核心畫面

Picture a town, and the people who live inside the wall. They are not visitors passing through: they live there, they use the streets and the market, and the town counts them as its own. `Citizen` starts from that picture — one of the people a place counts as belonging to it — and the wall later grows from a town wall into a national border.

可以想成一座有城牆的城,還有住在牆裡面的那些人。他們不是路過的訪客:他們住在這裡,用這裡的街道和市場,這座城也把他們更多收起可以想成一座有城牆的城,還有住在牆裡面的那些人。他們不是路過的訪客:他們住在這裡,用這裡的街道和市場,這座城也把他們算成自己人。citizen 一開始就是這個畫面——「一個地方認的自己人」——後來那道牆從城牆長成了國界,人也從市民變成國民,但「被算進來的成員」這層感覺一直都在。

From the word’s history

From Anglo-French citesein / citezein, from cite (city) plus -ain — literally a city person. Around 1300 it meant inhabitant of a city or town; the sense member of the state or nation, not an alien follows in the late 14th century. The phrase second-class citizen is recorded from 1942 in U.S. history.

citizen 來自盎格魯法語的 citesein / citezein,字根 cite 就是 city(城),字面上是「城裡的人」。1300 年前後在英文裡指的還是「住在城或鎮裡的人」,要到 14 世紀末才出現「屬於這個國家、不是外國人」的用法。second-class citizen 這個說法則是 1942 年在美國留下紀錄的。所以「城」在前、「國」在後,這個順序也解釋了為什麼 citizen 同時可以是市民和國民。

Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/citizen

Two branches

住在這裡、被算成自己人

最貼近原始畫面的一組:範圍是看得見的一座城、一個鎮,成員資格靠「住在這裡、生活在這裡」認定。

resident of a place · noun · B2

A person who lives in a particular town, country, or state and is part of that community.

市民 / 公民

法律上屬於這個國家

同一個畫面放大:城牆變成國界,「住在裡面」變成法律上的「屬於」。成員資格不再靠人在哪裡,而是登記在文件上,所以人跑到地球另一邊,身分還是跟著走。

legal national · noun · B2

A person who legally belongs to a particular country and has its rights and duties, even when living somewhere else.

公民 / 國民

原始詞典資料10 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。

Citizennoun

  • 1

    A personal Title denoting citizenship, implicitly of the nation in which it is spoken

  • 2

    A pupil of City of London School

citizennoun/ˈsɪtɪzən/

  • 1

    A resident of a city or town, especially one with legally recognized rights or duties.

    • [T]hat large body of the working men who were not counted as citizens and had not so much as a vote to serve as an anodyne to their stomachs were likely to get impatient.
  • 2

    A legally recognized member of a state, with associated rights and obligations; a person considered in terms of this role.

    • I am a Roman citizen.
    • Assistant: You'll meet with the managing director and Dr Sinita Brahmachari, the engineer who designed the chair. Peter Mackenzie: Indian, is he? Assistant: She is a British citizen, Minister. Born in Coventry.
  • 3

    An inhabitant or occupant: a member of any place.

    • Diogenes reckoned himself a citizen of the world.
    • A jellyfish... carries poison cells that can sting other citizens of the sea.
  • 4

    ChristianityA resident of the heavenly city or (later) of the kingdom of God: a Christian; a good Christian.

  • 5

    A civilian, as opposed to a police officer, soldier, or member of some other specialized (usually state) group.

  • 6

    obsoleteAn ordinary person, as opposed to nobles and landed gentry on one side and peasants, craftsmen, and laborers on the other.

    • [W]ould Mr. Delvile, who hardly ever spoke but to the high-born, without seeming to think his dignity somewhat injured, deign to receive for a daughter in law the child of a citizen and tradesman?
  • 7

    historicalA term of address among supporters of the French Revolution in France or elsewhere; (later, dated) a term of address among socialists and communists.

    • Citizen, I desire nothing more than to get to Paris, though I could dispense with the escort.
  • 8

    computingengineeringmathematicsA notional inhabitant of a software system; an object or a software application.

    • The HIG delivers Apple's design commandments, the company's definition of what it means to be a good iPhone citizen.

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