喜樂美語

核心畫面

One way to picture observe: your eyes stay on something and you take in what it does — watching with attention, not just . Out of that come noticing a detail and saying what you noticed. The 'keep a rule, keep a holiday' senses look like a different word, but they are the older meaning of the same Latin root: to keep to something.

可以想成 observe 是「眼睛停在一樣東西上，把它的動靜收進來」——是專注地看，不是瞄一眼。從這裡長出「注意到某…更多收起可以想成 observe 是「眼睛停在一樣東西上，把它的動靜收進來」——是專注地看，不是瞄一眼。從這裡長出「注意到某個細節」和「把注意到的說出來」。至於「遵守規定、過節」那兩個意思，看起來像另一個字，其實是同一個拉丁字根更早的那一層：守著、照著做。

From the word’s history

From Latin observare 'watch over, note, heed, look to, attend to, guard, regard, comply with', from ob- 'in front of' + servare 'to watch, keep safe'. English took the 'keep to, carry out, follow (a rule or custom)' sense first, in the late 14c.; 'watch, perceive, notice' only appears around the 1560s, and 'say by way of remark' around 1600.

來自拉丁文 observare「看守、留意、遵照」，由 ob-（在…前面）加 servare（看守、保全）組成。英文最先收下的是「守著、照著做（規矩或習俗）」這一層，時間在 14 世紀晚期；「觀看、注意到」要到 1560 年代才出現，「把觀察說出來」約在 1600 年。所以「遵守」不是從「觀察」硬轉出來的，兩層意思在字根裡本來就並存。

Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com/word/observe)

From the picture

把看到的說出來

再往外一步：注意到之後開口或動筆，把那個觀察講出來。

observe, remark · verb · B2

To say or write down something you have noticed.

說道；評述

守規矩、過節

這一組走的是字根裡「守著、照著做」那一層，不是從「觀察」延伸來的；把它當成另一條線記，反而不容易搞混。

observe, obey a rule · verb · B2

To do what a rule, a law, or an agreement says you must do.

遵守

Also in this word

observe, watch closely · verb · B1

To watch someone or something carefully for a while, so that you can learn about them.

觀察

observe, notice · verb · B1

To see something and notice it.

注意到；看出

原始詞典資料5 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。

observeverb/əbˈzɜːv/

  • 1

    To notice or view, especially carefully or with attention to detail.

    • From this vantage point we can observe the behavior of the animals in their natural habitat.
    • She got up before dawn to observe the lunar eclipse.
  • 2

    To follow or obey the custom, practice, or rules (especially of a religion).

    • Please observe all posted speed limits.
    • Some of them have, in fact, given them a theoretical elaboration which for subtlety, refinement, and elegance need make no apologies to the older economics, and which remains faithful to older theorizing in at least one respect, that the tradition of unintelligibility to the layman is scrupulously observed.
  • 3

    To take note of and celebrate (a holiday or similar occurrence), to keep; to follow (a type of time or calendar reckoning).

    • Ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread.
    • On Sunday, most of Canada will observe daylight time and spring forward an hour in order to reflect the increasing sunlight.
  • 4

    To comment on something; to make an observation.

    • The senator observed that the bill would be detrimental to his constituents.
    • Again, I farther obſerve, that as man is a compound being, ſo this renders him capable of ſeveral diſtinct kinds of pleaſure [...]

observenoun/əbˈzɜːv/

  • 1

    archaicAn observation (remark, comment or judgement).

    • “It sticks in my mind that he would take it very ill,” says Alan. “But the little man cried to me to run, and indeed I thought it was a good observe, and ran. The last that I saw they were all in a knot upon the beach, like folk that were not agreeing very well 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。