humour的词源

英文词源

humour

humour: [14] Latin hūmēre meant ‘be moist’ (from it was derived hūmidus, source of English humid [16]). And related to it was the noun hūmor, which signified originally simply ‘liquid’. In due course it came to be applied specifically to any of the four bodily fluids (blood, phlegm, choler, and black bile) whose combinations according to medieval theories of physiology determined a person’s general health and temperament.

This was the sense in which English acquired the word, via Anglo-Norman humour, and it gradually developed in meaning via ‘mental disposition at a particular time, mood’ and ‘inclination, whim’ to, in the late 17th century, the main modern sense ‘funniness’.
=> humid

humour

chiefly British English spelling of humor; see -or. Related: Humourous; humourist.

中文词源

humour（幽默）：古代的四体液理论

古希腊名医希波克拉底（hippocrates）认为人体内有四种主要的液体：血液、黏液、黄胆汁和黑胆汁。如果这四种液体在体内失去平衡，人的性情就会大受影响。这四种体液就叫做humour（或humor），代表了一个人的脾气或心情。

英国戏剧家班·强生写过一出喜剧：《每个人都有自己的脾气》（Every Man in His Humour）。剧中人物的性格引人发笑。因此，humour又有了“幽默”、“滑稽”和“诙谐”的含义。

根据体液理论，一个人如果体内黑胆汁太多，就会变得“性情忧郁”。因此，表示黑胆汁的单词melancholy也就具有了“忧郁”的含义。单词melancholy来自希腊语melanchole（黑胆汁），chole表示胆、胆汁，melan表示黑色，含有melan的单词还有melanoma黑素瘤、melanin黑色素等。

humor： ['hjʊmɚ] n.幽默，体液

melancholy：['melənkəlɪ]adj. 忧郁的；使人悲伤的n. 忧郁；悲哀；愁思

该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：humour 词源，humour 含义。