| 词源 |
bean; string bean; green bean. Deriving from the Old En- glish bean, and possibly akin to the Latin faba by a circuitous route, bean was long used for the seeds of many plants. “Com- mon beans” (string beans, first recorded in 1759; Lima beans; wax beans; etc.) are native to the Americas. Napoleon wouldn’t eat string beans, afraid that he would choke on the strings, but today’s varieties are virtually stringless and thus are often called green beans. As early as 1830, one observer noted: “We do not call it a string bean, because the pod is entirely stringless.” Yet string bean is still used for the vegetable and Americanisms like string bean for a tall, thin person remain in the language. Bean pole, another Americanism for a lanky person, takes its name from the tall poles that support climbing bean plants. |