喜樂美語

核心畫面

You can picture folk as ordinary, everyday people — not the powerful or the experts, just the common people of a place, spoken of . Everything else grows from this: their families, the way you greet them, and the songs, crafts and that belong to them rather than to specialists.

可以想成「一般的老百姓」：不是權貴，也不是專家，就是某個地方平常的人們，而且語氣是親切的。其他意思都從這裡長出來——…更多收起可以想成「一般的老百姓」：不是權貴，也不是專家，就是某個地方平常的人們，而且語氣是親切的。其他意思都從這裡長出來——他們的家人、你招呼他們的方式，還有屬於這些平凡人（而非專家）的歌謠、手藝和偏方。

From the word’s history

From Old English folc 'common people, nation, tribe' (related to German Volk). The word has always pointed at the body of ordinary people — which is why folk music and folk medicine mean the traditions of the common people, not the elite.

源自古英語 folc（老百姓、部族、民族），和德文 Volk 同源。這個字從古至今都指向「一般民眾這個群體」，所以 folk music、folk medicine 才會是「平民百姓的傳統」，而不是精英或專家那一套。

etymonline.com/word/folk

Two branches

人們本身：老百姓、家人、各位

這一群意思都直接是「人」：先是泛稱一般人，再收窄到你身邊的家人，或當面招呼一群人時的親切稱呼。全都是「老百姓」這個核心的直接運用。

folk (people) · noun · B1

People, especially when you talk about them in a friendly or general way.

人們；大家

平民的文化：民俗、民謠、偏方

這一群把「老百姓」當形容詞用：凡是屬於一般民眾、代代相傳、而非出自專家或現代科學的東西，都叫 folk。所以民謠、民俗、民間智慧、偏方共用同一個核心——它們都是「平民百姓的」，不是精英或學術的。

folk (traditional) · adjective · B1

Folk art, stories, music, or customs are traditional and belong to the ordinary people of a place.

民間的；民俗的

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。

Folkname

  • 1

    A surname.

folknoun/fəʊk/

  • 1

    archaicA people; a tribe or nation; the inhabitants of a region, especially the native inhabitants.

    • The organization of each folk, as such, sprang mainly from war.
    • We thus arrive at a most unexpected imbroglio. The French have become a Germanic folk and the Germanic folk have become Gaulish!
  • 2

    People, persons.

    • There were a lot of folk in the streets.
    • Young folk, old folk, everybody come / To our little Sunday School, and have a lot of fun.
  • 3

    One’s relatives, especially one’s parents.

    • I need to call my folks back home.

folkadj/fəʊk/

  • 1

    Of or pertaining to the inhabitants of a land, their culture, tradition, or history.

  • 2

    Of or pertaining to common people as opposed to ruling classes or elites.

  • 3

    architectureOf or related to local building materials and styles.

  • 4

    Believed or transmitted by the common people; not academically or ideologically correct or rigorous.

    • folk psychology; folk linguistics
    • Americans are not libertarians in the Cato Institute sense of the word, but they are folk libertarians in this sense of impulsive behaviour, which is a feature of American life that anyone who wants to govern the United States, Democratic or Republican, has to be aware of.

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。