaozi, but there are other conjectures that are at least as persuasive.The common Chinese origin of the two chows has also given rise to the theory that both meanings of the word derive from the word "gou".The Oxford English Dictionary (1989 edition) states that the second definition "is supposed to be due to the use of the chow ('the edible dog of China') as food by poor Chinese."

　　Gung-ho

　　"Gung-ho" is an adjective meaning "very enthusiastic".The word is decidedly colloquial. Though seldom used in formal writing, it is quite popular in business and professional circles to characterize attitudes toward proposals and projects.(A:"How do the engineers in your department feel about the new design project?"B:"Oh, they're very gung-ho" - i.e. eager to contribute to the success of the project.)The word entered English during World War II, when American soldiers came to China to help their Chinese comrades fight the Japanese invaders. There they had a good deal of contact with an organization called the Chinese Industrial Cooperative Society, gongye hezuoshe.(The organization still exists today.) "Gung-ho" (= gonghe), the abbreviation of the organization's name, was adopted as a motto by certain US Marine units to symbolize America's desire to work together with China to defeat Japan. After the war ended, the word traveled back to the United States aboard homeward-bound troopships and became a general synonym for "dedicated (to a shared goal)" or "enthusiastic".

北京青年報