人身上的善
這一族就是核心畫面本身:把「好」當成一個人身上帶著的東西,可以有多有少,也可以從心裡流出來。
kindness; virtue · noun · C2
The quality in a person of being kind, honest, and right in the way they act.
善良
You can think of it as: the 'good' in a person, lifted out and made into a thing you can point at — something a person can have, show, or put into food. Good describes; goodness is that quality packed into a noun.
From Old English gōdnes, simply good + -ness, the suffix that turns an adjective into the quality itself (kind→kindness). The exclamation uses are a separate development: goodness stands in for God.
來自古英語 gōdnes(善良、美德、仁慈),就是 good 加上名詞字尾 -ness。-ness 的工作一向是把形容詞變成「那個性質本身」:kind→kindness、dark→darkness。所以 goodness 的字源沒有轉彎,它從一千年前到現在都是同一件事——把「好」變成一個名詞。真正需要另外解釋的是驚呼那一支:goodness 在那裡是替 God 站位的委婉說法,不是從品德延伸出來的。
Wiktionary, entry for 'goodness' (Middle English goodnesse < Old English gōdnes, from good + -ness)
Four branches
人身上的善
這一族就是核心畫面本身:把「好」當成一個人身上帶著的東西,可以有多有少,也可以從心裡流出來。
kindness; virtue · noun · C2
The quality in a person of being kind, honest, and right in the way they act.
善良
食物裡的好東西
同樣是「把好抽出來當成實體」,只是這次裝好的容器不是人,而是食物:好的成分待在食材裡,煮久了會流失,吃下去會進到身體。
nutrients; nourishment · noun · C2
The parts of food that help your body stay healthy.
營養
禮貌請求裡的那份善意
還是「你身上那份善」,但被拿來當作請託的支點:我不是命令你,我是請你把心裡那份好拿出來一點。
have the goodness to do something · noun · C2
Used in 'have the goodness to do something' as a very polite, rather old way to ask someone to do something.
請務必
驚呼時替 God 站位
這一族不是從「善良」比喻延伸出來的,而是另一條路:它是 God 的委婉替代品(minced oath)。硬要把它接回核心畫面會是假的,所以這裡走的是不同的來源。
my goodness! / goodness me! · noun · C2
Used in 'My goodness!' or 'Goodness me!' when you are surprised, and sometimes when you are a little angry.
天哪
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。
goodnessnoun/ˈɡʊdnəs/
The state or characteristic of being good.
The good, nutritional, healthy part or content of something.
God.
ChristianityThe moral qualities which constitute Christian excellence; moral virtue.
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。