| 词组 | internecine |
| 释义 | internecine Internecine is a useful word today because of a mistake that wasn't caught. The word began its history in English in Samuel Butler's satirical poem Hudibras (1663). According to the OED, Butler apparently used the phrase internecine war as a translation of Latin interneclnum bellum, which was a term for a war of extermination. Samuel Johnson's Dictionary (1755) was the first dictionary to enter the adjective, and Johnson, apparently misled by Latin inter-(which does not have in this word its usual "mutual" or "reciprocal" sense), defined it as "endeavouring mutual destruction." Johnson's definition was of course carried into later dictionaries—lexicographers are frequently respectful enough of their predecessors to copy them. Before too long, Johnson's sense was the dominant meaning of the word. And a good thing, said Fowler 1926, for without Johnson's misunderstanding, the word would have had no particular use in the language, since its Latin sense has plenty of substitutes in English, including destructive, slaughterous, murderous, bloody, and sanguinary. So Johnson's mistake has given English a useful, if somewhat learned, word. It is really more of an interesting story than a usage issue; even the major usage panels find the mistaken use acceptable. The last complaint we know of is in Bernstein 1958; he objected to its use for internal conflict without the notion of slaughter. It is true that other words are available for this use, but intramural sounds too much like fun and games and intertribal too anthropological. In the second half of the 20th century, if our evidence is representative, the bloodless sense has become predominant. Here are a few examples: • The rivalry between the various cities of Texas is an interesting phenomenon The Easterner, or tenderfoot, will not comprehend this keen, internecine rivalry —Frank Sullivan, The Night the Old Nostalgia Burned Down, 1953 • Thereafter the consolidation of Pictish power ... and the increasing strength of the kingdom of the Mercians combined with internecine troubles to force Northumbria on to the defensive —D. J. V. Fisher, The Anglo-Saxon Age, 1973 • Did you then remember that, for all their internecine squabbling, trade unionists always call one another "brother"? —Grundy, Punch, 20 July 1976 • ... public broadcasting ... survived the internecine rivalry between its two governing bodies —Peter Caranicas, Saturday Rev., January 1981 • In any society, Hegel contends, an élite of masters, potentially in internecine conflict, will dominate — George Steiner, New Yorker, 12 July 1982 |
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