喜樂美語

核心畫面

One, with nothing else around it: a single figure in an empty space, and no second figure anywhere in sight.

空空的地方，只有一個。一片雪地上一串腳印、整條街上一個走著的人——你看的時候會同時看到兩件事：那一個存在，而周圍什麼…更多收起空空的地方，只有一個。一片雪地上一串腳印、整條街上一個走著的人——你看的時候會同時看到兩件事：那一個存在，而周圍什麼都沒有。這個字有意思的地方就在這裡，它永遠一手指著「只有一個」，一手指著「旁邊是空的」，後面所有的用法只是看說話的人這次要強調哪一手。

From the word’s history

From Latin sōlitārius, built on sōlus "alone" — the same root that gives sole and solo.

一種看法是：這個字經中古英語 solitarie 從拉丁文 sōlitārius 來，底下的字根是 sōlus（單獨的），和 sole、solo 同一家。所以「只有一個」不是後來引申的，而是這個字從頭到尾在說的那件事。

Wiktionary entry for "solitary" (Middle English solitarie < Latin sōlitārius), as supplied in the payload origin note

Three branches

沒有別人在場

強調「旁邊是空的」這一手：事情發生的時候，沒有第二個人在。

solitary, done alone · adjective · C2

Done with no other person there with you.

獨自的

只有這一個

強調「只有一個」這一手：說話的人要你注意數量少到什麼程度，語氣本身就是重點。

solitary, single, sole · adjective · C2

Used when you want to make it very clear that there is only one of a person or thing.

唯一的

單獨的人與單獨的牢房

同一個「只有一個、旁邊沒有人」的畫面被當成名詞用，指向兩種具體的東西：那種狀態本身，以及活在那種狀態裡的人。

solitary, solitary confinement · noun · C2

Time spent alone in a prison room, away from other prisoners. A short way of saying solitary confinement.

單獨監禁

原始詞典資料11 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。

solitarynoun詞源 1/ˈsɑlɪˌtɛɹi/

  • 1

    One who lives alone, or in solitude; an anchorite, hermit or recluse.

    • He brooded and intrigued fantastically. He was becoming one of the big-time solitaries. And he wasn't meant to be a solitary. He was meant to be in active life, a social creature.
  • 2

    The state of being solitary; solitude

    • You must wonder why I'm relentless and all strung out/I'm consumed by the chill of solitary

solitaryadj詞源 1/ˈsɑlɪˌtɛɹi/

  • 1

    Living or being by oneself; alone; having no companion present

    • The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.
    • Though we don’t all reach nirvana when we swim, swimming may well be that last refuge from connectivity — and, for some, the only way to find the solitary self.
  • 2

    Performed, passed, or endured alone.

    • a solitary journey
    • a solitary life
  • 3

    Not much visited or frequented; remote from society

    • a solitary residence or place
  • 4

    Not inhabited or occupied; without signs of inhabitants or occupation; desolate; deserted

    • the solitary desert
    • How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people!
  • 5

    Gloomy; dismal, because of not being inhabited.

  • 6

    Single; individual; sole.

    • a solitary example
    • On once more we swung, bumping uneasily along in the antique narrow-gauge coach, with gloomy woods and gathering night outside, shouts and songs (and quacks) inside—this was not at all the sort of train ordained by the logical strategists in Paris—then grinding to a stop at a mysterious halt which was no more than a nameboard in the pinewoods, without even a footpath leading to it, but nevertheless with a solitary passenger stolidly waiting.
  • 7

    biologybotanynatural-sciencesNot associated with others of the same kind.

這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：

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。