[学英语] toilet的由来

You may be surprised to learn that toilet and the noun toil, meaning 'snare' or 'trap' (as in 'caught in the toils of love'), have a common ancestor: the Middle French word toile, meaning 'cloth' or 'hunting net.' How toil developed from the French word needs no explanation; on the other hand, how toilet as a name for a modern bathroom fixture developed from a word for 'cloth' is a head-scratcher.

toilet和toil，意思是'snare' or 'trap'（和'陷于爱网中'一样的意思），你可能会吃惊于他们共享一个祖先：中世纪法语toile, 意思是cloth(布)或hunting net(捕捉网)。toil是如何从法语变化而来的可能不需要解释。而另一方面，toilet如何从cloth（布）变为现代厕所中的设施就令人头疼了。

The Middle French word 'toile' ('cloth') had a diminutive form: 'toilette', or 'small piece of cloth.' This word became 'toilet' in English, and referred to a cloth put over the shoulders while dressing the hair or shaving.

中世纪法语中'toile'('cloth')有个昵称：'toilette'或'一小片布料'。这个词变为了英语中的'toilet', 意思是当理发或刮胡子时放在肩膀上的一块布。

In Middle French, the diminutive form of toile was toilette, which means 'small piece of cloth' but which also came to be used for more specific senses (many of which are reflected in the semantic development of the English word). English speakers borrowed the word in the 16th century, and eventually settled on the spelling toilet while still making use of toilette in the 'grooming' sense. The word was originally used for a wrapper or covering for clothes and later for a cloth put over the shoulders while dressing the hair or shaving.

在中世纪法国，toile的昵称是toilette,意思是『小块布料』，但也开始用于更具体的情境中（很多都是从英语的语境中来的）。讲英语的人借用了这个16世纪的词，最后定位于toilet的拼写，toilet还是使用了toilette中的美容的意思。这个词开始是用于放衣服的包裹或遮衣服的布，后来变成了理发或刮胡子时放在肩膀上的布。

From the 'shoulder cloth' sense, toilet came to refer first to a cloth covering a dressing table (or vanity) then to the articles on the table, then to the table itself. Next, a more abstract meaning developed, as the word was applied to the whole process of washing, grooming, and dressing, especially at the beginning of the day or for a special occasion. This use of the word is often found in the constructions 'at one's toilet' or 'to make one's toilet.'

从'肩膀上的布'这个词的意思延伸开来，toilet开始表示遮盖梳妆台的布，然后是台子上的物件，然后是台子本身。接着，一个更抽象的意思发展出来了，就是给付整个梳洗，美容，穿衣，特别是一天的开始或某个特殊的场合。这个词的用法经常见于『at one's toilet』或『to make one's toilet』.

She hurried at her toilet, which was soon made….

— Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie, 1900

Miss Chauncey proceeded to make her toilet for the night.

— Walter De la Mare, Broomsticks, 1925

During the 19th and 20th centuries, the 'washing' sense of toilet was extended to the nonhuman (e.g., animals, places, tools, and such).

在19和20世纪，toilet的'洗'的意思延伸到了非人类（如，动物，地点，工具，等）。

Before breakfast they made the toilet of the six chosen kittens.

— Edgar Jepson, Terrible Twins, 1913

The toilet of London … cannot be satisfactory unless the streets are flushed with water every night.

— The Daily Telegraph, 1855

… the workman performed 'the toilet' of these saws and other dreadful implements.

— The Eclectic Magazine, October 1888

The word's 'grooming' sense also developed new meaning in prisons and hospitals. It was used for the preparation of execution by guillotine, as described by Lord Ronald Gower in 1903:

这个词的'美容'的意思也在监狱和医院发扬开来。它用于断头台的准备工作，如Lord Ronald Gower在1903年形容的那样：

The ghastly ceremony of his toilette, as they call the pinioning and cutting off the hair at the back of his head.

19th-century surgeons applied the word to the cleansing done after an operation—for example, 'the toilet of the peritoneum' would be made after surgery. Toilet is still used in the medical field in this way.

19世纪的手术使用这个词表示手术后的清理工作—如，『the toilet of the peritoneum』会在手术后实施。医学领域中仍然在以此种方式使用这个词。

At this point, our discussion of toilet has been clogged with descriptions of grooming and washing, and you're probably wondering when we'll get to how and when the word came to refer to the bathroom toilet we are familiar with today. We'll plunge into that now.

讲到这儿，我们关于toilet的讨论还集中于美容和清洗，你可能会奇怪于啥时候会介绍toilet在什么时候以怎样的方式开始表示我们现在熟悉的厕所马桶。我们现在就讲。

In the late 18th century, toilet was transferred to the room where the grooming and washing occurred. In America, the room was most often one that included facilities for bathing, and when the water closet—which in the 1700s referred to a room with a fixture for defecation and urination capable of being flushed, or to the fixture itself—was introduced into houses that could afford one, it was typically placed in the bathroom or toilet room. In the late 19th century, toilet was transferred from the room to the fixture itself.

在18世纪末，toilet演变为美容与梳洗的房间。在美国，这个房间经常包含洗澡的设施，当water closet—在1700s指一个有可以冲大小便设施的房间，或设施自己—被可以承担费用的房子引进进来，它经常被旋转于洗手间或都没人你看。到19世纪末，toilet从房间转换为设施自身。