喜樂美語

核心畫面

Picture a person putting their whole weight on what they are saying. There is no gap between the words and the feeling under them, and no part of the person is standing off to one side, joking. That weight explains both halves of the word: a person can BE like this (an earnest student), and an activity can START being treated like this (training begins in earnest).

earnest 可以想成一個人把整個重量壓在自己說的話上面。話跟心裡想的中間沒有空隙，也沒有哪一部分的他站在旁邊看笑…更多收起earnest 可以想成一個人把整個重量壓在自己說的話上面。話跟心裡想的中間沒有空隙，也沒有哪一部分的他站在旁邊看笑話。這個重量剛好解釋了這個字的兩邊。一邊是「人可以是這個樣子」——an earnest student，他真心，而且有下功夫。另一邊是「事情可以開始被這樣對待」——training begins in earnest，訓練從隨便練變成真的在練。

From the word’s history

The source traces earnest to Old English eornest, meaning earnestness, zeal, seriousness — and also battle — from Proto-Germanic *ernustuz; German still has the cognate Ernst, meaning seriousness. The weight in the modern word was there from the start.

字源資料把 earnest 追到古英文 eornest，意思是認真、熱切、嚴肅，甚至也可以指打仗；再往上是原始日耳曼語 *ernustuz。德文今天還留著同源的 Ernst（嚴肅）。也就是說，這個字裡「不是鬧著玩的」那份重量，一開始就在。

Wiktionary etymology_text supplied in this packet (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4, earnest, etymology 1)

Two branches

形容人、話語、努力：真心而且有出力

這一支就是核心畫面本身：那份重量直接壓在一個人、或這個人說的話跟做的事上面。

adjective · B2

Very serious and sincere: a person who is earnest really means what they say, cares about it, and puts effort behind it, with no joking and no pretending.

認真的；誠懇的

固定說法 in earnest：從隨便變成來真的

同一份重量，但是被收進固定說法裡。名詞 earnest 在現代英文幾乎只剩這幾個片語還活著，所以這些意思不能拆開單用。

noun · C1

If something begins or happens in earnest, it starts properly and at full strength, after a time when it was only happening a little, slowly, or in an unofficial way.

正式地；來真的（開始）

原始詞典資料12 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。

Earnestname

  • 1

    A male given name from the Germanic languages, of occasional usage, variant of Ernest.

earnestnoun詞源 1/ˈɝ.nɪst/

  • 1

    Gravity; serious purpose; earnestness.

    • Take heed that this jest do not one day turn to earnest.
    • That high All-Seer which I dallied with / Hath turn'd my feigned prayer on my head / And given in earnest what I begg'd in jest.
  • 2

    Seriousness; reality; actuality (as opposed to joking or pretence)

earnestverb詞源 1/ˈɝ.nɪst/

  • 1

    To be serious with; use in earnest.

    • Let's prove among ourselves our armes in jest, That when we come to earnest them with men, We may them better use.

earnestadj詞源 1/ˈɝ.nɪst/

  • 1

    Serious, sincere, ingenuous.

  • 2

    Focused in the pursuit of an objective; honestly eager to obtain or do.

    • earnest prayers
  • 3

    Intent; focused; showing a lot of concentration.

    • earnest attention
  • 4

    Possessing or characterised by seriousness.

    • an earnest disposition
  • 5

    Strenuous; diligent.

    • earnest efforts
  • 6

    Serious; weighty; of a serious, weighty, or important nature; important.

earnestnoun詞源 2/ˈɝ.nɪst/

  • 1

    A sum of money paid in advance as a deposit; hence, a pledge, a guarantee, an indication of something to come.

    • Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
    • As therefore the morning devv, is a pavvne of the evenings fatneſſe, ſo, O Lord, let this daies comfort be the earneſt of to morrowes, […]

這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：

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