喜樂美語

核心畫面

Picture a pair of hands going into something that belongs to someone else — a drawer, a toolbox, a pot that another person is stirring. The hands are not welcome, and they are not careful. That is the whole word. Sometimes the thing being handled is real, and sometimes it is a situation, a plan or a country's business; the feeling is the same either way, and it is always a complaint.

可以想成一雙手伸進不屬於自己的東西裡：別人的抽屜、別人的工具箱、別人正在攪的一鍋。這雙手沒有被邀請，動作也不小心。整…更多收起可以想成一雙手伸進不屬於自己的東西裡：別人的抽屜、別人的工具箱、別人正在攪的一鍋。這雙手沒有被邀請，動作也不小心。整個字就是這個畫面。有時候被伸手的是真的東西，有時候是一件事、一個計畫、一個國家的內政。感覺完全一樣，而且一定是在抱怨。

From the word’s history

Wiktionary traces meddle through Anglo-Norman medler to Latin misceo, 'to mix'. Mixing is close to the hands-in-the-pot picture, and it also explains an old, now dead use of meddle that simply meant 'to blend things together'.

根據 Wiktionary，meddle 經由盎格魯諾曼語 medler 來自拉丁文 misceō「混合」。「混合」跟「把手伸進別人那鍋裡攪」的畫面很接近，也解釋了為什麼英文早期真的有 meddle＝混合 的舊用法（現已不用，本頁未收）。

Wiktionary etymology supplied in the evidence packet (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:717170724)

One branch

把手伸進不屬於自己的東西裡

兩個意思是同一個動作的兩種大小：一個伸進東西裡，一個伸進事情裡。

verb · C1

To touch or move things that are not yours, in a careless way that might break them or leave them in the wrong place.

亂碰、亂動別人的東西

原始詞典資料4 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。

meddleverb/ˈmɛd.əl/

  • 1

    To interfere in or with; to concern oneself with unduly.

    • […] why ſhouldeſt thou meddle to thy hurt,[…]?
    • […] the Civil Lawyers […] have medled in a matter, that belongs not to them;[…].
  • 2

    obsoleteTo interest or engage oneself; to have to do (with), in a good sense.

    • […]ſtuddy to be quyet / and to medle with youre owne buſynes[…].
    • The Pythagoreans who, as Ariſtotle ſays, were the firſt among the Greeks, that meddled with Mathematics, divided them into four Parts, of which, two were Pure and Primary, namely Arithmetic and Geometry; and the other two Mixed and Secondary, as Muſic and Spheres, i. e. Aſtronomy.
  • 3

    obsoleteTo mix (something) with some other substance; to commingle, combine, blend.

    • [H]e cutt a lock of all their heare, / Which medling with their blood & earth, he threw / Into the graue,[…].
  • 4

    regionalTo have sex.

    • But after god came to Adam and bad hym knowe his wyf flesshly as nature requyred / Soo lay Adam with his wyf vnder the same tree / and anone the tree whiche was whyte and ful grene as ony grasse and alle that came oute of hit / and in the same tyme that they medled to gyders there was Abel begoten / thus was the tree longe of grene colour
    • Take a Rammes head that neuer medled with an Ewe, cut off at a blow, and the hornes onely taken away, boyle it well skinne and wooll together,[…].

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。