| 词组 | disinterest, disinterestedness, uninterest |
| 释义 | disinterest, disinterestedness, uninterest Robert F. Ilson, in an article in Greenbaum 1985, states that "the spread of disinterested at the expense of uninterested is bound to be helped by the existence of the noun disinterest and the non-existence of a noun uninterest." Not only has disinterest strengthened the position of the adjective, it has also fueled the controversy surrounding the adjective. For instance, a letter to the editor of the American Scholar asks: • Is the ugly word "disinterest," used to mean "lack of interest," going to have to be accepted? ... And the noble word "disinterested" is thus being lost —Ruth Shepard Phelps Morand, American Scholar, Winter 1949-50 and a writer to the Times Literary Supplement finds fault with a sentence containing the words "utter disinterest in other people's opinions," going on to remark: • The confusion of the word "disinterested" or the use of this new word "disinterest" with the idea of disregard or indifference is becoming common —J. R. Pole, Times Literary Supp., 6 Feb. 1964 And Gower's paragraph on disinterested, added in his 1965 edition of Fowler, contains four citations, two of them for the noun disinterest. What of this word disinterestl The OED editor, James A. H. Murray, seems to have had little evidence for the noun. He finds three senses. The first, "something ... disadvantageous," is labeled "Now rare'''; the second, "disinterestedness, impartiality," is labeled "Obs. "; the third, "absence of interest," is labeled "rare. "The Supplement of 1933 drops the second and third labels, adding citations from the early 20th century. The 1972 Supplement adds nothing to the second sense, but several citations to the third; the "absence of interest" sense appears to be flourishing. Evidence in the Merriam-Webster files shows that both OED senses 2 and 3 continue in use. Phythian 1979 insists disinterest must mean only "impartiality," but he is wrong. Its primary use is to mean "absence of interest": • This self-contained economy creates in the hillman a comparative disinterest in the world's affairs — American Guide Series: Arkansas, 1941 • As a result of general disinterest, the poets of the United States find themselves writing for an audience which grows increasingly smaller —Louis Untermeyer, Americas, September 1954 • ... seemed always to display a disinterest in current affairs —Osbert Lancaster, With an Eye to the Future, 1967 • She greeted Moses with marked disinterest —John Cheever, The Wapshot Chronicle, 1957 • The officers heard this with disinterest —E. L. Doctorow, Ragtime, 1975 • ... its total disinterest in normal sex —G. Legman, The Fake Revolt, 1967 The OED's second sense also is in use: • ... Arnold was temperamentally incapable of disinterest where his sense of propriety was outraged — Times Literary Supp., 27 Mar. 1969 • ... flourish best only as they achieve a degree of disinterest and detachment —Nathan M. Pusey, President's Report, Harvard University, 1966-1967 • They steal from people with the disinterest of a herd of antelope browsing in fresh grass —Lewis H. Lapham, Harper's, November 1971 • All these books Irwin feigned to approach with scientific disinterest, but Duddy was not fooled —Mor-decai Richler, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, 1959 This sense might be in more frequent use if it were not in competition with the synonymous disinterestedness, which is almost never used except in the sense of "freedom from selfish motive or interest": • I believe it is generally admitted that one of the ingredients of justice is disinterestedness —Thomas Love Peacock, Headlong Hall, 1816 • I had a feeling of noble disinterestedness in my anger —Malcolm Cowley, Exile's Return, 1934 • ... his assumptions of scholarly disinterestedness and moral superiority —Angus Wilson, Death Dance, 1957 • ... no longer enlightened self-interest, but enlightened disinterestedness —Donald Milner, The Listener, 30 May 1974 The evidence indicates that disinterestedness is quite a bit more frequent than disinterest in the same sense. Thus there appears to be a tendency to use disinterest for "lack of interest" and disinterestedness for "freedom from selfish interest." The last term of our trio, uninterest, does in fact exist. The OED lists a single 1890 example; Merriam-Webster files contain a few others. It means "lack of interest" but is not a commonly used word. • ... his blank uninterest in poor and black citizens — Julian Symons, Times Literary Supp., 9 Jan. 1981 • ... the author expresses marked uninterest in writing about academe —Richard R. Lingeman, N.Y. Times Book Rev., 18 June 1978 Since most of our evidence for this word is fairly recent and comes from sources in which the disinterested/ uninterested controversy is frequently mentioned, we have some suspicion that uninterest may have been used chiefly to avoid the accusation of linguistic wrongdoing that disinterest might bring. |
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