核心畫面

Picture a hand letting go on purpose: notes dropped into a collection box, a bag of coats handed over at the door, a name signed so that a school can have the books. Two things are always true — nobody paid you for it, and nobody is expected to give it back — and the thing goes to someone or something that needs it. That deliberate, one-way release can be held as the picture inside 'donate'. Because the giving is the point, the word carries a formal, public feeling: it belongs to charities, hospitals and campaigns rather than to passing a snack to a friend.

可以想成一隻手刻意鬆開的畫面:鈔票投進募款箱、一袋外套在門口交出去、簽個名讓學校拿到那批書。有兩件事一定成立——沒有更多收起可以想成一隻手刻意鬆開的畫面:鈔票投進募款箱、一袋外套在門口交出去、簽個名讓學校拿到那批書。有兩件事一定成立——沒有人付你錢,也沒有人要還——而東西流向需要它的人或機構。donate 的畫面比較像這個「有意識地、單向地放手」。也因為重點在「給出去這件事本身」,這個字帶著正式、公開的味道:它屬於慈善機構、醫院和募款活動,不會用在把零食遞給朋友這種場合。

From the word’s history

Recorded from 1819 as a back-formation from 'donation', which goes back to Latin 'donare' = 'give as a gift', from 'donum' = 'gift'. Originally chiefly U.S. usage.

有趣的是,donate 這個動詞比 donation 這個名詞還晚出現:1819 年才從 donation 反推回來造出來的(一開始主要是美式用法)。再往前追是拉丁文 donare「當禮物送出去」,來自 donum「禮物」。所以這個字底層的感覺一直是「禮物」——白白給的,不是交易,也不是借。

Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), entry 'donate'

原始詞典資料2 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。

Donatename

  • 1

    A surname from Spanish.

donateverb/də(ʊ)ˈneɪt/

  • 1

    To make a donation; to give away something of value to support or contribute towards a cause or for the benefit of another.

    • She donates 100 dollars to Red Cross every year.
    • He donated an etching from his own collection to the new art gallery.

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