at roughly the same time as the early development of printing, the pronunciation of english was also undergoing major changes. the main change, which began in the fourteenth century during the lifetime of the poet chaucer, was in the pronunciation of vowel sounds. the so-called ‘great vowel shift’ resulted in the reduction of the number of long vowels (for example, in deed as distinct from dead) from seven to the five which we know today (discernible in the words bean, barn, born, boon, and burn). it also affected the pronunciation of other vowels: the word life, for example, was once pronounced as we now pronounce leaf, and name was pronounced as two syllables to rhyme with farmer. in many cases, as with name, the form of the word did not change, and this accounts for many of the ‘silent’ vowels at the ends of words. the result of these developments was a growing difference between what was spoken and what was written.

    几乎就在印刷业早期发展的同时，英语发音也经历着重大变化。主要变化始于诗人乔叟所处的1 4 世纪。所谓的“元音大转换”导致长元音(如deed 的元音音长与dead 的不同)由7个减少到现在我们所知道的5个(从bean、barn、born、boon和burn 中可见一斑)。“元音大转换”也影响到其他元音的发音，如life 曾一度与现在leaf 的发音相同，name 曾作为双音节词发音，与farmer 同韵。在很多情况下，正如name 一样，词形并没有变化，这就解释了为什么词尾会有许多“不发音”的元音。这些变化结果导致英语口语与书写之间的差别日益增大。

    the renaissance 文艺复兴

    the rediscovery in europe of the culture and history of the ancient greek and roman worlds exercised a further romanizing influence on english which blossomed in the renaissance of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries. scholarship flourished, and the language used by scholars and writers was latin. during the renaissance, words such as arena, dexterity, excision, genius, habitual, malignant, specimen, and stimulus came into use in english. they are familiar and useful words but their latin origins sometimes make them awkward to handle, as, for example, when we use arena, genius, and stimulus in the plural. there was also a tendency in the renaissance to try to emphasize the greek or latin origins of words when writing them. this accounts for the b in debt (the earlier english word was det; in latin it is debitum), and l in fault (earlier faut; the latin source is fallere fail), the s in isle (earlier ile; insula in latin), and the p in receipt (earlier receit; recepta in latin).

    some words that had gone out of use were reintroduced, usually with changed meanings, for example artificial, disc (originally the same as dish), and fastidious.

    欧洲重新发现古希腊和古罗马的文化与历史，给英语带来了进一步拉丁化的影响，这一影响在自15世纪至17世纪的文艺复兴中达到了顶峰。学术研究欣欣向荣，而学者们和作家们使用的语言却是拉丁语。在文艺复兴时期，拉丁词汇a r e n a 、dexterity、excision、genius、habitual、malignant、specimen 以及stimulus 开始在英语中使用。这些词耳熟能详，非常有用，但作复数时，其拉丁语词源却有时令人棘手，难以对付。如arena、genius 和stimulus 。在文艺复兴时期，书写中还有一种强调词的希腊语或拉丁语词源的倾向。这就解释了为什么debt 中有b (早期英语为det ，拉丁语为debitum)、fault 中有l(早期英语为faut， 拉丁语为fallere， 即fail)、isle 中有s (早期英语ile，拉丁语insula)以及receipt 中有p (早期英语receit， 拉丁语recepta)等。有些原已废弃的词汇，现又得到重新起用，通常意义已经变化，如artificial、disc (原义同dish )以及fastidious 等。

    later influences 日后影响

    the development of technology from the eighteenth century onwards has also played a part in continuing the influence of latin. new technical terms have come into use, formed on latin or greek source-words because these can convey precise ideas in easily combinable forms, for example bacteriology, microscope, radioactive, and semiconductor. combinations of germanic elements are also used, as in software, splashdown, and take-off. this process has sometimes produced odd mixtures, such as television, which is half greek and half latin, and microchip, which is half greek and half germanic.

    18世纪以来的技术进步也促进了拉丁语延续其影响。新的技术术语在希腊语或拉丁语源词汇的基础上形成，并开始为人所用，因为这些词汇能以简便的组合形式准确地表达各种概念，如bacteriology、microscope、radioactive以及semiconductor等。同时得到使用的还有包含日耳曼语成分的合成词，如software、splashdown 和take-off。这一过程有时便产生了新奇的混杂词形，如半希腊半拉丁的television 和半希腊半日耳曼的microchip。

    in recent times english speakers have come into contact with people from other parts of the world, through trade, colonization, and improved communications. this contact has produced a rich supply of new words that are often strange in form. india, where the british first had major dealings in the seventeenth century, is the source of words such a bungalow, jodhpurs, and khaki. usually these words have been altered or assimilated assimilated to make them look more natural in english (e.g. bungalow from gujarati bangalo). examples from other parts of the world are harem and mufti (from arabic), bazaar (from persian), kiosk (from turkish), and anorak (from eskimo). from european countries we have acquired balcony (from italian), envelope (from french), and yacht (from dutch).

    在近代，操英语者通过贸易、开拓殖民地和日益发达的交通通讯与世界各地的人们有了接触。这种接触产生了丰富的新词，而这些新词在形态方面往往千姿百态。印度是英国人在17世纪首先与之有重要交往的国家，诸如bungalow、jodhpurs 和khaki 之类的词汇便源于此地。通常，这些词汇已被改变或同化，以便在英语中看起来更自然一些(如bungalow 由古吉拉特语的bangalo 演化而来)。源自世界其他地方的词汇还有harem 和mufti (源自阿拉伯语)、bazaar (源自波斯语)、kiosk(源自土耳其语)、anorak (源自爱斯基摩语)。源自欧洲国家的词汇有balcony (源自意大利语)、envelope (源自法语)和yacht (源自荷兰语)等。

    thousands of such words, though not english in the germanic sense, are regarded as fully absorbed into english. in addition, many words and phrases are used in english contexts but are generally regarded as ‘foreign’, and are conventionally printed in italics to distinguish them when used in an english context. very many of these are french, for example accouchement (childbirth), bagarre (a scuffle), chanson (a french song), fl nerie (id leness), and rang é (domesticated), but other languages are represented, as with echt (genuine) and machtpolitik (power politics) from german, and ma ana (tomorrow) from s panish (see also i taliciz ation, p112).

    数以千计的此类词汇，虽然在日耳曼意义上说并非英语，但人们认为它们已经为英语全盘吸纳。此外，许多词汇和短语虽然用于英语语境之中，但一般仍被视作“外来语”，而且用于英语语境时，通常都用斜体印刷，以示区别。这些词汇大多是法语， 如accouchement (分娩)、bagarre (混战)、chanson (一种法语歌曲)、fl nerie (无所事事)、rang é (驯化)等等，但是也有来自其他语言的词汇，如来自德语的echt(真正的)、machtpolitik (强权政治)和来自西班牙语的ma ana (明天)(另见112 页斜体)。

    usage often recognizes the difficulties of absorbing words from various sources by assimilating them into forms that are already familiar. the word picturesque which came into use in the eighteenth century, is a compromise between its french source pittoresque and the existing middle english word picture, to which it is obviously related. the english word cockroach is a conversion of the spanish word cucaracha into a pair of familiar words cock (a bird) and roach (a fish). cockroaches have nothing to do with cocks or roaches, and the association is simply a matter of linguistic convenience.

    词汇用法往往承认，用人们所熟悉的形式同化并吸收来源各异的词汇绝非易事。18 世纪开始使用的picturesque 就是由两个明显相关的词语-- 法语pittoresque 和当时业已存在的中古英语picture -- 彼此妥协的产物。英语词汇cockroach源自于将西牙班语的cucaracha转换而成的一对熟词cock (鸟类) 和roach (鱼类)。cockroach 与鸟类和鱼类毫不相干，而两词的结合纯粹出于语言上的方便。

    problems of inflection arise with words taken from other languages. the ending -i in particular is very unnatural in english, and usage varies between -is and -ies in the plural. a similar difficulty occurs with the many adopted nouns ending in -o, some of which come from italian (solo), some from spanish (armadillo), and some from latin (hero); here usage varies between -os and - oes. verbs often need special treatment, as for example bivouac (from french, and before that probably from swiss german) which needs a k in the past tense (bivouacked, not bivouaced which might be mispronounced), and ski (from norwegian) where the past form skied is not really satisfactory, and ski'd was once popular as an alternative. in this dictionary extensive help is given with these and other difficulties of inflection.

    来源于其他语言的词汇会出现屈折变化方面的问题。尤其是词尾-i 在英语中显得非常不自然，复数形式-is 和-ies的用法也不相同。类似的困难也困扰着许多以-o 结尾的外来语名词。这些词有的源自意大利语(solo)，有的源自西班牙语(armadillo)，有的源自拉丁语(hero)，这里复数-os 和-oes 的用法也并不相同。动词往往需要特殊对待，如bivouac(源自法语，更早时可能源自瑞士德语)的过去时需要增加一个k (bivouacked 而不是bivouaced， 后者可能导致错误发音)， ski (源自挪威语)的过去时skied 差强人意， ski’d 作为其替代形式曾流行一时。对于诸如此类以及其他屈折变化方面的困难，本词典中提供了广泛的帮助。

    dictionaries 词典

    one obvious consequence of the development of printing in the fifteenth century was that it allowed the language to be recorded in glossaries and dictionaries, and this might be expected to have had a considerable effect on the way words were used and spelt. however, listing all the words in the language systematically in alphabetical order with their spellings and meanings is a relatively recent idea. in 1580, when shakespeare was sixteen, a schoolmaster named william bullokar published a manual for the ‘ease, speed, and perfect reading and writing of english’, and he called for the writing of an english dictionary. such a dictionary, the work of robert cawdrey (another schoolmaster), was not published until 1604. like the dictionaries that followed followed in quick succession (including bullokar's own english expositor), its purpose was described as being for the understanding of ‘hard words’.

    it was not until the eighteenth century that dictionaries systematically listed all the words in general use at the time regardless of how ‘easy’ or ‘hard’ they were; the most notable of these were compiled by nathaniel bailey (1721) and, especially, samuel johnson (1755). they were partly a response to a call, expressed by swift, pope, addison, and other writers, for the language to be fixed and stabilized, and for the establishment of an english academy to monitor it. none of these hopes as such were realized, but the dictionaries played an important role in settling the form and senses of english words.

    15世纪印刷术的发展所带来的一个明显结果便是语言可以词汇表或词典的形式记录下来了，而且此举有望对词的用法和拼写产生重要影响。然而，将语言中所有的词语按字母顺序系统地排列并详录其拼写和释义却是相当新的想法。1580 年，也就是莎士比亚16 岁时，有位名叫威廉·布洛卡的教师出版了一本旨在实现“轻松、快捷、准确地阅读和书写英语”的手册，呼吁编写一本英语词典。然而，这样一部词典直至1604年才得以出版，编者是罗伯特·考德瑞(也是一位教师)。如同诸多接踵而至的其他词典一样(包括布洛卡本人的《英语词解》)，其目的被描述为解释“难词”。直到1 8 世纪，词典才系统地收录当时所有的通用词汇，而不论其“难”“易”。其中，纳撒尼尔·贝利（1721 年）、尤其是塞缪尔·约翰逊(1755年)编纂的词典最为著名。这些词典部分是为了回应对斯威夫特、波普、艾迪生以及其他作家所发出的号召，他们呼吁将英语确定并稳定下来，并建立一个英语学会来进行监督。虽然这些希望均告破灭，但是在确定英语词汇的形式和释义方面，这些词典发挥了重要作用。

    the systematic investigation and recording of words in all their aspects and on a historical basis is first and exclusively represented in the oxford english dictionary, begun by the scottish schoolmaster james a. h. murray in 1879. this describes historically the spelling, inflection, origin, and meaning of words, and is supported by citations from printed literature and other sources as evidence from old english to the present day. to take account of more recent changes and developments in the language, a four-volume supplement was added to the work from 1972 to 1986, and a new edition integrating the original dictionary and its supplement appeared in 1989. because of its depth of scholarship, the oxford english dictionary forms a major basis of all english dictionaries produced since. smaller concise and other household dictionaries that aim at recording the main vocabulary in current use began to appear early twentieth century and in recent years the number has grown remarkably.

    1879 年，苏格兰教师詹姆斯a.h.默里开始首次以历史为基础对词汇进行系统的研究和缜密的收录，而《牛津英语词典》独享这一成果。词典从历史的角度描述了词的拼写、屈折变化、词源和释义，并以自古英语至当代的文学印刷品及其他资料中的引文作为佐证。为了记录下语言的新近变化和发展，自1972 年至1986 年，一套四卷本的《补编》面世。1989 年，一部将原词典与《补编》合而为一的新版词典问世了。由于它深邃的学术资质，《牛津英语词典》成了其后编纂的所有英语词典的重要基础。20 世纪早期，旨在收录当代使用的主要词汇的小型简明词典和其他家用词典相继出现，近年来其数量增长极为惊人。

    dictionaries of current english, as distinct from historical dictionaries, generally record the language as it is being used at the time, and with usage constantly changing the distinction between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ is sometimes difficult to establish. unlike french, which is guided by the rulings of the acade mie fran aise, english is not monitored by any single authority; established usage is the principal criterion. one result of this is that english tolerates many more alternative spellings than other languages. the alternatives are based on certain patterns of word formation and variation in the different languages through which they have passed before reaching ours.

    当代英语词典与历史词典有着显著区别，一般收录的是当今所用的语言，而且由于语言用法变化无常，有时“正确”与“错误”之间的界限很难划清。与受法兰西学院规则指导的法语不同，英语不受任何单一权威机构的监控，所以已经确立的习惯用法遂成为判断的主要依据。这样的结果之一是，英语容忍的替代性拼写比其他语言要多出许多。这些替代性拼写融入英语之前所经历的种种不同语言的某些构词方式和变异。

    it should also be remembered that the smaller dictionaries, such as this one, provide a selection, based on currency, of a recorded stock of over half a million words; that is to say, they represent about 15 － 20 per cent of what is attested to exist by printed sources and other materials. dictionaries therefore differ in the selection they make, beyond the core of vocabulary and idiom that can be expected to be found in any dictionary.

    还应记住，像本词典这样一部规模较小的词典，有条件从50多万个有记载的词汇总量中以当今流行的词语为基础进行选择。也就是说，它所选的词汇只占已由出版物和其他材料所证实存在的词汇总量中的15％至20％。因此，除了在任何其他词典中都收录的核心词汇和习语之外，各种词典的选词皆不尽相同。

    dialect 方言

    within the british isles, regional forms and dialects, with varying accents and usage, have continued to exist since the middle ages, although in recent times, especially with the emergence of mass communications, they have been in decline. a special feature of a dialect is its vocabulary of words (often for everyday things) that are understood only locally. it is not possible in a small dictionary to treat this kind of vocabulary in any detail, but its influence can be seen in the origins of words that have achieved a more general currency, for example boss-eyed (from a dialect word boss meaning ‘miss’, ‘bungle’), fad, scrounge (from a dialect scrunge meaning ‘steal’) and shoddy. far more information on dialect words is available in the english dialect dictionary (ed. j. wright, london, 1898－1905), in the oxford english dictionary, and in numerous glossaries published by dialect societies.

    自中世纪起，在不列颠岛内，带有不同口音和用法的地区性语言形式和方言就一直存在至今，尽管在近代，尤其是随着大众传播媒体的出现，它们呈现衰颓之势。方言的特色之一是其词汇(往往是日常事物)仅为当地人所理解。用一本小词典来详解这类方言词汇是不可能的，但是从已成为较为通用的词语的词源中，方言的影响可见一斑，如boss-eyed (来自方言词boss，意为“miss”、“bungle”)、fad、scrounge (来自方言词scrunge，意为“steal”) 和shoddy。　关于方言词汇的更多信息，详见《英语方言词典》(j.赖特主编，伦敦，1898至1905 年)、《牛津英语词典》以及由各个方言学会出版的形形色色的方言汇编。

    english worldwide 世界性的英语

    usage in modern times is greatly influenced by rapid worldwide communications, by newspapers and, in particular, by television and radio. speakers of british english are brought into daily contact with alternative forms of the language, especially american english. this influence is often regarded as unsettling or harmful but it has had a considerable effect on the vocabulary, idiom, and spelling of british english, and continues to do so. among the many words and idioms in use in british english, usually without any awareness of or concern about their american origin, are ok, to fall for, to fly off the handle, round trip, and to snoop. american english often has more regular spellings, as outlined in spelling rules, p99.

    现代英语用法受到全球快捷的通讯的影响，受到报纸、尤其是电视和广播的影响。说英国英语的人每天都会接触到英国英语的各种替代形式，尤其是美国英语。这种影响往往被认为是扰乱性的，或者是有害的，但是却对词汇、习语和英国英语的拼写产生了相当大的影响，而且还将继续产生影响。英国英语中使用的许多词汇和习语，如ok、to fall for、to fly off the handle、round trip 以及to snoop，通常人们丝毫也没有意识到或在意它们源自美国英语。如同99页b的“拼写规则”所示，美国英语的拼写一般更规则些。

    english is now used all over the world; as a result, there are many varieties of english, with varying accents, vocabulary, and usage. varieties in use in southern africa, india, australia, new zealand, canada, and elsewhere have an equal claim to be regarded as ‘english’and, although learners of english may look to british english as the centre of an english-speaking world, or british and american english as the two poles of such a world, it is very important that dictionaries should take account of english overseas, especially as it affects usage in britain. the process is a strengthening and enriching one, and is the mark of a living and flourishing language.

    如今，英语的使用遍及全球，结果产生了诸多英语变体，其口音、词汇和用法各不相同。南非、印度、澳大利亚、新西兰、加拿大以及其他地区使用的变体都有同等权利被称为“英语”，尽管英语学习者可能会将英国英语视作英语世界的中心，或者将英国英语和美国英语看作是英语世界的两极。词典应该留意海外英语，尤其是当其用法已影响到英国本土用法的时候，这样做是非常重要的。这一进程将使英语不断得到加强和丰富，这也是一个鲜活、生机勃勃的语言的标志。

    further reading 结束语

    this survey has had to be brief, and restricted to those aspects of english that are of immediate concern to the users of a dictionary. those who are interested in exploring further will find a host of books on the history and development of english. good general accounts are a. c. baugh and t. cable, a history of the english language (3rd edn., new jersey and london, 1978) and b. m. h. strang, a history of english (london, 1970). at a more popular level, and more up to date on recent trends, are r. w. burchfield, the english language (oxford, 1985) and r. mccrum et al., the story of english (london, 1986). the oxford companion to the english language (ed. t. mcarthur, oxford, 1992) contains much that will interest those who want to know more about the english of today and its place among the languages of the world.

    此概论不得不简明些，并局限于与词典使用者直接相关的英语的那些侧面。有兴趣进行深入探索的人可以找到许许多多有关英语历史和英语发展的书籍。不错的概述性著作有a.c. 鲍与t . 凯布尔的《英语语言史》( 第3 版，新泽西和伦敦，1978 年)， b.m.h. 斯特兰奇的《英语史》(伦敦，1970 年)。更通俗些和更接近较新近发展趋势的有r.w.伯奇菲尔德的《英语语言》(牛津，1985 年) 和r.麦克拉姆等合著的《英语的故事》(伦敦，1986年)。对于希望更多地了解当今英语和英语在世界诸语言中的地位的人来说，《牛津英语语言指南》(t. 麦克阿瑟编，牛津，1992 年)可以提供大量的信息。