词汇 | humour |
词源 | humourchiefly British English spelling of humor; see -or. Related: Humourous; humourously; humourist; humourless, etc. Entries linking to humourhumor mid-14c., " In old medicine, " The human body had four humors—blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile—which, in turn, were associated with particular organs. Blood came from the heart, phlegm from the brain, yellow bile from the liver, and black bile from the spleen. Galen and Avicenna attributed certain elemental qualities to each humor. Blood was hot and moist, like air; phlegm was cold and moist, like water; yellow bile was hot and dry, like fire; and black bile was cold and dry, like earth. In effect, the human body was a microcosm of the larger world. [Robert S. Gottfried, "The Black Death," 1983] Their relative proportions were thought to determine physical condition and state of mind. This gave humor an extended sense of " For aid in distinguishing the various devices that tend to be grouped under " HUMOR: motive/aim: discovery; province: human nature; method/means: observation; audience: the sympathetic WIT: motive/aim: throwing light; province: words & ideas; method/means: surprise; audience: the intelligent SATIRE: motive/aim: amendment; province: morals & manners; method/means: accentuation; audience: the self-satisfied SARCASM: motive/aim: inflicting pain; province: faults & foibles; method/means: inversion; audience: victim & bystander INVECTIVE: motive/aim: discredit; province: misconduct; method/means: direct statement; audience: the public IRONY: motive/aim: exclusiveness; province: statement of facts; method/means: mystification; audience: an inner circle CYNICISM: motive/aim: self-justification; province: morals; method/means: exposure of nakedness; audience: the respectable SARDONIC: motive/aim: self-relief; province: adversity; method/means: pessimism; audience: the self -or word-forming element making nouns of quality, state, or condition, from Middle English -our, from Old French -our (Modern French -eur), from Latin -orem (nominative -or), a suffix added to past participle verbal stems. Also in some cases from Latin -atorem (nominative -ator). In U.S., via Noah Webster, -or is nearly universal (but not in glamour), while in Britain -our is used in most cases (but with many exceptions: author, error, tenor, senator, ancestor, horror etc.). The -our form predominated after c. 1300, but Mencken reports that the first three folios of Shakespeare's plays used both spellings indiscriminately and with equal frequency; only in the Fourth Folio of 1685 does -our become consistent. A partial revival of -or on the Latin model took place from 16c. (governour began to lose its -u- 16c. and it was gone by 19c.), and also among phonetic spellers in both England and America (John Wesley wrote that -or was " Webster criticized the habit of deleting -u- in -our words in his first speller (" Fowler notes the British drop the -u- when forming adjectives ending in -orous (humorous) and derivatives in -ation and -ize, in which cases the Latin origin is respected (such as vaporize). When the Americans began to consistently spell it one way, however, the British reflexively hardened their insistence on the other. " updated on September 11, 2015 |
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