| 词组 | née |
| 释义 | née The literal meaning of this word in French is "born." Its usual function in English is to introduce a married woman's maiden name, as in "Mrs. John Jones, née Smith." Usage commentators dating back as far as Bierce 1909 have warned against following it with a woman's given name, "Mrs. John Jones, née Mary Smith," because, they argue, a person is born only with a last name—the given name comes later. What that argument ignores is that née is not normally understood as meaning "born" when used in English. Its sense in English is closer to "formerly or originally known as" than to "born" and its use before a woman's maiden name is clearly meant to indicate what the woman was known as before her marriage, not at the moment of her birth. The facts of actual usage are that née is more often than not used as the critics say it should be, but its use with a given name is not uncommon. Such use is especially likely when the woman is referred to by her husband's full name ("Mrs. John Jones" rather than "Mrs. Mary Jones"), but it also occurs on occasion when the given name has already been indicated: • Mrs. Fanny Harwood, nee Fanny Pain —The Times (London), 3 Nov. 1973 (OED Supplement) This citation also illustrates that née is sometimes written without an acute accent. Both the accented and accentless versions are common. Née has other uses which the critics do not generally consider, but which they surely would not like if they did: • Lord Byron, nee George Pappas —Joseph Auslander & Audrey Wurdemann, The Islands, 1951 • Voltaire (nee François Arouet) —Aram Bakshian, Jr., National Rev., 30 June 1970 • ... the Brewers nee Pilots who are also in their third year —Fred Ciampa, Boston Sunday Advertiser, 13 June 1971 • John Davis, nee Helmut Otto Kase —Private Eye, 14 Dec. 1973 • ... in the Palace, née the Chalfonte-Haddon Hall — Joan Kron, N.Y. Times, 14 Apr. 1977 Such usage demonstrates the extent to which née has lost its literal, French meaning in English. |
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