やっとTHE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINNを読み終えました。 これが最後の引用です。
"-- and load up the cabin with rats and snakes and so on, for company for Jim; and then you kept Tom here so long with the butter in his hat that you come near spiling the whole business, because the men come before we was out of the cabin, and we had to rush, and they heard us and let drive at us, and I got my share, and we dodged out of the path and let them go by, and when the dogs come they warn't interested in us, but went for the most noise, and we got our canoe, and made for the raft, and was all safe, and Jim was a free man, and we done it all by ourselves, and WASN'T it bully, Aunty!"
最後に出てくる "bully" はイジメの意味ではないですね。辞書を見ましょう。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: very good ("He did a bully job")
・Dictionary.com: Informal. fine; excellent; very good
こんな良い意味があるのですか！ 語源を調べたらもっとびっくり。
Online Etymology: 1530s, originally "sweetheart," applied to either sex, from Du. boel "lover, brother," probably dim. of M.H.G. buole "brother," of uncertain origin (cf. Ger. buhle "lover"). Meaning deteriorated 17c. through "fine fellow," "blusterer," to "harasser of the weak" (1680s, from bully-ruffian, 1650s). Perhaps this was by influence of bull (n.1), but a connecting sense between "lover" and "ruffian" may be in "protector of a prostitute," which was one sense of bully (though not specifically attested until 1706). The verb is first attested 1710. The expression meaning "worthy, jolly, admirable" (esp. in 1864 U.S. slang bully for you!) is first attested 1680s, and preserves an earlier, positive sense of the word.
"bully" が元は愛人だったなんて。 いずれにせよ "I want to be your bully." なんて言ったら、どちらの意味にとるにしてもひっぱたかれそうですが。
"-- and load up the cabin with rats and snakes and so on, for company for Jim; and then you kept Tom here so long with the butter in his hat that you come near spiling the whole business, because the men come before we was out of the cabin, and we had to rush, and they heard us and let drive at us, and I got my share, and we dodged out of the path and let them go by, and when the dogs come they warn't interested in us, but went for the most noise, and we got our canoe, and made for the raft, and was all safe, and Jim was a free man, and we done it all by ourselves, and WASN'T it bully, Aunty!"
最後に出てくる "bully" はイジメの意味ではないですね。辞書を見ましょう。
・OneLook Quick Definitions: very good ("He did a bully job")
・Dictionary.com: Informal. fine; excellent; very good
こんな良い意味があるのですか！ 語源を調べたらもっとびっくり。
Online Etymology: 1530s, originally "sweetheart," applied to either sex, from Du. boel "lover, brother," probably dim. of M.H.G. buole "brother," of uncertain origin (cf. Ger. buhle "lover"). Meaning deteriorated 17c. through "fine fellow," "blusterer," to "harasser of the weak" (1680s, from bully-ruffian, 1650s). Perhaps this was by influence of bull (n.1), but a connecting sense between "lover" and "ruffian" may be in "protector of a prostitute," which was one sense of bully (though not specifically attested until 1706). The verb is first attested 1710. The expression meaning "worthy, jolly, admirable" (esp. in 1864 U.S. slang bully for you!) is first attested 1680s, and preserves an earlier, positive sense of the word.
"bully" が元は愛人だったなんて。 いずれにせよ "I want to be your bully." なんて言ったら、どちらの意味にとるにしてもひっぱたかれそうですが。
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