核心畫面

One heavy blow, delivered with the whole weight of the arm behind it: the swing lands, and whatever it lands on gives way. That single stroke is the whole of smite. Everything else the word does comes from asking two questions about that stroke — who is swinging, and what falls. When the swinger is a person and a gate or a rock falls, you get the plain old word for hitting hard. When the swinger is a god and a city or a body falls, the same stroke becomes judgement.

smite 可以想成「一下重重打下去」:整條手臂的重量都在那一揮上,打中的東西就垮了。這一擊幾乎就是這個字的全部。剩更多收起smite 可以想成「一下重重打下去」:整條手臂的重量都在那一揮上,打中的東西就垮了。這一擊幾乎就是這個字的全部。剩下的差別,只在於問兩個問題——揮的是誰,倒下的是什麼。揮的是人、倒的是門或石頭,那就是古語裡「用力打」的意思。揮的是神、倒的是一座城或一個人的身體,同樣一擊就成了審判。

From the word’s history

From Middle English smiten, Old English smītan 'to daub, smear, rub', from Proto-Germanic *smītaną 'to sling, throw, smear' and Proto-Indo-European *smeyd- 'to smear, whisk, strike, rub'. The hand that once swept across a surface became the hand that strikes it.

smite 的老根 smītan 原本是「抹上去、擦過去」(古英語),再往上是「甩、丟、抹」的意思。可以想成手往一個表面重重帶過去:一開始是抹,後來變成打。這也剛好對上今天的核心畫面——重點不是接觸,而是那一揮的力道。

Wiktionary entry for 'smite' supplied in this packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:391772934:26578)

Two branches

人揮出去的那一擊

這一族就是核心畫面本身:有人揮手,東西倒下。來源標它是舊用法,所以你會在聖經、舊故事和詩裡遇到它,而不是在日常對話裡。

verb · C2

To hit someone or something very hard, in one heavy blow. This is an old word: you meet it in the Bible, in old stories and poems, and in writing that copies that style on purpose, rather than in ordinary modern English.

重擊;一擊打下去(古語)

從上面落下來的那一擊

同樣一擊,只是揮的人換成神或某種擋不住的力量,落點換成一整座城、一片土地或一個人的身體。力道不變,多出來的是「這是懲罰」的意思。

verb · C2

In biblical and old religious language, to strike a person, a people or a place down as a punishment — to destroy them, attack them, or send suffering such as illness or disaster on them. The one who does it is usually a god or some other very great power.

(神)降罰擊倒;懲罰、毀滅

原始詞典資料9 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。

Smitename

  • 1

    A river in Nottinghamshire, with its headwaters in Leicestershire, England, which joins the River Devon, near Shelton.

smiteverb/smaɪt/

  • 1

    archaicTo hit; to strike.

    • Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
    • That elf-maiden smote with her hand so white, “Sorrow and sickness on thee alight” That elf-maiden smote with her cap so small, “No more shall priest's benison on thee fall!”
  • 2

    To strike down or kill with godly force.

    • And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.
    • For it is written, I will ſmite the Shepheard, and the Sheep ſhall be ſcattered. […] Becauſe the Shepheard was to be ſmitten, they as Sheepe muſt be ſcattered. The Scope of which place is, to prove Chriſt the true Paſtor of the Flocke, even by his ſmiting and abaſement; and ſo moſt aptly alledged that the Diſciples might have matter of ſtrength and comfort thence where they ſtumbled and offended themſelves.
  • 3

    To injure with divine power.

    • VERSE 12. And the fourth angel ſounded, and the third part of the ſun was ſmitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the ſtars, ſo as the third part of them was darkened, and the day ſhone not for a third part of it, and the night likewiſe. […] [T]his Jeſus which ſignifies the ſun, was ſmitten with persecution and ſufferings in the time of his miniſtry, that there could but a third part of his heavenly light ſhine upon the people of the Jews, and happy were thoſe that this light did ſhine upon.
  • 4

    To kill violently; to slay.

    • "She is sitting in the great hall even now to do justice upon those who would have smitten thee and the Lion."
  • 5

    To put to rout in battle; to overthrow by war.

    • […]and it turned out, if you just dumped pure oxygen and kerosene into the combustion chamber, the torpedo would travel at fairly-high speed... just instantaneously in all directions at once, disassembling itself, and any nearby people, with considerable enthusiasm. Explaining that this was entirely-unacceptable behavior for a torpedo that was designed to smite the Emperor's enemies didn't really tend to work out that well, since they hadn't yet invented the Machine Spirit, and, in any case, working out which bit of the torpedo you were supposed to talk to, or possibly scrape off the wall, was somewhat difficult once it had decided to launch a several-hundred-meter search into the realm of the honorable ancestors.
  • 6

    To afflict; to chasten; to punish.

    • Let us not mistake the goodness of God, nor imagine that because he smites us, therefore we are forsaken by him.
    • A country deprived of the Ganges is ſmitten; a family without learning is ſmitten; a woman without a child is ſmitten; a ſacrifice without the Brahman's rights is ſmitten.
  • 7

    To strike with love or infatuation.

    • Bob was smitten with Laura from the first time he saw her.
    • I was really smitten by the color combination, and soon repainted the entire house.

smitenoun/smaɪt/

  • 1

    archaicrareA heavy strike with a weapon, tool, or the hand.

    • On the other hand , your soft-headed, softhearted sentimentalist, whose heart is in his waistcoat pocket, always at hand for use, he who picks out the pretty parts of modern novels, and the tender parts of affecting tales, never hears of two young people meeting one another, but he begins to think that a smite must follow.
    • ‘That is just what I was about to venture to propose,’returned the doctor with a smite. But the words were hardly uttered, before the smile was struck out of his face and succeeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair, as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below.

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