核心畫面

Commissioner can be pictured around a single moment: a job being handed over. Someone holds a task, a department, or a question that needs answering, and passes it to another person to carry. The one who takes it and is answerable for it is a commissioner — whether that job is running the water department, sitting on a panel of five, or heading a city police force. Look at the same moment from the other side and you see the fourth meaning: the person doing the handing over.

commissioner 可以想成一個「把任務交出去」的瞬間。有人手上有一件事——一個部門、一份調查、一個要回答的問更多收起commissioner 可以想成一個「把任務交出去」的瞬間。有人手上有一件事——一個部門、一份調查、一個要回答的問題——把它交到另一個人手上。接下來、並且要負責的那個人,就是 commissioner。不管他接的是水利局、是五人小組裡的一個位子,還是一整個城市的警察。把同一個畫面從另一邊看,就是第四個意思:交出去的那一方。

From the word’s history

The supplied Wiktionary etymology tree runs from Latin committere (con- plus mittere, to send or entrust) to commissio and the Medieval Latin agent form in -arius. The idea of entrusting a task is still the thread through all the modern uses.

來源的 Wiktionary 詞源樹從拉丁文 committere(con- 加 mittere,「交託、送出」)走到 commissiō,再到中世紀拉丁文的 -arius(做某事的人)。「把事情交託出去」這個意思,今天還貫穿著這個字的每一種用法。

Wiktionary (kaikki extract 3f6f69a190036ae4), entry 'commissioner': etymology tree Latin committō > commissiō > -ārius.

Three branches

被任命管事的人

交出去的是一整個機關的管理權,接下來的人就成了首長。這一組的共同點是:權力來自任命,不是選舉,也不是自己爭來的。

noun · B2

A senior official who is officially in charge of a government department or a public service. Which job the title names depends on the country.

局長;署長;專員

委員會裡的一個位子

這次交出去的不是一個機關,而是一件要共同處理的事,而且交給的是一群人。所以每個人只拿到其中一個位子。

noun · C1

One of the people who sit on a commission — an official group set up to run something, to decide something, or to look into a question and report on it.

委員

把工作交出去的那一方

同一個交接動作,站到另一端來看:不是接下任務的人,而是提出要求、付錢的人。

noun · C1

The person or group who asks for a piece of work to be made and pays for it — for example a painting, a building, or a piece of music.

委託人;出資訂製的人