| 词源 |
vixen. Why should a female fox be a vixen? The word arose as a corruption in southern English dialects, with their predilec- tion for v, of the Old English fyxen, “female fox.” First recorded in the early 15th century, it took almost 200 years before the word was applied to an ill-tempered woman or shrew, Shake- speare using it thus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. |