值得研究的遣詞用語

譯/孫巧

值得研究的遣詞用語

Sherlock Holmes Words Worth Investigating

譯/孫巧

The language in Sherlock Holmes is as intriguing as the stories.

歇洛克·福爾摩斯的遣詞用語同其故事一樣引人入勝。

T he Sherlock Holmes canon is fi lled with language worth exploring, either because of the rarity of the words or because of their unique context.

Deerstalker

De fi nition

a close- fi tting hat with a visor at the front and the back and with ear fl aps that may be worn up or down

或是因用詞生僻，或是因語境獨特，福爾摩斯探案集里滿是值得鉆研的語言。

獵鹿帽

釋義

前后有檐的貼發帽，兩側護耳可以收上去也可以放下來。

關于本詞

盡管阿瑟·柯南·道爾曾在《白額閃電》中形容“帶護耳的旅行便帽如同一個畫框，圍住了他那張機敏熱切的面孔”，但出乎意料的是，他從未在歇洛克·福爾摩斯故事中提到過獵鹿帽。獵鹿帽這一細節是由最初的插畫家西德尼·佩吉特添加到福爾摩斯在鄉下的場景里的。（在城里戴獵鹿帽不太合適，大禮帽或小禮帽才是人們常戴的。）與福爾摩斯聯系在一起的彎柄海泡石煙斗在道爾的故事中也沒出現過：煙斗是演員威廉·吉爾特的選擇，由此成了這個角色的標志性特征。

About the word

Surprisingly, Arthur Conan Doyle never mentions a deerstalker hat in his Sherlock Holmes stories, though he describes Holmes’s “sharp, eager face framed in his ear-flapped travelling cap” in Silver Blaze. It was the original illustrator, Sidney Paget, who added this detail to scenes of Holmes in the country (it would have been inappropriate to wear a deerstalker in town, where a top hat or homburg would have been more likely choices).The curved meerschaum pipe associated with Holmes was not in the Doyle stories, either: it was the choice of actor William Gillette and stuck with the character.

Sociopath

De fi nition

Merriam-Webster defines sociopath as a synonym of psychopath:

a mentally ill or unstable person; especially: a person affected with antisocial personality disorder

Antisocial personality disorder is de fi ned as:

a personality disorder that is characterized by antisocial behavior exhibiting pervasive disregard for and violation of the rights, feelings, and safety of others starting in childhood or the early teenage years and continuing into adulthood

反社會者

釋義

梅里亞姆韋氏詞典將sociopath（反社會者）定義為psychopath（精神病患者）的同義詞：

精神有疾病或精神不穩定的人，尤指患有反社會型人格障礙的人。

反社會型人格障礙的定義為：

具有反社會行為的一種人格障礙，表現為不尊重和侵害他人的權利、感情及安全，始于童年或青少年早期，一直持續到成年。

關于本詞

為回應他人將其歸為“精神病患者”，本尼迪克特·康伯巴奇所飾演的歇洛克自稱具有“高智商反社會人格”。反社會者與精神病患者之間的差別非常細微，韋氏詞典認為它們基本上是同義詞。兩個詞都沒有被列入標準心理學參考書——《精神疾病診斷與統計手冊》，此書更傾向于使用 “反社會人格障礙”這一術語。一些心理學家認為，反社會者一般緊張不安，情緒反復無常，無紀律性，而精神病患者則一般小心翼翼，善于操縱他人，有魅力。反社會者還有一點兒良知，但精神病患者一點兒都沒有。

About the word

Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock describes himself as a “high-functioning sociopath” in response to being characterized by others as a “psychopath.”The distinction between sociopath and psychopath is subtle; the dictionary regards them as virtually synonymous. Neither term is entered in the standard psychology reference, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders1簡稱DSM，診斷精神疾病的常用指導手冊，書中對精神疾病進行定義和分類，并制定精確和具體的診斷標準。,where the preferred term is antisocial personality disorder. Some psychologists assert that sociopaths are nervous, volatile, and disorganized, while psychopaths are careful, manipulative, and charming. A sociopath has a bit of a conscience, but a psychopath has none at all.

Gooseberry

De fi nition

Gooseberry can mean a kind of berry, but it also has a very speci fi c de fi nition found only in the Oxford English Dictionary and Webster’s Unabridged from 1934:

A chaperon, esp. one who is indulgently unobservant; as, to play gooseberry; a super fl uous third person

夾在情侶之間不識趣的人

釋義

gooseberry可以指一種漿果，但還有一個非常特殊的用法，只見于1934年版的《牛津英語詞典》和《韋氏大辭典》：

監護人，尤指特別不善于觀察、不識趣的人，用法如to play gooseberry（當電燈泡）；多余的第三者。

關于本詞

在《巴斯克維爾的獵犬》中，因為“惡犬”詛咒的緣故，福爾摩斯嚴禁亨利·巴斯克維爾爵士離開華生的視線，但爵士卻不顧此令與斯泰普頓小姐約會。亨利爵士堅持獨自前往，在一段為電視劇版本設計的對話中（杰里米·布雷特飾演福爾摩斯，愛德華·哈德威克飾演華生），對華生說道：“我知道你會是個有教養的陪護者，但不行——恐怕我得獨自赴約。”原著中這一幕出現在華生寫給福爾摩斯的信中，該詞的選用也是模仿維多利亞時代英語的一處妙筆。

About the word

In The Hound of the Baskervilles, a romantic meeting between Sir Henry Baskerville and Miss Stapleton takes place despite Holmes’s strict orders that Sir Henry never leave Watson’s sight because of the curse of the “ fi end dog.” Sir Henry insists he must go alone, saying to Watson, in dialogue that was invented for the TV version (with Jeremy Brett as Holmes and Edward Hardwicke as Watson): “You’d make a very civil gooseberry, but no—I’m afraid I have to go alone.” Since the scene is recounted in a letter from Watson to Holmes in the original story,this word choice represents a charming piece of faux2模仿的。Victorian English.

Valetudinarian

De fi nition

a person of a weak or sickly constitution; especially : one whose chief concern is his or her ill health

About the word

The strange character of Thaddeus Sholto in The Sign of Four is presented as a fi dgety and nervous person. Conan Doyle’s description (in Watson’s voice) shows how varied and interesting his vocabulary was (befrogged here means“adorned with a front fastening of braid in an ornamental looped design”and closeness means “hot and stuffy conditions”):

體弱多病的人

釋義

體質虛弱或多病的人，尤指特別擔心自己身體欠佳的人。

關于本詞

《四簽名》中的奇怪角色薩德烏斯·舒爾托是以坐立不安、神經緊張的形象出現在讀者面前的。柯南·道爾（借華生之口）的描述展示了他豐富有趣的詞匯（此處befrogged意為盤扣，裝飾用編織結環扣眼，用來扣住衣服前襟；closeness指悶熱的環境）：

Our new acquaintance very deliberately coiled up the tube of his hookah, and produced from behind a curtain a very long, befrogged topcoat with astrakhan collar and cuffs. This he buttoned tightly up, in spite of the extreme closeness of the night, and fi nished his attire by putting on a rabbitskin cap with hanging lappets which covered the ears, so that no part of him was visible save his mobile and peaky face. “My health is somewhat fragile,”he remarked, as he led the way down the passage. “I am compelled to be a valetudinarian.”

我們的新相識慢條斯理地把水煙壺的吸管盤好，又從一道簾子后面拿出了一件非常長的輕便大衣，大衣上裝飾著盤花紐扣，領子和袖口都用的是俄國羔皮。這天夜里非常悶熱，他卻把大衣扣得緊緊的，還加上了一頂帶護耳的兔皮帽子。這么著，他把自己從頭到腳包了起來，只有那張表情多變的瘦削臉龐露在外面。“我身子骨不太結實，”領我們順著過道往外走的時候，他說道，“不得不格外留意自個兒的健康。”

Valetudinariancomes from the Latin word for “sickly” or “in fi rm.”

該詞源于拉丁語，意為“多病”或“虛弱”。

Queer Street

De fi nition

an embarrassing situation or condition;especially: a condition marked by fi nancial dif fi culties

About the word

Queer Streetis used twice in the Holmes stories. Here, by Inspector Lestrade, upbraiding an inattentive constable:

It’s lucky for you, my man, that nothing is missing, or you would find yourself in Queer Street.3出自福爾摩斯探案故事《第二塊血跡》。

And here it is used by Watson describing a hotheaded and financially unwise racehorse owner:

Well, he has the name of being a dangerous man. He is about the most daredevil rider in England—second in the Grand National a few years back. He is one of those men who have overshot their true generation. He should have been a buck in the days of the Regency—a boxer, an athlete, a plunger on the turf, a lover of fair ladies, and, by all account, so far down Queer Street that he may never fi nd his way back again.4出自福爾摩斯探案故事《肖斯科姆老宅》。

困境（負債或破產）

釋義

窘迫的情況或境地，尤指經濟困難導致的情形。

關于本詞

該詞在福爾摩斯故事集中出現了兩次。一次是雷斯垂德督察責罵一個粗心的警員時：

你運氣不錯，伙計，房間里沒少什么東西，要不然的話，你的麻煩可就大了去了。

還有一次是華生描述一個性急、不善投資的賽馬主人時：

這么說吧，他確實有危險分子的名聲。他差不多可以算是英格蘭最不要命的騎手，幾年前還在全國大獎賽當中得過亞軍呢。他屬于那種生錯了時代的人，活脫脫是一個攝政時期的花花公子——他集拳擊手、運動員、賽馬場上的濫賭鬼和女人堆里的花蝴蝶于一身，還有啊，大家都說他已經債臺高筑，再也翻不了身啦。

Tri fl e

De fi nition

Something of little value, substance, or importance

About the word

Holmes does use the wordclue, as we might expect, but he often usestri fl eto describe the kind of small detail, usually missed by others, that leads him to the solution of a case. He says to Watson:“You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of tri fl es,”5出自福爾摩斯探案故事《博斯庫姆溪谷謎案》。and: “It is, of course, a tri fl e, but there is nothing so important as tri fl es.”6出自福爾摩斯探案故事《翻唇男子》。

The idiomatriflemeaning “to some small degree” or “slightly” is also used in the stories: “a trifle rusty”; “a trifle before your time”; “a tri fl e too obvious.”7依次出自福爾摩斯探案故事《駝背男子》《證券行辦事員》《諾伍德的建筑商》。

Triflealso can mean “a dessert typically consisting of plain or sponge cake often soaked with wine or spirits (as brandy or rum) and topped with layers of preserves, custard, and cream.”Holmes appears not to have been very interested in complicated desserts.

小細節/乳脂松糕

釋義

不值錢、無關緊要或不重要的東西。

關于本詞

正如我們所料，福爾摩斯確實會用clue這個詞，但是他經常用trifle來形容某種小細節，通常會被別人忽略，卻會引領他破案。他曾對華生說：“我的方法你也知道，一切的基礎不過是留心觀察瑣細事物而已。”還說過：“當然嘍，這只是一個瑣碎的細節，話說回來，瑣碎的細節恰恰是最重要的東西。”

習語a trifle是指“有點兒”或“稍微”，故事當中也出現過：“有點兒生銹”“到得稍微早了一點兒”“一目了然得有點兒過了頭”。

trifle還可以指“一種甜點，主要是在清蛋糕或海綿蛋糕上澆上葡萄酒或烈性酒（白蘭地或朗姆酒），上面鋪幾層果醬、蛋奶凍和奶油”。福爾摩斯似乎對精致的甜點不怎么感興趣。□

（譯者單位：四川大學。譯者曾獲第五屆“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽優秀獎。）