核心畫面

Picture a tomato you grew yourself: the seed went into your own soil, and the thing came up there. Every use of the word is that same picture with the patch of ground made bigger — a garden, then a town, then a country, then a football club's youth team. What stays constant is the claim: this came up here, it was not brought in.

想像一顆自己種的番茄:種子下在自家的土裡,東西也就從那裡長出來。這個字的每一個用法,都是同一張圖,只是把那塊地放大—更多收起想像一顆自己種的番茄:種子下在自家的土裡,東西也就從那裡長出來。這個字的每一個用法,都是同一張圖,只是把那塊地放大——先是菜園,再來是一座城市、一個國家,最後是球隊的青年隊。不變的是它在主張的那件事:這是從我們這裡長出來的,不是外面運進來的。

From the word’s history

Simply home plus grown. Home traces back through Old English ham to a Germanic root for a dwelling place, and grown is the past participle of grow, so the compound says exactly what it looks like: grown at home.

就是 home + grown。home 一路回溯到古英語 hām,再往上是日耳曼語表示「住處」的字根;grown 是 grow 的過去分詞。所以這個組合字面上說的就是它看起來的意思:在家裡長出來的。

Wiktionary entry homegrown, etymology tree supplied in packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1331208635:10829)

Two branches

自家土裡長的

這一支就是字面本身,也是整張圖的起點。

adjective · B1

Homegrown fruit and vegetables are ones you have grown yourself, in your own garden or on your own land, instead of buying them.

自家種的

這地方自己長出來的

把「自家的那塊地」放大成城市、國家或球隊,同一張圖就從菜園搬到了人和產業上。

adjective · B2

Coming from your own country, city, club or area, rather than from somewhere else. It is used about people with a skill or talent, and about things a place produces for itself.

本地的;本國(本隊)培養的