2018/5/9 10:34:00
單詞問(wèn)題，翻譯們?cè)?jīng)遇到過(guò)的套路
對(duì)于翻譯來(lái)說(shuō)肯定是熟悉很多單詞了，但你見(jiàn)過(guò)最長(zhǎng)的英文單詞有哪些？這些英文單詞有多長(zhǎng)？
METHIONYLTHREONYLTHREONYGLUTAMINYLARGINYL … ISOLEUCINE
肌聯(lián)蛋白
Note the ellipses. All told, the full chemical name for the human protein titin is 189,819 letters, and takes about three-and-a-half hours to pronounce. The problem with including chemical names is that there’s essentially no limit to how long they can be. For example, naming a single strand of DNA, with its millions and millions of repeating base pairs, could eventually tab out at well over 1 billion letters.
注意此處的省略號(hào)。人體肌聯(lián)蛋白的完整化學(xué)名稱(chēng)總共有189819個(gè)字母，讀完需要三個(gè)半小時(shí)。把化學(xué)名稱(chēng)列出來(lái)的問(wèn)題是，其長(zhǎng)度基本上沒(méi)有限制。例如，根據(jù)一串DNA所包含的數(shù)百萬(wàn)重復(fù)堿基對(duì)為其命名，最終取出來(lái)的名字可能超過(guò)10億個(gè)字母。
LOPADOTEMACHOSELACHOGALEOKRANIOLEIPSAN …P TERYGON
大亂燉
The longest word ever to appear in literature comes from Aristophanes’ play, Assemblywomen, published in 391 BC. The Greek word tallies 171 letters, but translates to 183 in English. This mouthful refers to a fictional fricassee comprised of rotted dogfish head, wrasse, wood pigeon, and the roasted head of a dabchick, among other culinary morsels.
文學(xué)作品中的最長(zhǎng)單詞出自阿里斯多芬尼斯于公元前391年發(fā)表的劇作《女議員》。這個(gè)希臘單詞有171個(gè)字母，翻譯成英語(yǔ)單詞后變?yōu)?83個(gè)字母。這個(gè)冗長(zhǎng)而拗口的單詞指的是一道虛構(gòu)的大燉菜，包含了腐爛的狗鯊頭、隆頭魚(yú)、斑尾林鴿以及烤小??頭和其他烹飪食物。
PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS
矽肺病
At 45 letters, this is the longest word you’ll find in a major dictionary. An inflated version of silicosis, this is the full scientific name for a disease that causes inflammation in the lungs owing to the inhalation of very fine silica dust. Despite its inclusion in the dictionary, it’s generally considered superfluous, having been coined simply to claim the title of the longest English word.
矽肺病的英文名有45個(gè)字母，是主流字典中收錄的最長(zhǎng)單詞。這是矽肺病的英文學(xué)名全稱(chēng)，silicosis（矽肺?。┑摹凹娱L(zhǎng)版”。矽肺病是一種因?yàn)槲爰?xì)微矽塵導(dǎo)致肺部發(fā)炎的疾病。盡管這個(gè)單詞被收入字典，但一般來(lái)說(shuō)，人們認(rèn)為這個(gè)名稱(chēng)多此一舉，是為了獲得最長(zhǎng)英語(yǔ)單詞的頭銜而杜撰的。
PSEUDOPSEUDOHYPOPARATHYROIDISM
假性甲狀旁腺功能減退
This 30-letter thyroid disorder is the longest non-coined word to appear in a major dictionary.
這種甲狀腺功能紊亂病癥的英文名由30個(gè)字母組成，是主流字典中收錄的最長(zhǎng)非杜撰詞。
FLOCCINAUCINIHILIPILIFICATION
輕蔑
By virtue of having one more letter than antidisestablishmentarianism, this is the longest non-technical English word. A mash-up of five Latin roots, it refers to the act of describing something as having little or no value. While it made the cut in the Oxford English Dictionary, Merriam-Webster volumes refuse to recognize it, chalking up its existence to little more than linguistic ephemera.
這個(gè)單詞憑借“一字之差”，超過(guò)antidisestablishmentarianism（反對(duì)教會(huì)與國(guó)家分開(kāi)學(xué)說(shuō)），成為最長(zhǎng)的非技術(shù)性英語(yǔ)單詞。它由5個(gè)拉丁語(yǔ)詞根組成，用來(lái)形容認(rèn)為某件事物沒(méi)有什么價(jià)值。雖然這個(gè)單詞被《牛津英語(yǔ)詞典》收錄，但《韋氏詞典》卻將其拒之門(mén)外，因?yàn)樗谟⒄Z(yǔ)中不過(guò)是一個(gè)“曇花一現(xiàn)”的單詞。