The verb “decapitate” combines the Latin words de (off) and caput (head). It means “to cut the head off,” and came into English in the 1610s, by way of the 14th century French word decapiter. The noun form is “decapitation.”
The word “capitation” also exists, although it doesn’t mean to place the head back on the body once it has been removed. It means “the counting of heads” for the purposes of levying a tax, and dates back to the 1610s.
In the early 15th century, the root caput came to be associated with the main, principal, chief or dominant item of its kind. It wasn’t until the 1660s, however, that the word “capital” was first recorded to refer to the main city of a country, being the official seat of government.
Photo: AP 照片：美聯社
The upper case first letter of a sentence came to be called the capital letter — appearing as it does at the “head” of the sentence — in around the 14th century.
The Latin capitulum (chapter) leads to the idea of “to draw up in heads or chapters” and therefore that of arranging terms and conditions in an agreement. In the 1640s this was narrowed down to arranging terms of surrender, giving us the modern verb “to capitulate,” meaning to surrender having negotiated terms, or by extension, to “cease resisting.”
(Paul Cooper, Taipei Times)
動詞「decapitate」結合了拉丁字「de」（脫離、切斷、掉落）和「caput」（頭部），是斷頭的意思。該字源自於十四世紀的法文字「decapiter」，約在一六一○年代進入英語系統，名詞是「decapitation」。
在英語中也有「capitation」這個字，不過並不是把砍斷的頭再接回身體的意思，而是徵稅時按人頭計算之意，該字亦可回朔自一六一○年代。
在十五世紀初，「caput」這個字根開始和主要的、首要的、為首的、支配的這類之概念產生關聯。然而，直到一六六○年代，才有關於「capital」這個字首次用來代表一國首都的記錄，也就是政府的正式所在地。
而句子的第一個字母要大寫，自十四世紀左右起也叫「capital letter」（大寫字母）——顯然是因為它是一個句子的「開頭」。
拉丁字「capitulum」（章節）則引申為起草契約標題或章節、安排協議條款及條件。而到了一六四○年代，其字義便限縮為安排投降條款，因此而有了「capitulate」一字的現代字義︰依協商好的條件投降，並另外衍生出停止反抗的意思。
（台北時報張聖恩譯）
A: Wow, the 36th Golden Melody Awards ceremony is set for this weekend. B: I like all the nominees for Best Mandarin Album: Incomplete Rescue Manual by various artists, Outcomes by J.Sheon, Invisible Color by Terence Lam, The Dreamer by Khalil Fong, Haosheng Haochi by Trout Fresh and Ordeal by Pearls by Waa Wei. A: Despite struggling with serious illness, Fong managed to finish his last album before he died. B: With his hit Twenty Three, he is also nominated for Best Song, Lyricist and Composer, and will receive a Special Jury Award for his album. A: And
Long before modern highways crossed Taiwan’s rugged landscape, Chiayi’s Alishan Forest Railway pioneered the way through the mountains. Its tracks wound through a large forest of tall trees, offering stunning views of the region’s natural beauty. Let’s get aboard now and let the train carry us back to the early days of the railway, when the tracks were first laid through this wooded forest. After Japan took control of Taiwan in 1895, the government recognized the value of Alishan’s wood, but transporting timber from such rough terrain was no easy task. The railway skillfully dealt with the steep slopes
A: The Golden Melody Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award will go to both musician Bruce Wong and late singer Jeff Ma. B: Some superstars also won this honor in the past, such as late singer Teresa Teng. A: Speaking of Teresa, have you heard that an unreleased Japanese song of hers was found recently? B: Really? Will the song be released? A: Yes, her track Love Song in the Night Fog is set to be released this month, marking the 30th anniversary of the legendary singer’s death. A: 本屆金曲獎特別貢獻獎頒給樂手翁孝良、已故歌手馬兆駿。 B: 以往有不少超級巨星，像是已故歌后鄧麗君也曾獲此殊榮唷。 A: 說到鄧麗君，你有聽說她生前未發布的日文歌曲被發現了嗎？ B: 真的嗎？新歌會公開嗎？ A: 這首歌《情歌最愛夜霧時》預計本月發布，正好紀念傳奇歌后去世30週年！ （By Eddy
1. 他的父母要他不要再犯這樣嚴重的錯誤。 ˇ His parents told him not to make such serious mistakes again. ˇ His parents suggested that he should not make such serious mistakes again. ˇ His parents told him that he should not make such serious mistakes again. χ His parents told him do not make such serious mistakes again. 註︰祈使句變成間接引語，通常用複合受詞表達。試比較下列直接引語和間接引語： “Be careful,” he advised. He advised me to be more careful. He said to me, “Don’t do this again.” He told me not to do that again. “Get it ready,” he ordered us. He ordered us to get it ready. 在這種句子裏用什麼詞作述詞，要根據所引句子的口氣來決定。在 tell, suggest, order 等後面也可接受詞從屬句。 2. 我問他那漂亮女孩是誰。 ˇ I asked him who that beautiful girl was. χ I asked him who
RSS