喜樂美語

核心畫面

The old English word quick did not mean fast. It meant alive. So quicken can be pictured as something coming alive: a still thing begins to stir, and once it stirs it moves, and the more life it has, the faster it goes. Every use of the word sits somewhere along that one movement, from lying still, to stirring, to running.

quicken 可以想成「活過來」這個畫面。英文老字 quick 本來的意思是「活著」，不是「快」；你在 the q…更多收起quicken 可以想成「活過來」這個畫面。英文老字 quick 本來的意思是「活著」，不是「快」；你在 the quick and the dead 這句老話裡還聽得到。所以可以把 quicken 想成：一個原本不動的東西，忽然有了動靜。有了動靜就會動，動得越有勁，看起來就越快。這個字今天最常用的「加快」，就像是從這條線的最後一段長出來的。

From the word’s history

Wiktionary's etymology 1 gives Middle English quikenen with a cluster of meanings already in one word: to become alive again after dying, to give vitality or revive, and of events, to happen more quickly. The life meaning and the speed meaning are recorded side by side from the start.

字源資料顯示，中古英文 quikenen 一個字裡就同時裝著幾個意思：死而復生、給予生氣、以及「事情發生得更快」。也就是說，「活」跟「快」在很早就並存了，並不是後人硬接上去的。

Wiktionary (kaikki extract supplied in this packet), quicken etymology 1: Middle English quikenen 'to become alive again after dying; to give vitality, revive; of events: to happen more quickly'

Three branches

活過來、給生命

這一組就站在核心畫面本身：從沒有生命到有生命。今天日常英文很少這樣用，但它是理解其他用法的鑰匙。

verb · C2

To give life to something, or to come to life. It is used about a dead or lifeless thing that starts to live again, and also about a place, a story or a body that suddenly seems full of life. You meet it mostly in older writing, in poetry and in the Bible.

使有生命

情緒活起來、變強烈

把「活過來」從身體移到感覺上：本來安安靜靜的情緒被撩起來，開始動。

verb · C1

If a feeling quickens, it grows stronger and more active. Something can also quicken a feeling, meaning it makes that feeling stronger in people. This use is formal and is mostly found in writing about interest, anger, hope or public mood.

變強烈

速度變快

活起來的東西會動，動得越有勁越快——這一組就停在那條線的末端，只講速度。今天絕大多數的 quicken 都是這個意思。

verb · B2

To become faster, or to make something faster. It is used about things that move or happen at some speed: your steps, your heartbeat, your breathing, or the speed at which events and changes take place.

加快

原始詞典資料20 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。

quickenverb詞源 1/ˈkwɪk(ə)n/

  • 1

    Senses relating to life or states of activity.

    • […] Italy had quickened Cecil, not to tolerance, but to irritation. He saw that the local society was narrow, but, instead of saying, "Does this very much matter?" he rebelled, and tried to substitute for it the society he called broad.
  • 2

    Senses relating to life or states of activity.

    • For ſurely, a rich Land, guardleſs and undefended, muſt needs have been a double Incitement, and ſuch an one, as might not only admit, but even invite the Enemy. It was like a fruitful Garden, or a fair Vineyard without an Hedge, that quickens the Appetite to enjoy ſo tempting, and withal ſo eaſy a Prize.
    • This quicken'd my Reſolution to reſtore her Money, and not only ſo, but I reſolv'd I would give her ſomething over and above her Loſs; […]
  • 3

    Senses relating to life or states of activity.

  • 4

    literarySenses relating to life or states of activity.

    • Whoſoever will goo about to ſave his lyfe⸝ shall looſe it: And whoſoever ſhall looſe his life⸝ ſhall quycken it.
    • I haue ſeen a medicine That's able to breath life into a ſtone, Quicken a rocke, […]
  • 5

    archaicSenses relating to life or states of activity.

    • […] she Quickened the fire and laid the board, […]
    • Was it alight once? Still lives spark enough For breath to quicken, run the smouldering ash Red right through.
  • 6

    obsoleteSenses relating to life or states of activity.

    • Coole Violets, and Orpine growing ſtill, Embathed Balme, and chearfull Galingale, Freſh Coſtmarie, and breathfull Camomill, Poppie, and drink-quickning Setuale, […]
    • It were good alſo to Enforce the Spirits by ſome Mixtures, that may excite and quicken them.
  • 7

    obsoleteSenses relating to life or states of activity.

    • Venus, for Hero was her prieſt, and Iuno Lucina the midwifes goddeſſe, for ſhe was now quickned, and caſt away by the cruelty of Æolus, tooke bread and ſalt and eate it, that they would bee ſmartlie reuenged on that truculent windy iailour, and they forgot it not, for Venus made his ſonne and his daughter to committe inceſt together.
  • 8

    Senses relating to life or states of activity.

    • Born with her life, creature of poignant thirst And exquisite hunger, at her heart Love lay Quickening in darkness, till a voice that day Cried on him, and the bonds of birth were burst.
    • The Chaplain's interest in the story visibly quickened.
另外 9 個記錄的用法
  • 9

    Senses relating to life or states of activity.

    • The fair each moment riſes in her charms, Repairs her ſmiles, awakens ev'ry grace, And calls forth all the wonders of her face; Sees by degrees a purer bluſh ariſe, And keener lightnings quicken in her eyes.
    • She found no rest, and ever fail'd to draw The quiet night into her blood, but lay Contemplating her own unworthiness; And when the pale and bloodless east began To quicken to the sun, arose, […]
  • 10

    Senses relating to life or states of activity.

  • 11

    Senses relating to life or states of activity.

    • […] about a month ago she [Lady Castlemaine] quickened at my Lord Gerard's at dinner, and cried out that she was undone; and all the lords and men were fain to quit the room, and women called to help her.
    • Almighty Vigour ſtrove though all the Void, And ſuch prolifick Influence employ'd, That ancient, barren Night did pregnant grow, And quicken'd with the World in Embrio.
  • 12

    literarySenses relating to life or states of activity.

  • 13

    literarySenses relating to life or states of activity.

    • O I, as ſummers flies, are in the ſhambles, That quicken euen with blovving: […]
    • Goddeſs of Shades, beneath whoſe gloomy Reign Yon ſpangled Arch glows with the ſtarry Train, Who doſt the Cares of Heav'n and Earth allay, Till Nature quicken'd by th'Inſpiring Ray, Wakes to new Vigor with the riſing Day.
  • 14

    rareSenses relating to life or states of activity.

  • 15

    Senses relating to speed.

    • For you may ſooner by Imagination, quicken or ſlacke a Motion, than raiſe or ceaſe it; As it is eaſier to make a Dog goe ſlower, than to make him ſtand ſtill that he may not runne.
    • Whoever has been much accuſtomed to viſit ſuch manufactures, muſt frequently have been ſhown very pretty machines, which were the inventions of common workmen in order to facilitate and quicken their own particular part of the work.
  • 16

    archaicbusinessconstructionmanufacturingSenses relating to speed.

    • to quicken the sheer, that is, to make its curve more pronounced
  • 17

    Senses relating to speed.

    • My heartbeat quickened when I heard him approach.
    • Tess's breath quickened.

quickenverb詞源 2/ˈkwɪk(ə)n/

  • 1

    rareTo apply quicksilver (mercury) to (something); to combine (something) with quicksilver; to quicksilver.

quickennoun詞源 3/ˈkwɪk(ə)n/

  • 1

    In full quicken tree: the European rowan, rowan, or mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia).

    • […] Miss Wannop moved off down the path: it was only suited for Indian file, and had on the left hand a ten-foot, untrimmed quicken hedge, the hawthorn blossoms just beginning to blacken at the edges and small green haws to show.

quickennoun詞源 4/ˈkwɪk(ə)n/

  • 1

    Synonym of couch grass (“a species of grass, Elymus repens”); also (chiefly in the plural), the underground rhizomes of this, and sometimes other grasses.

    • Quickens-bog may at first seem to derive its name from the plant Quicken, by which, Scotticé, we understand couch-grass, dog-grass, or the Triticum repens of [Carl] Linnæus, and the common English monosyllable Bog, by which we mean, in popular language, a marsh or morass; in Latin, Palus.

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。