Thu, Jun 25, 2020 page15

• The origins of ‘genuine’ 「名副其實」的起源

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  The Proto-Indo-European root *gene- (to give birth, to beget) gave birth to a whole family tree of words related to giving birth, natural origin, reproduction, descent through family lineage and anything pertaining to generation or birth.

  Genealogy means the study of family trees, from the Greek genea (generation, descent) together with the suffix –logy, meaning “the study of something.”

  The Latin word generalis (relating to all, of a whole class, generic) derives ultimately from *gene-, too, and begets the English adjective “general,” originally from around 1200, meaning “of wide application, affecting or involving all.”

  

  Paternity icon, 17th century, anonymous. 父子關係聖像。十七世紀。作者佚名。

  Photo: Wikimedia Commons 照片：維基共享資源

  The adjective “genital” (pertaining to (sexual) reproduction), dating to the late 14th century, comes from the Latin genitus, the past participle of gignere, from the root *gene-.

  The Latin gignere also gives genuinus, meaning “native, natural or innate,” which bequeathed us the English adjective “genuine” (natural, not acquired), in the 1590s.

  An interesting alternative etymology to genuine is that it comes from the Latin genu (knee). Apparently, there was an ancient custom in which a father would place a newborn on his knee as a way to acknowledge paternity. From around the 1660s, the word genuine has been used to mean “really proceeding from its reputed source.”

  (Paul Cooper, Taipei Times)

  原始印歐語字根「*gene–」（生育、成為…之生父）衍生出一整個譜系的詞彙，包括與生產、自然起源、繁殖、家族後裔，以及任何與世代或生育有關的詞。

  「genealogy」（系譜學）一字意為對家譜之研究，是由希臘文「genea」（世代、後裔）以及後綴「–logy」組合而城，表示對某種事物的研究。

  拉丁文「generalis」（與全部有關、屬於整類、通稱）最早也是源自「*gene-」這個字根，並衍生出英文形容詞「general」，在西元一二○○年左右出現，意思是「廣泛適用、影響或涉及全部」。

  形容詞「genital」（生殖的、與（性）生殖有關），可追溯到十四世紀末，來自拉丁文「genitus」，即「gignere」之過去分詞，源頭也是「*gene-」這個字根。

  拉丁文「gignere」也演變出「genuinus」，意為本地的、自然的或固有的，在一五九○年代衍生出英文形容詞「genuine」（自然的、非後天取得的）。

  關於「genuine」之來源的另一種有趣說法，是說它來自拉丁文「genu」（膝）。顯然有種古老的習俗，父親將新生兒抱到膝上以承認父子關係。「genuine」一字現今之意義「確實出自其宣稱之來源/名副其實/真品」，大約始自一六六○年代。

  （台北時報林俐凱譯）
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