核心畫面

One picture can hold the whole word. A feeling arrives like a wave, the body cannot stand up under it, and the person goes down. In the older use the person really falls to the ground. In today's use nobody falls, but the same , helpless feeling is what swoon points at — so a fan screaming at a concert and a queen dropping at bad news are the same picture, one literal and one borrowed.

可以想成一股感覺像浪一樣打過來,人撐不住,整個軟下去。比較舊的用法裡,人是真的倒在地上。今天講迷戀的時候沒有人真的倒更多收起可以想成一股感覺像浪一樣打過來,人撐不住,整個軟下去。比較舊的用法裡,人是真的倒在地上。今天講迷戀的時候沒有人真的倒,但那種膝蓋一軟、腦袋空白的感覺是同一個。所以不管是昏倒,還是為偶像瘋狂,swoon 指向的都是「被感覺打倒」的那一瞬間;一個是身體真的倒,一個是理智先倒。

From the word’s history

Old English swōgan meant to make a sound, to overrun or to suffocate; its past participle ġeswōgen meant insensible or senseless. Middle English swounen came from that and meant to faint.

古英語的 swōgan 有「發出聲響、覆蓋過去、使人喘不過氣」的意思,它的分詞 ġeswōgen 就是「失去知覺」;中古英語的 swounen 從這裡來,意思是昏倒。被什麼東西蓋過去而失去知覺——這條線索正好接上今天的兩種用法。

Wiktionary entry supplied in this packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1142492940)

Two branches

真的昏過去

這一組就是畫面最原始的樣子:感覺壓過來,身體撐不住,人就倒了。

verb · C2

To suddenly lose consciousness and fall to the ground, because a shock or a strong feeling is more than your body can take.

昏倒;暈厥

迷到站不穩

同一個「撐不住」的畫面被借去講感情:人沒有真的倒下,倒下的是理智。

verb · C1

To show so much admiration for someone that you cannot stay calm about it — sighing over them, going weak, and making a fuss.

為之傾倒;犯花痴