Name: 【TED-Ed】拼字的意義 Making sense of spelling - Gina Cooke
Uploaded: 2013-03-24T13:34:48.000Z
Duration: 4 min 19 s

情態副詞

You've probably seen an email or an internet post

你可能看過電子郵件或網路文章

about how weird and random English spelling seems to be.

有關英文拼字看似多麼的奇怪與隨機

第二類條件句型

But what if I told you that  it actually makes perfect sense?

但如果我告訴你，這其實一切都有完美道理？

這就是拼字的功能 -- 讓字有道理 假設拼字像是在剝洋蔥的皮

The first layer is a word's sense and meaning.

Often there are multiple layers of meaning.

Think of the center of the onion as a word's base element,

A bound base, like the R-U-P-T of "erupt" or "rupture"

結合型字根，像噴發（erupt）或破裂（rupture）中 的 R-U-P-T 需要其它的元素以構成單字

needs another element in order to surface in a word.

give us compounds, like "twofold" or "someone" or "bankrupt."

構成複合字，像兩倍的（twofold）、 某人（someone）、破產（bankrupt）

Once we figure out a word's meaningful elements,

只要我們了解一個單字有意義的元素

We can peel back its history to shed a little more light

我們便能解開它的歷史並更明白

needs its "W" in order to mark its connection

to words like "twice," "twelve," "twenty,"

像兩次（twice）、十二（twelve）、二十（twenty）

雙胞胎（twin）、之間（between）

A word's history is another layer of the onion.

With that understanding, let's investigate the word "one."

有這樣的認知，讓我們來檢視 one 這個字

First we need to check in with what it means.

特別的（unique）、單一的（single）、單獨的（solitary）

"One's" historical layers include its relatives

one 的歷史層面包含其他相似的字

只有（only）、一次（once）、 十一（eleven）、甚至一個（a）

There are the familiar ones, like "anyone,"

and "one-track" and "oneself" - those are obvious.

單軌的（one-track）、一個人（oneself） 這些明顯的字

But let's take a look at some unexpected derivations

但讓我們看一些其它 one 比較不尋常的衍生字

The word "alone" is built from the prefix A-L plus the base O-N-E.

獨自一人（alone）這個字，是由 字首 A-L 和字根 O-N-E 所結合而成

in "always," "already," "almighty" and "almost."

總是（always）、已經（already）、 全能的（almighty）、幾乎（almost）

alone 這個字的意思是「全部只有一個（all one）」

但在中古世紀時被做了錯誤分析

as having the prefix "a," like in "asleep" and "awake" and "around,"

而只有 a 的字首，像是睡著的（asleep）、 醒的（awake）和四周的（around）

which then developed into its own family.

In the word "atone," we find the familiar preposition "at"

在「彌補（atone）」這個字中， 我們看到常用的介系詞 at

See, when we atone for something we've done wrong,

to fix what's broken, to be at one again with whomever we hurt.

更正錯誤， 與我們傷害到的人合一

the word "onion," which is also frequently derided as irregular

「洋蔥（onion）」的拼字通常被看作不規則

or crazy, for its spelling of "uh" with an O.

或沒道理， 因為它用 O 拼出 uh 的音

But again, if we look into the word's structure,

we learn that it is written as O-N-E plus I-O-N,

the same suffix we find in "tension," "action," "union"

是在緊張（tension）、行為（action）、 聯合（union）中的字尾

Unlike the many cloves in a head of garlic,

It is marked by the state or condition of oneness.

one single writing system shared across time and space.

英文是一種 跨越時空的獨特寫作系統

Its structure and its history have many layers,

and peeling them apart can really add flavor to our language

若把它們層層剝開， 可為語言增添風味

and spice up our understanding. See, spelling is never just about spelling,

並豐富我們的認知 看吧！拼字其實不只是拼字

It's almost enough to make you want to cry.

字幕列表影片播放

【TED-Ed】拼字的意義 Making sense of spelling - Gina Cooke

word

write

oneness

email