- 1換生靈；傳說中被妖精掉包、留在搖籃裡的嬰兒
In old European folk stories, a changeling is a baby that fairies (or similar spirits) are said to have left in a human cradle after taking the real child away. The parents notice that something is wrong: the baby looks almost the same, but eats strangely, does not grow, or feels like a different soul in the same small body. People told the story to explain illness, unusual children, or a grief they could not name. It is a story-word now, not a doctor’s word, and you meet it in fairy tales, fantasy books, and talk about old belief. Though actually, the same idea was once used in a cruel way: calling someone a changeling could mean you thought they were foolish or “not right”, because the stolen-child story was how some communities talked about children who were different. We do not use it that way now, and we should not.
組成change + -ling. -ling here means a small or young one (as in duckling), so a changeling is “a little changed one” — the child who was swapped.
原始詞典資料7 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，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。
changelingnoun/ˈtʃeɪn(d)ʒlɪŋ/
- 1
artsfolklorehistoryIn pre-modern European folklore: an infant of a magical creature that was secretly exchanged for a human infant. In British, Irish and Scandinavian mythology the exchanged infants were thought to be those of fairies, sprites or trolls; in other places, they were ascribed to demons, devils, or witches.
- [S]he, as her attendant, hath / A louely boy ſtollen, from an Indian king: / She neuer had ſo ſweete a changeling.
- Every Lover admires his miſtris, though ſhee be very deformed of her ſelfe, […] her feet ſtinke, ſhee breed lice, a meere changeling, a very monſter, […]: if he loue her once, he admires her for all this, he takes no notice of any ſuch errors, or imperfections of body or minde.
- 2
A person or object (especially when regarded as inferior) secretly exchanged for something else.
- When I firſt read Mr. Walker’s Circular Letter to the Arch-deacons, I fancied he intended to give us an Account of thoſe worthy Men, […] But after about ten Years going with this Work, and that the Time of its Birth was come, I ſoon found it to be a perfect Changeling. Inſtead of what I expected it to be, I ſaw a huge Heap of the moſt Heterogeneous Characters, […] a great many of them much more deſerving to have their Names blotted out, than their Memory to be preſerved.
- 3
rareinformalAn infant secretly exchanged with another infant deliberately or by mistake; a swapling.
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fantasyliteraturemediaAn organism which can change shape to mimic others; a shape-shifter.
- 5
archaicA person apt to change their loyalty or thinking; a waverer.
- To face the garment of rebellion / With ſome fine colour that may pleaſe the eye / Of fickle changlings and poore diſcontents, / Which gape and rub the elbow at the newes / Of hurly-burly innouation, […]
- Fal[staff]. […] If you will lodge with me in Eaſtcheap, you ſhall ſee the thouſand pound fairly ſpent in ſack: you ſhall ſhare with me to the utmoſt farthing. But for dry reſtitution, I have not been accustom'd to it of many years. You would not have me a changeling at this time of day, I hope, Maſter Shallow. / Shal[low]. Changeling! no, Sir John, thou art no changeling; but, depend on it, I will not put up with this wrong. […] I will have my money; depend on't I will have my money.
- 6
obsoleteAn idiot, a simpleton.
- They alſo obſerue Lunaticks and changelings, and the Coniurer writeth downe their ſayings in a booke, groueling on the ground, as if he whiſperd to the Deuill to tell him the truth, and ſo expoundeth the letter, as it were by inſpiration.
- We wander in the Fields of Air below: / Changlings and Fooles of Heav'n: and thence ſhut out, / Wildly we roam in diſcontent about: […]
changelingadj/ˈtʃeɪn(d)ʒlɪŋ/
- 1
archaicrareChangeable, fickle, inconstant, wavering.
- Away thou changeling motley humouriſt, / Leave me, and in this ſtanding wooden cheſt, / Conſorted with theſe few books, let me lye / In priſon, and here be coffin'd, when I dye.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。