喜樂美語

核心畫面

Picture someone forward in front of other people and putting something private into words: this is what I am, this is what I believe, this is how I feel. That step forward is profess. Because the listeners can hear the words but cannot see inside the speaker, a gap opens between the statement and the truth behind it. Every use of the word lives somewhere along that gap — from a plain open declaration, to a claim that other people are quietly measuring against what the speaker actually does.

profess 可以想成一個人往前站一步，把心裡的東西講給大家聽：我是這樣的人、我相信這個、我有這種感覺。畫面的重點…更多收起profess 可以想成一個人往前站一步，把心裡的東西講給大家聽：我是這樣的人、我相信這個、我有這種感覺。畫面的重點在「當眾說出口」這個動作。也因為聽的人只聽得到話、看不到心裡，話跟事實之間就留下一道縫。這個字的各種用法就散在這道縫的兩邊：一邊是單純把心意講明白，另一邊是別人一邊聽、一邊拿他的行為來對照。

From the word’s history

From Old French professer, from the participle stem of Latin profitērī, from pro- (forward, in public) plus fatērī (to confess, acknowledge): to acknowledge something out in front of everyone.

拉丁文 profitērī 是 pro-（向前、往大家面前）加上 fatērī（承認、坦白）。可以想成把心裡承認的事往前推，推到眾人面前。這正好對上今天 profess 的核心：重點不在心裡怎麼想，而在有沒有講出來讓人聽見。

Wiktionary entry for 'profess' supplied in this packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:657470761:19764)

Three branches

把心裡的話當眾說出來

這一族離核心畫面最近：往前站一步，把原本只有自己知道的東西講出來，聽的人沒有理由懷疑，重點單純落在「說出口」這個動作上。

verb · C1

To say a private feeling, opinion or belief out loud, so that other people know it. You can also profess yourself to be something, which means openly stating how you feel about a result or a situation.

表明；坦然說出（心意、想法）

自稱是什麼，話不一定等於事實

同樣是往前站一步宣告，只是這一族的聽眾開始把話跟行為擺在一起看。核心畫面裡那道「聽得到話、看不到心」的縫，在這裡被寫作者刻意留著，所以句子後面常常跟一個 but。

verb · C1

To say openly that you are something, feel something, or can do something, especially when the words may not match what is really true or what the person really does. Writers often choose it to report a claim without agreeing with it.

自稱；聲稱

信仰上的宣認

宗教是「當眾承認自己相信什麼」最古老的場合，也最貼近拉丁文 pro-＋fatērī 的字面。這一族把核心畫面放進儀式和統計裡：不是猜人心裡信什麼，而是看他願不願意說出來。

verb · C1

To hold and openly follow a religion, a faith, or a set of principles. It is common in writing about what a group of people believe, and it is often used in the negative: someone professes no religion.

信奉並公開表明（宗教、信念）

原始詞典資料7 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。

professverb/pɹəˈfɛs/

  • 1

    To administer the vows of a religious order to (someone); to admit to a religious order.

    • This swayed the balance decisively in Mary's favour, and she was professed on 8 September 1578.
  • 2

    To declare oneself (to be something).

    • They've professed themselves delighted with the results.
    • Kiefer professes himself amused by the fuss that ensued when he announced that he was buying the Mülheim-Kärlich reactor[…].
  • 3

    To declare; to assert, affirm.

    • Having professed her belief in the remedy, she had little choice but to try it.
    • He professes to haue receiued no sinister measure from his Iudge, but most willingly humbles himselfe to the determination of Iustice[…].
  • 4

    To make a claim (to be something); to lay claim to (a given quality, feeling etc.), often with connotations of insincerity.

    • Many profess to despise what secretly they hunger after.
    • Ed Miliband professed ignorance of the comment when he was approached by the BBC later.
  • 5

    To declare one's adherence to (a religion, deity, principle etc.).

    • [N]ow ſuch a liue vngodly, vvithout a care of doing the wil of the Lord (though they profeſſe him in their mouths, yea though they beleeue and acknowledge all the Articles of the Creed, yea haue knowledge of the Scripturs) yet if they liue vngodly, they deny God, and therefore ſhal be denied, […]
    • The remainder of the population, about two-thirds, belongs to the Mongolian race and professes Buddhism.
  • 6

    To work as a professor of; to teach.

    • he was a Spaniard, who about two hundred yeeres since professed Physicke in Tholouse[…].
  • 7

    archaicTo claim to have knowledge or understanding of (a given area of interest, subject matter).

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。