英语词汇eat humble pie的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

eat humble pie. Here is an expression probably born as a pun. The humble in this pie has nothing to do etymologically with the word humble, “lowly,” which is from the Latin humi- lis, “low or slight.” Umbles or numbles (from the Latin lumbu- lus, “little loin”) were the innards—the heart, liver, and entrails—of deer and were often made into a pie. Sir Walter Scott called this dish “the best,” and an old recipe for it (1475) instructed “For to serve a Lord”—but some thought it fit only for servants. When the lord of a manor and his guests dined on venison, the menials ate umble pie made from the innards of the deer. Anyone who ate umble pie was therefore in a posi- tion of inferiority—he or she was humbled—and some anony- mous punster in the time of William the Conqueror, realizing this, changed umble pie to humble pie, the pun all the more ef- fective because in several British dialects, especially the Cock- ney, the h is silent and humble is pronounced umble anyway. So the play upon words gave us the common expression to eat humble pie, meaning to suffer humiliation, to apologize, or to abase oneself.

词汇	eat humble pie
词源	eat humble pie. Here is an expression probably born as a pun. The humble in this pie has nothing to do etymologically with the word humble, “lowly,” which is from the Latin humi- lis, “low or slight.” Umbles or numbles (from the Latin lumbu- lus, “little loin”) were the innards—the heart, liver, and entrails—of deer and were often made into a pie. Sir Walter Scott called this dish “the best,” and an old recipe for it (1475) instructed “For to serve a Lord”—but some thought it fit only for servants. When the lord of a manor and his guests dined on venison, the menials ate umble pie made from the innards of the deer. Anyone who ate umble pie was therefore in a posi- tion of inferiority—he or she was humbled—and some anony- mous punster in the time of William the Conqueror, realizing this, changed umble pie to humble pie, the pun all the more ef- fective because in several British dialects, especially the Cock- ney, the h is silent and humble is pronounced umble anyway. So the play upon words gave us the common expression to eat humble pie, meaning to suffer humiliation, to apologize, or to abase oneself.
随便看	hart schaffner marx harvard beets harvest harvey smith has a screw loose hash has more wrinkles on his horns hassayampa hassle hasta la vista baby haste makes waste hasten forward quickly then hasty pudding hasty pudding club hat city of the world hate someone-s guts hatfield-mccoy feud hat trick haul ass haul over the coals haussmannization have a bear by the tail have a brick in one-s hat have a burr in under his saddle have a card up one-s sleeve