satire(n.)
约1500年,“一种文学作品(最初是诗歌),旨在通过轻蔑或蔑视的表达方式嘲笑流行的恶习或愚蠢”,源自14世纪的法语 satire,直接源自拉丁语 satira “讽刺; 诗歌杂集”,早期为 satura,在 lanx satura 中指“混合菜肴,装满各种水果的盘子”,字面意思为“满盘”,来自 satur 的女性形式(源自 PIE 根 *sa- “满足”)。
这个词在拉丁语中获得了文学意义,指的是晚期共和国诗人恩尼乌斯的一组以不同韵律写成的诗歌,涉及各种主题。他的诗歌中所剩无几,现在似乎并不特别讽刺,但在古典拉丁语中,这个词尤其用于攻击各种恶习的诗歌。
在拉丁语中,这个形式受到了希腊 satyr 的影响,人们错误地认为这种文学形式与希腊 satyr 戏剧有关(参见 satyr)。另请参见 humor(n.)。
在现代通用语中,“充满讽刺、嘲笑、反讽等的谴责或嘲弄的演讲或写作”。更广泛的意义是“使某人或某事看起来荒谬的事实或情况”,始于1690年代。
Satire, n. An obsolete kind of literary composition in which the vices and follies of the author's enemies were expounded with imperfect tenderness. In this country satire never had more than a sickly and uncertain existence, for the soul of it is wit, wherein we are dolefully deficient, the humor that we mistake for it, like all humor, being tolerant and sympathetic. Moreover, although Americans are 'endowed by their Creator' with abundant vice and folly, it is not generally known that these are reprehensible qualities, wherefore the satirist is popularly regarded as a sour-spirited knave, and his every victim's outcry for codefendants evokes a national assent. [Ambrose Bierce, "Devil's Dictionary," 1911]
讽刺, n。一种过时的文学作品,以不完美的温柔揭示了作者敌人的恶习和愚蠢。在这个国家,讽刺从未有过比病态和不确定的存在更多的,因为它的灵魂是机智,而我们在这方面非常缺乏幽默感,我们误认为幽默感就是机智,就像所有幽默感一样,它是宽容和同情的。此外,尽管美国人“由他们的创造者赋予了丰富的恶习和愚蠢”,但人们普遍不知道这些是应受谴责的品质,因此,讽刺家通常被视为一个酸溜溜的恶棍,他的每一个受害者的呼声都引起了全国的赞同。[安布罗斯·比尔斯,《魔鬼词典》,1911年]
Proper satire is distinguished, by the generality of the reflections, from a lampoon which is aimed against a particular person, but they are too frequently confounded. [Johnson]
适当的 satire 通过反思的广泛性与针对特定人物的 lampoon 区分开来,但它们经常被混淆。[约翰逊]
[I]n whatever department of human expression, wherever there is objective truth there is satire [Wyndham Lewis, "Rude Assignment," 1950]
在任何人类表达的领域,只要有客观真理,就会有讽刺。[温德姆·刘易斯,《粗鲁的任务》,1950年]
该词起源时间:约1500年