核心畫面

Stand under one big tree. In spring it is full of white or pink flowers; in autumn the hard, shiny brown nuts come down onto the path. English gives both of those things the same two words, so the tree and what it drops share a single name, and only the sentence around the words tells you which one is on the table.

可以想成站在一棵大樹底下。春天,樹上開滿白色或粉紅色的花;秋天,硬硬亮亮的咖啡色果實掉到步道上。英文把這兩樣東西用同更多收起可以想成站在一棵大樹底下。春天,樹上開滿白色或粉紅色的花;秋天,硬硬亮亮的咖啡色果實掉到步道上。英文把這兩樣東西用同一組字叫出來,所以樹和它掉下來的果實共用一個名字。真正告訴你講的是哪一個的,是句子本身:有沒有 a、是不是複數、動詞是「種」還是「撿」。

From the word’s history

The packet's Wiktionary entry says the English name is a calque of the Latin Castanea equina, literally 'equine chestnut', so the horse in the name travelled in with the translation.

來源資料說這個英文名字是拉丁學名 Castanea equina 的直譯,字面就是「馬的栗子」。所以名字裡的 horse 是隨著翻譯一起進來的,不是描述這棵樹跟馬的關係。

packet evidence, Wiktionary 'horse chestnut' etymology_text: 'Calque of translingual Castanea equina (literally "equine chestnut").'

One branch

同名的樹與果實

兩個意思是同一個畫面的兩個部分:樹,以及樹掉下來的東西。英文沿用同一組字,就像 orange 同時是橘子樹和橘子。

noun · B2

A large tree that has white or pink flowers and grows shiny brown nuts. It is common in the cooler countries of the northern half of the world.

七葉樹(馬栗樹)

原始詞典資料2 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。

horse chestnutnoun/ˌhɔːs ˈtʃɛsnʌt/

  • 1

    Any of several tree species of genus Aesculus, especially Aesculus hippocastanum, common in temperate northern hemisphere.

  • 2

    The large nutlike seed of these trees.

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