白色情人节：不可不知的六大单词！

何航

1. Romantic 浪漫的

We associate this word with sweetness and love, but it emerged from the conquer ing powers of the Roman Empire.

虽然我们一直把romantic这个词与“甜蜜、爱情”相联系，但是这个词却来自于罗马帝国的强大的征服力。

The expansion of ancient Rome created various dialects of Latin called romans. (These evolved into Italian, French, Spanish, and others – the Romance languages.)

古罗马帝国的扩张致使了各种拉丁方言的诞生，这些方言被称作romans.(现在这些方言演变为了意大利语、法语、西班牙语等等罗曼语系。)

Romans were used to write popular stories involving chivalric or courtly love, and such tales became known as romances.

当时人们用Romans语言来写包括骑士时代或宫廷式爱情故事在内的各种流行小说，而这些故事后来就被称为romances了。

If we describe Rome today as a romantic city, we're using a word that has travelled a long way to come home.

如果现在我们用romantic这个词来形容罗马的话，那我们可是把这个词从远方带回了它的故乡呢。

2. Valentine 情人；情人节礼物

Christianity has more than one martyr named Valentine, and the one, true Valentine is uncertain.

基督教的殉教者中绝对不止一个人叫Valentine，而这个真正的Valentine究竟是谁并不确定。

Romantics favor the tale of the third-century Roman emperor and priest Valentine. Supposedly, Valentine had fallen in love with his jailer's daughter, and shortly before his death sent a letter to her from your Valentine.

浪漫主义者们喜欢三世纪罗马帝王与牧师Valentine的故事。据说，牧师Valentine同监狱狱卒的女儿相爱了，在自己临死前不久，他给了女孩一封信，上面写着“来自你的Valentine”。

3. Amour 奸情

In 2010, a poll of linguist s rated amour – the French word for love, simple and sweet – the most romantic word in the world. In English, the word gains drama and loses innocence.

2010年语言学家们开展了一次投票，amour这个意为“爱情”的法语单词被选为世界上最浪漫的单词，因为它简单又甜蜜。可是到了英语里，这个词被赋予了更多戏剧感，而丧失了原本的纯真。(这个词真冤啊！)

4. Adonis 美少年

In Greek mythology , the beautiful young Adonis was beloved by both Persephone and Aphrodite, so Zeus decreed the young man should divide his time and attention between the two goddesses.

在希腊神话中，美少年Adonis同时受到冥界王后Persephone以及爱与美的女神Aphrodite的爱慕，最后宙斯命令Adonis要分配时间和精力给两位女神。

He was later killed by a wild boar – an attack that may have been arranged to avenge another of Adonis' romantic intrigues.

Adonis后来被一头野猪杀死，这一次的袭击可能是有人安排，为了替另一个与Adonis私通者报仇。

5. Aphrodisiac 催欲的；春药

Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love (who was infatuated with Adonis) gave the Greeks the words 'aphrodisia' (heterosexual pleasure) and 'aphrodisiakos' (a gem with aphrodisiac powers).

从热恋着Adonis的希腊爱神Aphrodite的名字衍生出了两个希腊单词：aphrodisia(性快感)和aphrodisiakos(春药).

其实aphrodisiac 这个词也不一定就是那么猥琐的啦，比如可以这么用：

To me, one of the most successful attributes of an aphrodisiac meal are colors, aromas, tastes and textures that wake up the palate and challenge the mind. – Amy Reiley

于我而言，能激起人欲望的菜肴最成功的一些特性在于它那能挑拨味蕾、动摇思想的色香味和口感。– Amy Reiley

6. Infatuation 醉心

An infatuation , by definition, is an emotion that shouldn't be taken too seriously. The word's etymology makes the same point. It traces back to the Latin for foolish or silly, as does another insulting term: fatuous.

从定义上来说，infatuation所表达的这种感情是不能太当真的。从词源学来说也是如此。追究infatuation的起源会发现，它同另一个侮辱人的单词fatuous(愚昧的)一样，都是来自于拉丁语中某个表达“愚蠢，糊涂”意思的单词。

究竟什么是infatuation，什么是love？有人给了这样的形容：

Infatuation is like a roller coaster ride – crazy, scary and somewhat fun, while love is something more down to earth, less exhilarating , less dramatic but more real.

Infatuation就像坐过山车，刺激、心慌、又有些兴奋；而love不像infatuation这样漂浮，它没那么令人振奋、没那么扣人心弦，但却更加现实。