核心畫面

You can picture a group of people standing close together and singing an old song that everyone already knows, in a bright, happy voice. Two things hold the picture together: the singing is shared, and the mood is glad. From that one picture the word grows in two directions. Turn it into a thing and you get the song itself, above all the kind sung at Christmas. Turn it into an action and you get singing that way, whether it is people going from door to door in December or a bird at the window in spring.

carol 可以想成一群人靠在一起,用明亮開心的聲音,唱一首大家本來就會的老歌。這個畫面有兩根柱子:一是「一起」,二更多收起carol 可以想成一群人靠在一起,用明亮開心的聲音,唱一首大家本來就會的老歌。這個畫面有兩根柱子:一是「一起」,二是「高興」。從這裡往兩邊長。往名詞長,就是那首歌本身,尤其是聖誕節唱的那種。往動詞長,就是「這樣開心地唱出來」——可能是十二月一家一家去報佳音,也可能是窗外的鳥。更早的時候,唱的人還會邊唱邊繞圈跳舞;圈舞後來不見了,歌留下來了。

From the word’s history

The source entry traces the noun to Middle English carole, from Old French carole, a round dance with singing. The dance dropped away and the shared, joyful singing stayed, which is why the modern word still feels like something a group does together.

來源資料把這個名詞追到中古英語 carole,再上溯到古法文 carole:一種「邊唱邊跳的圈舞」。跳舞的部分後來脫落,留下「一群人一起歡唱」這件事。這說明了為什麼 carol 到今天還是帶著「集體、同樂」的味道。來源本身標明更早的字源仍不確定,這裡就不再往上推。

Wiktionary/kaikki snapshot 3f6f69a190036ae4, entry 'carol' (noun), etymology_text: Middle English carole, from Old French carole ('round dance with singing'); further etymology marked uncertain in the source.

Two branches

唱出來的那首歌

把畫面裡「被唱出來的東西」抓出來當名詞,就是這一族。

noun · B1

A song that people sing at Christmas time. Most carols are old and well known, and they are usually sung by a group of people together rather than by one singer alone.

聖誕頌歌

開心地唱出來

把同一個畫面裡「正在唱」的動作抓出來當動詞,就是這一族。

verb · B1

To sing Christmas carols, usually with other people, and often walking from house to house or from street to street.

報佳音;四處唱聖誕頌歌

原始詞典資料11 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法,原文照列,我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的;有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

Carolname詞源 1/ˈkæ.ɹəl/

  • 1

    A female given name from the Germanic languages, popular in the middle of the 20th century.

    • Carol is fifteen years old and I'm sixteen. Her name is really Caroline, but she hates it and wants to be called Carol - it's so much prettier.
    • Oh! Carol, I am but a fool / Darling, I love you, though you treat me cruel

Carolname詞源 2/ˈkæ.ɹəl/

  • 1

    A male given name from the Germanic languages.

    • This table shows the curious fact that little Prince Carol of Roumania (who is at once the great-grandson and the third cousin of Queen Victoria) has a better hereditary right to the British Throne than Her Majesty.
    • What splendid names for boys there are! There's Carol like a rolling car […]

carolnoun/ˈkæɹəl/

  • 1

    historicalA round dance accompanied by singing.

    • The carol, a combination of dance, music and song performed by a group, has a parallel history [to the mystery plays]. Although it existed earlier as a secular form – the round dance of which St Hugh's biographer was reminded by the shafts at Lincoln – it seems to have been turned to pious uses from about 1350.
  • 2

    A ballad or song of joy.

    • The humane mortals want their winter heere / No night is now with hymme or carroll bleſt; / Therefore the Moone (the gouerneſſe of floods) / Pale in her anger, waſhes all the aire; / That Rheumaticke diſeaſes do abound.
    • Oppos'd to her, on t' other Side, advance / The coſtly Feaſt, the Carol, and the Dance, / Minſtrels, Muſick, Poetry, and Play, / And Balls by Night, and Turnaments by Day.
  • 3

    A ballad or song of joy.

    • They sang a Christmas carol.
    • Carolle: f[eminine]. A kind of daunce wherein many daunce together; alſo, a Carroll, or Chriſtmas ſong.
  • 4

    obsoletearchitectureA small closet or enclosure built against the inner side of a window of a monastery's cloister, to sit in for study.

    • Carol, or Carrel. A little pew, or closet, in a cloister, to sit and read in. They were common in greater monasteries, as Duram, Gloucester, Kirkham in Yorkshire, &c.; and had their name from the carols, or sentences inscribed on the walls about them, which often were couplets in rhyme. [Carola, Low Latin.]
    • An exquisite south-east door is preserved; it is round-headed, of four orders, with a foliated label. A canopied carol or monk's seat, a Pointed crocketed arch within a square case, is seen beside it, succeeded on the south wall by an arcade of trefoiled arches with toothed mouldings.

carolverb/ˈkæɹəl/

  • 1

    historicalTo participate in a carol (a round dance accompanied by singing).

    • You might see the townsmen and the ladies carolling in the squares, squires and serjans and young girls singing; there is no street and no house to be found there that is not adorned with hangings of gold and silk.
  • 2

    literaryTo sing in a joyful manner.

    • The sun shone, and the birds were caroling.
    • And when the ſtubborne ſtroke of ſtronger ſtounds, / Has ſomewhat ſlackt the tenor of thy ſtring; / Of loue and luſtihead tho maiſt thou ſing, / And carroll lowde, and leade the Millers rounde, [...]
  • 3

    To sing carols; especially to sing Christmas carols in a group.

    • Christmas morning was welcomed by services in some churches. Everyone in the Bingham house, along with other church members, went carolling at five o'clock in the morning, which culminated in the Christmas message at the church, delivered by the pastor. Everyone's heart was blessed.
    • Gather up the neighbor kids and go caroling around the neighborhood … just for the joy of singing together!
  • 4

    To praise or celebrate in song.

    • [S]till ſhe [Sabrina, a water nymph] retaines / Her maiden gentleneſſe, and oft at eve / Viſits the heards along the twilight meadows, / Helping all urchin blaſts, and ill lucke ſignes, / That the ſhrewd medling elfe delights to make, / Which ſhe with precious viol'd liquors heales; / For which the ſhepheards at their feſtivalls / Carroll her goodneſſe lowd in ruſticke layes, / And throw ſweet garland wreaths into her ſtreame / Of pancies, pinks, and gaudie daffadills.
  • 5

    To sing (a song) cheerfully.

    • Now Sol hath ſcap't the Oxes horn, / The Ram, the winds, the ſtormes, and harms; / The loving Twins by Leda born, / Will entertain him in their arms. / And Flora ſmiles to feel thoſe beams / Which whilom were with-drawn ſo long. / The pratling birds, the purling ſtreams / Do carroll forth her wedding ſong.
    • Why do the Delian Palms incline their Boughs, / Self-mov'd; and hov'ring Swans, their Throats releas'd / From native Silence, carol Sounds harmonious?

資料來源:英文維基詞典 English WiktionaryCC BY-SA 4.0)。 原文照列,未經改寫。