核心畫面

You can picture something that only you have — a piece of news, a feeling, a way in — being opened up so that the other side has it too. Before, it sat on one side; after, it is held by both. Almost everything 'communicate' does is that one move: putting what was private into the space between two parties. Words and signs are the usual carriers, but a can cross that same gap, and so can a doorway between two rooms.

可以想成本來只有你這邊有的東西——一則消息、一個感覺、一條通路——被打開來,讓另一邊也拿到。之前它在一邊,之後兩邊都更多收起可以想成本來只有你這邊有的東西——一則消息、一個感覺、一條通路——被打開來,讓另一邊也拿到。之前它在一邊,之後兩邊都有了。communicate 幾乎所有用法都是這一個動作:把原本只在自己這裡的東西,放到兩方中間變成共有。最常見的載體是話語和文字,但一顆細菌也能越過同樣的那道間隔,兩個房間之間的一扇門也可以。

From the word’s history

From Latin communicare, past participle communicatus, 'to share, impart', literally 'to make common', from communis 'common, shared, public'. The English word arrives in the 1520s meaning 'to impart information', and the 'make common' picture is still doing the work in the odd senses: a disease made common to two bodies (1530s), two rooms made common to each other (1731).

來自拉丁文 communicare(分詞 communicatus),意思是「分享、傳給人」,字面上就是「使之成為共有」,字根 communis 是「共同的、公有的」。1520 年代進入英文時指「傳遞訊息」。這個「使之共有」的畫面,正好解釋了那幾個看起來不相干的用法:疾病讓兩個身體共有同一個病(1530 年代),兩個房間彼此相通、共有同一個出入口(1731 年)。

Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), entry 'communicate' — https://www.etymonline.com/word/communicate

From the picture

兩個人真的接得上線

前一族是單向的「我送、你收」;這一族把它變成雙向的。兩邊各自把心裡的東西攤出來,也真的接住對方的,於是共有的不只是訊息,而是彼此的想法和感受。中文的「談得來」「有話講」很接近這個意思。

understand each other · verb · B1

To share thoughts and feelings with each other in a way both people really understand.

互相理解/談得來

讓東西實際通過去

把「使之共有」從訊息換成實體:本來只在這一邊的東西,越過中間那道界線到了另一邊,兩邊就共有了同一樣東西。這是拉丁文原意最沒被抽象化的一支,也是為什麼這兩個用法乍看跟「溝通」毫無關係。

transmit a disease · verb · B1

To carry a disease across from one person or animal to the next.

傳染(疾病)

Also in this word

share information · verb · B1

To share information or ideas with other people, using words, signs, writing, or other ways.

溝通/傳達訊息

express yourself clearly · verb · B1

To get your thoughts or feelings across clearly enough that other people understand them.

清楚表達

原始詞典資料9 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。

communicateverb詞源 1/kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪt/

  • 1

    To impart.

    • It is vital that I communicate this information to you.
  • 2

    To impart.

    • to communicate motion by means of a crank
    • Did ye not knovv that I ought to be ib my fathers houſe? that is, there vvhere God is vvorſhipped, vvhere he communicates his bleſſing and holy influences, there and there only vve are ſure to meet our deareſt Lord.
  • 3

    To impart.

    • The disease was mainly communicated via rats and other vermin.
  • 4

    obsoleteTo share

    • We shall now consider those functions of intelligence which man communicates with the higher beasts.
    • thousands that communicate our loss
  • 5

    ChristianityTo share

    • It seems that now [the Devil] was driving Alison hard. She had been remiss of late—fewer souls sent to hell, less zeal in quenching the Spirit, and, above all, the crowning offense that her bairn had communicated in Christ's kirk.
    • The ‘better sort’ might communicate on a separate day; and in some parishes even the quality of the communion wine varied with the social quality of the recipients.
  • 6

    ChristianityTo share

    • [W]hen ſhe [the church] can underſtand that ſuch an emendation is made, and the man is really reformed, ſhe can pronounce him pardon'd, or vvhich is all one, ſhe may communicate him.
  • 7

    To share

    • Many deaf people communicate with sign language.
    • I feel I hardly know him; I just wish he'd communicate with me a little more.
  • 8

    To share

    • The living room communicates with the back garden by these French windows.
    • There was a door in the kitchen, communicating with the forge; […]

communicateadj詞源 2

  • 1

    obsoleteCommunicated, (made) commune, joined.

    • The property of the manhood is communicate with the other nature.
    • Art..gives a natural scope, and lasting experience, to Genius. Artists are men of a communicate genius.

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