英语词汇lewd的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

lewd. Beginning with its original meaning of lay (as in lay- man), lewd has had seven different meanings through the years: unlettered, low, bungling, vile, lawless, and licentious. Today only the last meaning is much used and it is first re- corded in 1712, for the biblical “lewd fellows of the baser sort” (Acts 17:5) refers to lawless fellows, not lascivious ones. No one knows why, although the word is in good company with those many words in English that begin with an “l” and have something to do with sexual debauchery. They have a rather revolting, loathsome pronunciation; you sort of squinch up your nose and sneer when saying them: leer, lech- erous, loose, libidinous, lustful, even luxury. Probably the pronunciation does not have a lot to do with the prevailing meaning. But like many words associated with sex, lewd is undergoing a change today. It is being used more playfully, with less high-mindedness, and may have an eighth meaning in another century or so. We already have the precedent of Shakespeare calling Falstaff an old lewdster, and Falstaff, after all, was eminently likable, no one you would squinch up your nose at.

词汇	lewd
词源	lewd. Beginning with its original meaning of lay (as in lay- man), lewd has had seven different meanings through the years: unlettered, low, bungling, vile, lawless, and licentious. Today only the last meaning is much used and it is first re- corded in 1712, for the biblical “lewd fellows of the baser sort” (Acts 17:5) refers to lawless fellows, not lascivious ones. No one knows why, although the word is in good company with those many words in English that begin with an “l” and have something to do with sexual debauchery. They have a rather revolting, loathsome pronunciation; you sort of squinch up your nose and sneer when saying them: leer, lech- erous, loose, libidinous, lustful, even luxury. Probably the pronunciation does not have a lot to do with the prevailing meaning. But like many words associated with sex, lewd is undergoing a change today. It is being used more playfully, with less high-mindedness, and may have an eighth meaning in another century or so. We already have the precedent of Shakespeare calling Falstaff an old lewdster, and Falstaff, after all, was eminently likable, no one you would squinch up your nose at.
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