首页
登录
职称英语
The men and women of Anglo-Saxon England normally bore one name only. Disti
The men and women of Anglo-Saxon England normally bore one name only. Disti
游客
2023-11-20
46
管理
问题
The men and women of Anglo-Saxon England normally bore one name only. Distinguishing epithets were rarely added. These might be patronymic, descriptive or occupational. They were, however, hardly surnames, Heritable names gradually became general in the three centuries following the Norman Conquest in 1066. It was not until the 13th and 14th centuries that surnames became fixed, although for many years after that, the degree of stability in family names varied considerably in different parts of the country.
British surnames fall mainly into four broad categories: patronymic, occupational, descriptive and local. A few names, it is true, will remain puzzling: foreign names, perhaps, crudely translated, adapted or abbreviated; or artificial names.
In fact, over fifty percent of genuine British surnames derive from place names of different kinds, and so they belong to the last of our four main categories. Even such a name as Simpson may belong to this last group, and not to the first, had the family once had its home in the ancient village of that name. Otherwise, Simpson means "the son of Simon", as might be expected.
Hundreds of occupational surnames are at once familiar to us, or at least recognizable after a little thought: Arther, Carter, Fisher, Mason, Thatcher, Taylor, to name but a few. Hundreds of others are more obscure in their meanings and testify to the amazing specialization in medieval arts, crafts and functions. Such are "Day", (Old English for breadmaker) and "Walker" (a fuller whose job was to clean and thicken newly made cloth).
All these vocational names carry with them a certain gravity and dignity, which descriptive names often lack. Some, it is true, like "Long", "Short" or "Little", are simple. They may be taken quite literally. Others require more thinking: their meanings are slightly different from the modem ones. "Black" and "White" implied dark and fair respectively. "Sharp" meant genuinely discerning, alert, acute rather than quick-witted or clever.
Place-names have a lasting interest since there is hardly a town or village in all England that has not at some time given its name to a family. They may be picturesque, even poetical; or they may be pedestrian, even trivial. Among the commoner names which survive with relatively little change from old-English times are "Milton" (middle enclosure) and "Hilton" (enclosure on a hill). [br] The underlined word "patronymic" in the second paragraph is closest in meaning to "formed from ______.
选项
A、the name of one’s father
B、the family occupation
C、one’s family home
D、one’s family history
答案
A
解析
语义推断题。作者在第二段中指出姓氏可分为四类:patronymic,occupational,descriptive and local。在接下来的四个段落中,作者分别对这四类姓氏做了分析。根据第三段的介绍,我们可以肯定A为正确答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3204979.html
相关试题推荐
Theyear1400openedwithmorepeacefulnessthanusualinEngland.Onlyafe
Theyear1400openedwithmorepeacefulnessthanusualinEngland.Onlyafe
1 SendingachildtoschoolinEnglandisastepwhichmanyparentsdonotfind
1 SendingachildtoschoolinEnglandisastepwhichmanyparentsdonotfind
Theyear1400openedwithmorepeacefulnessthanusualinEngland.Onlyafew
Theyear1400openedwithmorepeacefulnessthanusualinEngland.Onlyafew
Janehasjust______aletterfromafriendofhersinEngland.A、returnedB、answ
WhydidSpringsellhisfalseautographsinEnglandandCanada?[br][originalt
ThoughEnglandwasonthewholeprosperousandhopeful,thoughbycomparis
ThoughEnglandwasonthewholeprosperousandhopeful,thoughbycomparis
随机试题
TheJourneyofSelfImprovementI.Phasesofthejourneyof
食品安全问题是关系到千千万万人民群众切身利益的社会问题。可是在中国,重大食品安全事件频繁发生,食品安全问题日益严峻。某些没有诚信的商人为了追求利润最大化
甲公司为一家境内上市的集团企业,主要从事能源电力及基础设施建设与投资。2016年
(2020年真题)关于投资后管理阶段获取被投企业信息的方式,以下表述正确的是(
患者,女性,30岁,去年冬季发生进食后胃区痛,且有嗝逆、反酸,持续约20天。查体
选项的四个图形中,只有一个是由题干四个图形拼合(只能通过上、下、左、右平移),请
西周“学在官府”,教育为奴隶主所统治,说明( )决定教育的领导权A.生产力
下列关于相对价值估值模型适用性的说法中,错误的是()。A.市盈率估值模型不
根据《土壤污染防治行动计划》防范建设用地新增污染的有关要求,下列说法中,错误的是
A.细胞水肿 B.脂质沉积 C.结缔组织玻璃样变 D.血管壁玻璃样变 E
最新回复
(
0
)