英语词汇tree的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

tree. In his Origins, etymologist Eric Partridge traces the adjective true to the Old English treow, which means both “loyalty” and “tree.” A true person is thus “as firm and straight as a tree.” Trees figure in many other words and phrases. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is an uni- dentified tree in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:17, 3:6–24) bearing the forbidden fruit that Adam and Eve tasted. The Tree of Life is another name for this tree (Gen. 2:9, 3:22), while the tree is known by its fruit is an old biblical proverb (Matt. 12:33) meaning “one is judged by actions not by words.” An expression common to several languages, a tree must be bent while it’s young means essentially “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” A Gregorian tree is a synonym for the gallows. Obsolete in speech though not in literature, since the early 19th century, the expression derives from the names of two hangmen, Gregory Brandon, royal executioner in the time of England’s James I, who was succeeded by his son Richard, often called “Young Gregory.” In the United States poplars and other trees, called trees of liberty, were planted as symbols of growing freedom during the Revolu- tionary War. The custom was adopted by other countries, notably France during the French Revolution. First recorded in the early 1900s but probably older, go climb a sour apple tree means “go to blazes, go to hell.” It is an Americanism that is still occasionally heard in its shortened form go climb a tree. To hang someone from a sour apple tree was to show the ultimate contempt for him, hence the Civil War’s Union lyric “We’ll hang Jeff Davis [president of the Confederacy] from a sour apple tree.” Tree Day is the exact translation of Arbor Day, arbor being the Latin word for “tree.” Arbor Day was first celebrated in 1872, when Nebraskan J. Sterling Morton and his supporters persuaded their state to set aside April 10 for tree planting, to compensate for all the trees Americans had destroyed over the years in clearing the land for settlements. More than a million trees were planted on just the first Arbor Day alone and today the holiday is cele- brated in every state.

词汇	tree
词源	tree. In his Origins, etymologist Eric Partridge traces the adjective true to the Old English treow, which means both “loyalty” and “tree.” A true person is thus “as firm and straight as a tree.” Trees figure in many other words and phrases. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is an uni- dentified tree in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:17, 3:6–24) bearing the forbidden fruit that Adam and Eve tasted. The Tree of Life is another name for this tree (Gen. 2:9, 3:22), while the tree is known by its fruit is an old biblical proverb (Matt. 12:33) meaning “one is judged by actions not by words.” An expression common to several languages, a tree must be bent while it’s young means essentially “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” A Gregorian tree is a synonym for the gallows. Obsolete in speech though not in literature, since the early 19th century, the expression derives from the names of two hangmen, Gregory Brandon, royal executioner in the time of England’s James I, who was succeeded by his son Richard, often called “Young Gregory.” In the United States poplars and other trees, called trees of liberty, were planted as symbols of growing freedom during the Revolu- tionary War. The custom was adopted by other countries, notably France during the French Revolution. First recorded in the early 1900s but probably older, go climb a sour apple tree means “go to blazes, go to hell.” It is an Americanism that is still occasionally heard in its shortened form go climb a tree. To hang someone from a sour apple tree was to show the ultimate contempt for him, hence the Civil War’s Union lyric “We’ll hang Jeff Davis [president of the Confederacy] from a sour apple tree.” Tree Day is the exact translation of Arbor Day, arbor being the Latin word for “tree.” Arbor Day was first celebrated in 1872, when Nebraskan J. Sterling Morton and his supporters persuaded their state to set aside April 10 for tree planting, to compensate for all the trees Americans had destroyed over the years in clearing the land for settlements. More than a million trees were planted on just the first Arbor Day alone and today the holiday is cele- brated in every state.
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