| 词汇 | dutch |
| 词源 | Dutch; Dutch courage, etc. The Dutch people have been so offended by the English language over the past three centuries that in 1934 their government decided to drop the word Dutch and use Netherlands whenever possible. But the stratagem didn’t succeed in stopping up the dike. Dutch re- mains what one dictionary calls “an epithet of inferiority.” In both England and America a torrent of verbal abuse has de- scended upon the Dutch. It all began with the bitter hostili- ties between England and Holland in the 17th century, when the Dutch colonial empire threatened to usurp Britain’s own. Two major wars were fought over this naval and trade rivalry and a flood of invective was loosed upon the Dutch that has barely subsided over the years. To complicate matters, the name Dutchman, from the German Deutsch, has been ap- plied to Germanic peoples (for instance the Pennsylvania Dutch), such contacts and two world wars adding still more derogatory expressions to the list. Below is a short dictionary of abusive terms using the word. Though it runs to some 60 expressions, surely a complete list would more than triple this amount. All of these terms but a few are derogatory. If only in the subtlest way, each makes the Dutch either cheap, cowardly, stubborn, deceitful, or worse, all a far cry from the traditional picture of Hans Brinker, bright tulips, and gently turning windmills: double-Dutch—double talk; gibberish; also an American play-language and a jump-rope game. Dutch act—suicide, probably referring to a supposed German morbidity, rather than a cheap Dutch way to end it all. Dutch auction—an auction starting off with inflated prices. Dutch bargain—one clinched over liquor; a one-sided bargain. Dutch bond—an economical brickwork bond of alter- nate courses of stretchers and headers. Dutch brig—cells on board a ship. Dutch build—a thickly built person. Dutch by injection—describing an Englishman living with a Dutch woman. Dutch cap—a prophylactic or pessary. Dutch cheese—cottage cheese; a bald-headed person. Dutch clinker—a long, narrow, hard yellowish brick made in Holland. Dutch clover—white clover, Trifolium repens. Dutch comfort—consolation (“Thank God it wasn’t any worse”). Dutch concert—a great uproar; everyone playing a dif- ferent tune. Dutch courage—courage inspired by booze, the Dutch once said to be heavy drinkers. “The Dutch their wine and all their brandy lose, / Disarmed of that from which their courage flows . . .” (Edmund Walles, 1665). Dutch cupboard—a buffet with open upper shelves. Dutch defense—a surrender, no defense at all. Dutch door—a two-section door that opens at the top or bottom. Dutch foot—a furniture foot. Dutch gold—an originally Dutch alloy of copper and zinc used for cheap imitation gold leaf. Dutch kiss—sexually intimate kissing. Dutch lap—an economical shingling method. Dutch luck—undeserved luck. Dutch lunch—an individual portion of cold cuts; prob- ably an American expression referring to the Pennsyl- vania Dutch. Dutchman—a hard lump in brown sugar. Dutchman’s anchor—a nautical expression that derives from an old tale of a Dutch sea captain who lost his ship because he forgot to bring along his anchor. The story gives us this term, meaning anything important that has been forgotten. Dutchman’s-breeches—the popular plant Dicentra cuc- ullaria, the flowers resembling baggy breeches; patches of blue in a stormy sky, in allusion to patches on a Dutchman’s trousers, or because there is just enough blue to make a cheap pair of pants for a Dutchman. Dutchman’s drink—the last one in the bottle. Dutchman’s headache—drunkenness. Dutchman’s land or cape—illusory land on the horizon. Dutchman’s log—a piece of wood used in an economical navigation method, the practical method itself. Dutchman’s-pipe—a climbing vine, Aristolochia dorior, whose calyx resembles a tobacco pipe. Dutch medley—everyone playing a different tune. Dutch nightingale—a frog. Dutch oven—economical heavy kettle or brick oven. Dutch palate—a coarse, unrefined palate. Dutch pennants—untidy ropes hanging from aloft on a ship. Dutch pink—blood. Dutch praise—condemnation. Dutch pump—a nautical punishment. Dutch reckoning—pure guesswork, or a lump account that would be cheaper if itemized. Dutch red—a highly smoked herring. Dutch route—American slang for Dutch act above. Dutch straight—a poker hand. Dutch treat—a meal or entertainment where each pays his own way. Pennsylvania Dutch. Dutch two hundred—a bowling score of 200 made with alternate strikes and spares. Dutch uncle—an unsparingly frank and critical per- son, an Americanism probably referring to the Germans. Dutch wife—the pillow of an Englishman in the tropics who takes no native mistress; or a framework used in beds to support the legs. High Dutch—High German. His Dutch is up—he’s angry. I’m a Dutchman if I do—Never! From the days when “Dutchman” was synonymous with everything false. in Dutch—in trouble; in jail; this may refer to the early New York Dutch but probably refers to the Germans. it’s all Dutch to me—it’s all Greek to me, an American expression. Low Dutch—Low German. my old Dutch—my wife, but possibly from the word duchess. Pennsylvania Dutch—German emigrants in Pennsylva- nia; their language. that beats the Dutch—that beats the devil, deriving from an American song of the Revolution. to Dutch—to harden or clean by placing in hot sand; to run away, desert. The Netherlands has in its long history been known as Belgica (to the Romans), Holland, The Seven Provinces, and The Low Countries. In 1999 Jon Spruijt wrote a book, Total Dutch, list- ing more than a thousand Dutch words and expressions used in various languages. Some are far from being exclusively Dutch. A Dutch treat, for instance, is going Catalan in Spain; going Rome in Italy; and going Swiss in France. |
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英语词源词典收录了13259条英语词源词条，基本涵盖了全部常用英语词汇的起源、历史，是研究英语词汇或通过词源学英语的必备工具。