喜樂美語

核心畫面

The root inside this word is death. One way to hold it: something in a person is being put to death. In the old religious use it is the body's appetites; in the everyday use it is the person's pride. In both, what dies is not the person but the part of them that wanted something — which is why the word is so much heavier than .

這個字的字根是「死」。可以想成「有樣東西在一個人身上被治死了」。老一點的宗教用法，治死的是身體的慾望。今天的日常用法…更多收起這個字的字根是「死」。可以想成「有樣東西在一個人身上被治死了」。老一點的宗教用法，治死的是身體的慾望。今天的日常用法，治死的是一個人的面子。兩邊死掉的都不是人本身，而是他身上想要什麼、撐著什麼的那一部分。這也是為什麼 mortify 比 embarrass 重那麼多。

From the word’s history

From Anglo-Norman mortifier and Late Latin mortificō, to cause death, built on Latin mors, death, plus -ficō, to make. So the word literally says to put to death, and both modern uses are that action with a different thing dying.

這個字來自古法語系的 mortifier 和晚期拉丁文 mortificō，意思是「造成死亡」，由拉丁文 mors（死）加上 -ficō（使成為…）組成。所以字面就是「把…弄死」。今天的兩個用法都是同一個動作，只是死掉的東西不一樣。

Wiktionary entry for mortify (packet source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1228270086), etymology_text: from Anglo-Norman mortifier, Middle French mortifier, from Late Latin mortificō (cause death), from Latin mors (death) + -ficō (-fy).

Two branches

面子被打到地上

這一支把「治死」用在自尊上，而且一定有人看著。

verb · C1

To make someone feel deeply ashamed or embarrassed — the hot-faced feeling of losing your dignity in front of other people. It also covers the older, milder shade of making someone feel annoyed and put down.

使極度難堪

把身體的慾望治死

這一支保留了字根最字面的用法，被治死的是自己身體想要的東西。

verb · C2

To make your own body suffer pain or go without comfort on purpose, in order to hold down your natural desires and needs. It is a formal expression, met mostly in writing about religious life and history.

苦修；克己

原始詞典資料12 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。

mortifyverb/ˈmɔːtɪfaɪ/

  • 1

    To discipline (one's body, appetites etc.) by suppressing desires; to practise abstinence on.

    • Some people seek sainthood by mortifying the body.
    • With fasting mortify'd, worn out with tears.
  • 2

    To injure the dignity of; to embarrass; to humiliate.

    • I was so mortified I could have died right there; instead I fainted, but I swore I'd never let that happen to me again.
    • Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.
  • 3

    obsoleteTo kill.

    • The second Spring after transplanting, purge them of all superfluous shoots and scions, reserving only the most towardly for the future stem; this to be done yearly, as long as they continue in the nursery; and if of the principal stem so left, the frost mortifie any part, cut it off [...]
  • 4

    obsoleteTo reduce the potency of; to nullify; to deaden, neutralize.

    • Soothly, the gode werkes, that he dide biforn that he fil in sinne, been al mortified and astoned and dulled by the ofte sinning.
    • Quicksilver is mortified with turpentine.
  • 5

    To affect with vexation or chagrin.

    • He seemed to enjoy mortifying them with news of every fresh hell loosed in the capital.
    • 22 September 1651 (date in diary), 1818 (first published), John Evelyn, John Evelyn's Diary the news of the fatal battle of Worcester, which exceedingly mortified our expectations
  • 6

    To scare.

    • Near-synonym: petrify
    • Please don't mortify your mother by telling her what a stupidly dangerous thing you did last night.
  • 7

    obsoleteTo humble; to depress.

  • 8

    historicalTo grant in mortmain.

    • the schoolmasters of Ayr were paid out of the mills mortified by Queen Mary
另外 4 個記錄的用法
  • 9

    To lose vitality.

    • [...] Tis a pure ill-natur'd ſatisfaction to ſee one that was a beauty unfortunately move with the ſame languor, and ſoftneſs of behaviour, that once was charming in her—To ſee, I ſay, her mortify that us'd to kill [...]
  • 10

    archaicTo kill off (living tissue etc.); to make necrotic.

    • Servius the Grammarian being troubled with the gowt, found no better meanes to be rid of it, than to apply poison to mortifie [translating tuer] his legs.
  • 11

    archaicTo gangrene.

    • For the inducing of putrefaction, it were good to try it with flesh or fish exposed to the moonbeams; and again exposed to the air when the moon shineth not, for the like time: to see whether will corrupt sooner: and try it also with capon, or some other fowl, laid abroad, to see whether it will mortify and become tender sooner; try it also with dead flies, or dead worms, having a little water cast upon them, to see whether will putrefy sooner.
  • 12

    To be subdued.

    • Trying to be kind and honest will require all his thoughts; a mortified appetite is never a wise companion; in so far as he has had to mortify an appetite, he will still be the worse man; and of such an one a great deal of cheerfulness will be required in judging life, and a great deal of humility in judging others.

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。