喜樂美語

核心畫面

One way to picture it: a thin piece of cloth hung in front of a face. It does not lock anything away — light still passes, a shape still shows — but you can no longer see clearly what is behind it. Something is there, and it has been made hard to look at.

一塊薄薄的布，垂在臉前面。它跟牆不一樣——光還是透得過去，輪廓還在，你知道後面有東西；只是看不清楚了。這個「不是關起…更多收起一塊薄薄的布，垂在臉前面。它跟牆不一樣——光還是透得過去，輪廓還在，你知道後面有東西；只是看不清楚了。這個「不是關起來，而是蒙上一層」的動作，就是 veil 的骨架。之後不管蒙的是臉、是真相、還是一片山谷，畫面都是同一個：東西還在，只是隔著一層看不真切。

From the word’s history

From Anglo-Norman/Old Northern French veil, from Latin vēlum 'cloth, covering, sail'. The Latin word covers both the sail on a ship and a cloth hung as a covering — a stretched piece of fabric put in the way of something. That physical cloth is still the centre of the modern word.

經由古法語 veil 來自拉丁文 vēlum，意思是「布、覆蓋物、船帆」。同一個拉丁字既指船帆也指遮蔽用的布——共同點是「一塊張開來擋在那裡的布」。現代 veil 的核心還是這塊布：它不封死，只是擋在中間。

Wiktionary, entry 'veil' (< Anglo-Norman/Old Northern French veil < Latin vēlum 'cloth, covering, sail')

Four branches

實物的那塊布

這一族就是核心畫面本身：真的有一塊布，蓋在真的一張臉上。

veil, face covering · noun · C1

A thin piece of cloth that a woman wears to cover her face, often at a wedding or for religious reasons.

面紗

戴面紗這件事：制度與身分

還是那塊布，但用它來指涉整套跟它綁在一起的社會或宗教安排——語言學上是拿具體的東西代表抽象的制度。

veil, veiling practice · noun · C1

The system in some Islamic countries in which women must cover their hair and faces in public.

面紗制度

擋在真相前面的那一層

核心畫面裡「東西還在，只是被蒙住」這一點，直接套到看不見的事情上。

veil, something concealing · noun · C1

Something that hides the truth about a situation, so that people cannot see what is really happening.

掩蓋

自然界的薄紗

同樣是「薄薄一層擋在中間」，只是這一層由自然造成，而且通常沒有隱瞞的意圖——所以感覺常是美的，不是可疑的。

veil, thin layer of mist · noun · C1

A thin layer of mist, cloud, or similar stuff that makes it difficult to see clearly.

薄紗

原始詞典資料12 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。

veilnoun/veɪl/

  • 1

    Something hung up or spread out to hide or protect the face, or hide an object from view; usually of gauze, crepe, or similar diaphanous material.

    • The veil of the temple was rent in twain.
    • She, as a veil down to the slender waist, / Her unadorned golden tresses wore.
  • 2

    Anything that partially obscures a clear view.

    • Above the smoky veil over the town rose Akerhus fort, with its towers standing out in sharp relief against the mirror of the fjord, beyond where the Nœs point loomed as a black shadow.
  • 3

    A cover; disguise; a mask; a pretense.

    • [I will] pluck the borrowed veil of modesty from the so seeming Mistress Page.
    • Beckett complains that "in the forest of symbols" there is never quiet, and longs to break through the veil of language to silence.
  • 4

    A covering for a person or thing; as, a caul (especially over the head)

    • a nun's veil
    • a paten veil
  • 5

    biologynatural-sciencesThe calyptra of mosses.

  • 6

    biologynatural-scienceszoologyvelum (A circular membrane round the cap of a medusa).

  • 7

    biologymycologynatural-sciencesA thin layer of tissue which is attached to or covers a mushroom.

  • 8

    biologymycologynatural-sciencesA membrane connecting the margin of the pileus of a mushroom with the stalk; a velum.

    • The genus Amanita has both a volva and a veil; the spores are white, and the stem is easily separable from the cap.
另外 2 個記錄的用法
  • 9

    An obscuration of the clearness of the tones in pronunciation.

  • 10

    parapsychologypseudoscienceThat which separates the living and the spirit world.

    • "I have heard most furious bigots talking through the veil." "So have I, for that matter," said Malone, "and in this very room."

veilverb/veɪl/

  • 1

    To dress in, or decorate with, a veil.

    • Bedouin women veil their faces more strictly than city dwellers but enjoy greater freedom of dress and movement.
    • I'm under surface Towers veiled in silk I guess I'm not welcome In this house they built
  • 2

    To conceal as with a veil.

    • The forest fire was veiled by smoke, but I could hear it clearly.

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。