twat(n.)
女性生殖器,1650年代,起源不明。自1920年代以来成为一般性的辱骂词。
The T-word occupies a special niche in literary history, however, thanks to a horrible mistake by Robert Browning, who included it in 'Pippa Passes' (1841) without knowing its true meaning. 'The[n] owls and bats,/Cowls and twats,/Monks and nuns,/In a cloister's moods.' Poor Robert! He had been misled into thinking the word meant 'hat' by its appearance in 'Vanity of Vanities,' a poem of 1660, containing the treacherous lines: 'They'd talk't of his having a Cardinalls Hat,/They'd send him as soon an Old Nuns Twat.' (There is a lesson here about not using words unless one is very sure of their meaning.) [Hugh Rawson, "Wicked Words," 1989]
然而,由于罗伯特·勃朗宁的可怕错误, T-word 在文学史上占据了一个特殊的地位,他在《皮帕过去》(1841年)中包含了这个词,但并不知道它的真正含义。“然后猫头鹰和蝙蝠,修士和修女,在修道院的情绪中。”可怜的罗伯特!他被误导认为这个词的意思是“帽子”,因为它出现在1660年的一首诗《虚荣的虚荣》中,其中包含着危险的句子:“他们谈论他是否有红衣主教的帽子,他们会很快送他一顶老修女的 T-word。”(这里有一个教训,就是不要使用自己不确定含义的词语。)[休·罗森,《邪恶的词语》,1989年]
勃朗宁创作了故意大胆的韵律,需要各种大小和形状的词语,他在用词上回溯到了过去,忘记了维多利亚时期评论家对17世纪粗俗的警告。
该词起源时间:1650年代