核心畫面

A useful picture for facsimile is someone holding up an original and saying, 'make me one exactly like this.' What comes back is not a summary and not a retyped version — it is a thing that looks the same, mark for mark. Both meanings of the word sit on that picture: the museum page that copies every ink spot, and the machine that sends a copy of your page down a phone line so that the same page comes out at the other end.

facsimile 可以想成有人舉起原件說:「照這個樣子,做一個一模一樣的給我。」拿回來的東西不是摘要,也不是重打一更多收起facsimile 可以想成有人舉起原件說:「照這個樣子,做一個一模一樣的給我。」拿回來的東西不是摘要,也不是重打一遍的版本,而是連痕跡都對得上的複製品。這個字的兩個意思都靠在這個畫面上:博物館裡連墨點都照印的那一頁,還有把你手上那張紙從電話線送出去、在另一頭原樣吐出來的機器。

From the word’s history

From Latin fac simile, 'make like': fac is the command form of 'make', simile means 'similar'. The instruction is inside the word.

來自拉丁文 fac simile(做得一樣):fac 是「做」的命令形,simile 是「相像的」。也就是說,這個字本身就是一句「照樣做一個」的指令。

Wiktionary etymology_text supplied in this packet (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:510099422)

Two branches

一模一樣的複製品

最貼近核心畫面的一支:做出來的東西就是那個「照樣做一個」的成品。

noun · C1

An exact copy of something such as a picture, a page of writing, a letter or an old book, made so that every detail looks the same as the original.

摹本/原樣複製品

把複製品送出去的機器

同樣是「照樣做一個」,只是這次隔著一條電話線完成:這頭放進去一張紙,那頭出來一張長得一樣的紙。

noun · C1

A fax: the machine that sends a copy of a document over a telephone line, or the copy that comes out at the other end. This is the formal word for it.

傳真(正式說法)