rookie(n.)
"新兵",1868年,这个词是由吉卜林的《营房歌谣》(1892)推广的,但其起源不确定,可能来自 recruit,并受到 rook(n.1)在其次要意义上的影响,暗示“容易被欺骗”。Barrère(《俚语,行话和黑话词典》,1890)有“Rookey(军队),新兵; 来自他们中的一些人穿的黑色外套”,这表明它来自 rook(n.1)。这个词在美国英语中普遍使用是在西班牙美国战争期间。
The rapid growth of a word from a single seed transplanted in a congenial soil is one of the curiosities of literature. Take a single instance. A few weeks ago there was not one American soldier in a thousand who knew there was such a word as "rookey." To-day there are few soldiers and ex-soldiers who have not substituted it for "raw recruit." [The Midland Monthly, December 1898]
从一个在适宜的土壤中移植的单个种子快速生长成一个词是文学的奇观之一。举个例子。几周前,没有一个美国士兵知道有“rookey”这样的词。今天,很少有士兵和退伍军人没有用它来代替“新兵”。[《中部月刊》,1898年12月]
该词起源时间:1868年