核心畫面

Something fresh and new — not seen before. The adjective holds the older, more basic picture: a thing that is novel feels new and out of the ordinary. The noun grew from this same idea of 'a new kind of thing': when long invented prose stories became popular, they were literally called 'a new (story)'.

可以想成都是從「新、前所未見」這個畫面長出來的。形容詞那邊保留了最原始的感覺:novel 的東西讓人覺得新鮮、跟以往更多收起可以想成都是從「新、前所未見」這個畫面長出來的。形容詞那邊保留了最原始的感覺:novel 的東西讓人覺得新鮮、跟以往不一樣。名詞(小說)其實也是同一個念頭——「一種新出現的東西」:當這種長篇虛構故事流行起來時,人們直接把它叫做「新(出來的故事)」。

From the word’s history

Both senses trace to Latin 'novus' (new), via 'novellus' (new, young, fresh); the prose-fiction noun comes from Italian 'novella' = a new (little) story.

兩個意思都來自拉丁文 novus(新的),經由 novellus(新的、年輕的、新鮮的);小說這個名詞則來自義大利文 novella,意思是「一則新(小)故事」。

Oxford English Dictionary / Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com): novel < Italian novella < Latin novus 'new'

Two branches

新奇的(形容詞)

這就是最貼近詞根的用法:直接形容一個東西「新到讓人覺得有趣或意外」。

new and original · adjective · B1

New and different from anything known before, in a way that is interesting or surprising.

新奇的

小說(名詞)

從「新」這個畫面延伸出去:這種長篇虛構故事當年是一種新形式的讀物,於是「新(出現的故事)」這個名字就固定下來,專指這類書。

novel (book) · noun · B1

A long written story about people and events that are usually invented, printed as a book.

小說

原始詞典資料6 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。

noveladj詞源 1/ˈnɒvəl/

  • 1

    Newly made, formed or evolved; having no precedent; of recent origin; new.

  • 2

    Original, especially in an interesting way; new and striking; not of the typical or ordinary type.

novelnoun詞源 2/ˈnɒvəl/

  • 1

    A work of prose fiction, longer than a novella.

    • If it be true, that the preſent age is more corrupt, than the preceding, the great multiplication of Novels has probably contributed to its degeneracy. Fifty years ago there was ſcarcely a Novel in the kingdom. Romances, indeed, abounded; but they, it is ſuppoſed, were rather favorable to virtue.
    • Since I had started to break down all my writing and get rid of all facility and try to make instead of describe, writing had been wonderful to do. But it was very difficult, and I did not know how I would ever write anything as long as a novel. It often took me a full morning of work to write a paragraph.
  • 2

    historicalA fable; a short tale, especially one of many making up a larger work.

    • merry tales[…]such as the old woman told of Psyche in Apuleius, Boccace novels, and the rest, quarum auditione pueri delectantur, senes narratione, which some delight to hear, some to tell, all are well pleased with.

novelnoun詞源 3/ˈnɒvəl/

  • 1

    obsoleteA novelty; something new.

    • Libum is a cake made of Honey (sugar is a nouvelle, since the discovery of America), meale and oyle.

novelnoun詞源 4/ˈnɒvəl/

  • 1

    historicallawA new legal constitution.

    • The normal and natural relationship of emperor and churchman was summed up by Justinian in one of his novels […]

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