英语词汇rubber的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

rubber; mackintosh. Rubber was not even named until 1770, when chemist Joseph Priestley accidentally discovered that the hardened substance could “rub” out pencil marks, and progress in waterproofing did not come until half a cen- tury after that. Young James Syme, later to become a famous surgeon, first invented the process for making waterproof fabrics while a student at Edinburgh University in 1823, but the fabric itself was patented a few months later by Scottish chemist Charles Macintosh, who exploited the idea and was really the first person to produce a practical waterproof cloth. Macintosh (1766–1843), a Fellow of the Royal Society, had al- ready invented an effective bleaching powder and improved a number of dyes. Finding that rubber could be dissolved by naphtha, he spread the resulting solution on cotton cloth, ce- menting another layer of cloth to it. Raincoats made from such double-thick fabrics with a middle layer of rubber won popularity overnight, as did numerous waterproof items that Macintosh manufactured at his plant in Glasgow. But the man who revolutionized outdoor living somehow became associ- ated with his raincoat alone, and even this was spelled wrong from the very beginning. Properly, mackintosh or the mac, as it is sometimes called, should be macintosh, although the in- correct spelling prevails.

词汇	rubber
词源	rubber; mackintosh. Rubber was not even named until 1770, when chemist Joseph Priestley accidentally discovered that the hardened substance could “rub” out pencil marks, and progress in waterproofing did not come until half a cen- tury after that. Young James Syme, later to become a famous surgeon, first invented the process for making waterproof fabrics while a student at Edinburgh University in 1823, but the fabric itself was patented a few months later by Scottish chemist Charles Macintosh, who exploited the idea and was really the first person to produce a practical waterproof cloth. Macintosh (1766–1843), a Fellow of the Royal Society, had al- ready invented an effective bleaching powder and improved a number of dyes. Finding that rubber could be dissolved by naphtha, he spread the resulting solution on cotton cloth, ce- menting another layer of cloth to it. Raincoats made from such double-thick fabrics with a middle layer of rubber won popularity overnight, as did numerous waterproof items that Macintosh manufactured at his plant in Glasgow. But the man who revolutionized outdoor living somehow became associ- ated with his raincoat alone, and even this was spelled wrong from the very beginning. Properly, mackintosh or the mac, as it is sometimes called, should be macintosh, although the in- correct spelling prevails.
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