VOA慢速英語: 火雞：錯誤的定義

火雞：錯誤的定義

And now another edition of Words and Their Stories, a VOA Learning English program about American expressions.

這里是詞語掌故的另一個節(jié)目，美國之音英語學習的美語表達。

Thanksgiving is one of the biggest American holidays. And Thanksgiving dinner is the center of the holiday.

感恩節(jié)是美國一個盛大的節(jié)日，感恩節(jié)大餐是這個節(jié)日的重中之重。

And at the center of Thanksgiving dinner is the turkey.

感恩節(jié)大餐的關(guān)鍵是火雞。

Our listeners may be wondering why the word “turkey” describes both a country and a bird that Americans eat for Thanksgiving dinner.

我們的聽眾也許好奇為什么“turkey”既是土耳其——一個國家名字，又是一種鳥類——美國人感恩節(jié)大餐的食物。

Many think the bird comes from the nation of Turkey. But turkey is not from Turkey.

許多人認為這種鳥來自土耳其，但是火雞不是來自土耳其。

In fact, the fact that the turkey bird is called by that name is one big mistake. We could say it is a case of mistaken identity.

實際上，火雞這個名字是個錯誤的叫法。我們可以說這是個錯誤的定義。

Since Americans are celebrating Thanksgiving, it is time to set the record straight.

因為美國人慶祝感恩節(jié)，所以是時候可以解釋一下錯誤的來源了。

First of all, “Turkey” has meant the “land of the Turks” since ancient times. The word turkey, referring to the bird, first appears in the English language around 1540. And the misunderstanding over the word turkey happened because of birds that look similar.

首先，在古代，“Turkey”是“土耳其人的土地。”單詞“火雞”是一種鳥，第一次出現(xiàn)在英語中是在1540年，對單詞turkey的誤解是因為這類鳥的稱呼跟另一種鳥相似。

This is the case of mistaken identity that we spoke of before.

這就是先前我們說的錯誤的定義。

First, there is an African bird called the guinea fowl. It has dark feathers with white spots and a patch of brown on the back of its neck. Portuguese traders brought the guinea fowl to Europe through North Africa.

首先，非洲有一種叫珍珠雞的鳥，這種鳥長著黑色的羽毛，身上有白色斑點，脖子后有一塊棕色毛。葡萄牙的商人把這種珍珠雞從北非帶到歐洲。

This foreign bird came to Europe through Turkish lands. So, the English thought of the bird as a “Turkish chicken.”

這種外國鳥通過土耳其來到歐洲，因此，英國人認為這種鳥是“土耳其雞”。

They mistakenly called the male bird the “turkey cock.” They called the female bird the “turkey hen.” It became popular to eat the bird for Christmas dinner.

他們錯誤地稱雄性鳥叫“火公雞”，稱雌性鳥是“火母雞”。后來日漸流行成為圣誕一道菜。

When the Europeans moved to North America, they saw a bird that looked like the guinea fowl. Orin Hargraves is a lexicographer, someone who writes dictionaries. Mr. Hargraves explains what happened:

當歐洲人搬遷到北美的時候，他們看到一種跟珍珠雞相似的鳥，歐琳·哈格瑞福斯是個詞典編纂人，他解釋了一下當初的情況：

“Some Europeans saw an American turkey, thought that it was the guine a fowl, which at that time was called the “turkey cock” and so gave it the same name."

“一些歐洲人看到美國的火雞，認為那就是珍珠雞，他們那時候稱之為‘火公雞’所以也就稱這種雞叫‘火雞’了。”

And so now we call this North American bird turkey even though it has no connection at all with the country Turkey … or even with Europe, for that matter.

盡管與土耳其國家或者歐洲沒有什么關(guān)系，但是現(xiàn)在我們稱這種北美的鳥叫火雞。

Now we call that bird turkey because somebody misnamed it. They thought it looked like this bird of African origin -- a bird that came at first from Africa.

現(xiàn)在我們稱呼這種鳥叫火雞因為有人當初錯誤的命名。他們認為火雞跟來源于非洲的雞相像——首先被人所知是因為來自非洲的這種鳥。

And there is another piece to the puzzle. The case of mistaken identity crosses land and language borders.

還有一個令人不解的地方，而這個錯誤的稱謂跨越國界，傳到不同國家。

The Turkish, for their part, call the North American bird “hindi,” the Turkish name for India. The reference to India probably comes from the old, wrong idea that the New World was in Eastern Asia.

而土耳其人他們稱北美的這種鳥叫“hindi”這個詞語來自印度。這個來自印度引用源于東亞新世界的古老的、錯誤的認識。

Sometimes, that is how language changes over time – by mistakes.

有時侯，語言就是這樣隨著時間被錯誤的流傳。

Another interesting fact about the turkey is that it almost became the national bird of the United States. Some people thought it should be the symbol of the U.S.

另一個有意思的情況是火雞幾乎成為美國的國鳥了，一些人認為火雞應(yīng)該成為美國的象征。

But today, of course, you will see the bald eagle on the Presidential Seal of the United States. Founding father Benjamin Franklin did not think the eagle was a good symbol for the new country. He thought the eagle was “lazy” and “of bad moral character” because it stole food from other birds. He thought that the turkey was a “more respectable bird” and a “true original native of America.”

但是今天，你可以看到美國總統(tǒng)的禿頭鷹印章。富蘭克林并沒有想到禿頭鷹成為新國家的象征。他認為鷹“懶散”而且“品德不良”，因為鷹從別的鳥類那盜取食物。他認為火雞是個“人們更容易接受的鳥”而且“是美國本土真正的起源”。

And that’s it for this episode of Words and Their Stories. Join us again next week, when we explore the story behind American English.

這是詞語掌故的一些片段，下周繼續(xù)加入我們，我們會探索美語背后火雞的故事。