核心畫面

A crowd with its mouths open. Many voices arrive at the same moment, so what reaches you is one thick sheet of sound rather than separate words. Everything clamour does grows out of that sheet: sometimes it is only noise, and sometimes the noise has a demand inside it.

clamour 可以想成一群人同時張開嘴。聲音沒有先後,全部一起到,所以你聽到的不是一句一句的話,而是一整片厚厚的聲更多收起clamour 可以想成一群人同時張開嘴。聲音沒有先後,全部一起到,所以你聽到的不是一句一句的話,而是一整片厚厚的聲音。這個字的每個用法都從這片聲音長出來:有時候它就只是吵,有時候這片吵裡面包著一個要求。

From the word’s history

From Latin clāmor, 'a shout, a cry', from clāmō, 'to cry out, to complain'. The shout is still sitting at the centre of the English word, which is why both the noise senses and the demanding senses feel like one word rather than two.

來自拉丁文 clāmor(喊叫聲),而 clāmor 來自 clāmō(大聲叫、抱怨)。那個「喊」到今天還在字的中心,所以「一片吵鬧」和「大聲要求」用起來才會像同一個字,而不是兩個。

Wiktionary entry for clamour, packet evidence kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:728867280 — etymology_text: 'From Latin clāmor (a shout, cry), from clāmō (cry out, complain).'

Two branches

就只是那一片聲音

這一組離核心畫面最近:只描述聲音本身,不管裡面在講什麼。名詞看的是那片聲音,動詞看的是發出聲音的動作。

noun · C1

A loud, continuous noise made by a large group of people or animals who are all making sound at the same time.

喧鬧聲

那片吵裡面帶著一個要求

一樣是很多張嘴同時發聲,差別在於這次每張嘴喊的是同一件事。聲音一旦有了共同的內容,它就不只是噪音,而變成一股壓力。

verb · C1

To ask for something loudly and again and again, usually as a group, so that everyone around can hear how much you want it.

大聲要求