| 词组 | anent |
| 释义 | anent The old preposition anent "concerning, about" appears to have undergone a revival during the 19th century. The OED notes the sense as being "common in Scotch law phraseology, and affected by many English writers." The OED evidence suggests little use of the word in the 17th and 18th centuries; an early 19th-cen-tury citation is from Sir Walter Scott; he may have helped spread the use among English men of letters. The OED's comment about affectation was not taken up by usage commentators until the 20th century, beginning with Utter 1913, Vizetelly 1922, Fowler 1926, and Krapp 1927. Their two chief words of disapproval are affected and archaic. Later commentators continue in essentially the same vein, right up to Janis 1984 who is still calling anent archaic. Copperud, 1970, 1980 notes that dictionaries list it as standard. Anent is an odd word. It has a bookish air about it— you rarely (or perhaps never) hear it used in ordinary conversation—but it seems to pop up in contexts that are not at all bookish (along with some that are). Fowler notes the frequency with which it is met in letters to the press. It is still found in letters to the editor: • Anent your editorial with its "Go ahead and gripe" message —letter to the editor, InfoWorld, 19 Sept. 1983 • Anent your allusion to the military predilection for the noun-comma-adjective format —letter reprinted in Safire 1982 The combined usage of letter-to-the-editor writers and literary as well as nonliterary people has brought anent back to life. Here is a healthy sample of such usage. It is clearly not archaic, nor in most cases does the level of affectation seem especially high. Dead words do sometimes rise from the grave, and this is one of them. • I find another remark anent "pupils"—a bold speculation that my 1,000 pupils may really "go on" in the future life —Lewis Carroll, letter, 14 Feb. 1886 • ... a remark anent the advancement of the spring — George Moore, The Brook Kerith, 1916 • ... was writing anent the suggestion that Colonel House's trip to Europe ... was for the purpose of adjusting certain alleged squabbles —Arthur D. Howden Smith, The Real Colonel House, 1918 • ... a brief note from Felix anent some hostile review in the New Republic of my last book —Harold J. Laski, letter, 28 Nov. 1920 • ... but he wrote letters telling of his progress and his thoughts anent the proper dissemination of religion —F. Tennyson Jesse, The Lacquer Lady, 1930 • Anent the origin of sweet corn —Biological Abstracts, January 1943 • ... dispute over the dying wartime President's remarks anent the League of Nations —Newsweek, II,June 1944 • There is another marvelously wacky correspondence between Mr. Thurber and both customs officials and the Connecticut State Tax Commission, anent a small bottle of wine sent as a gift —Irwin Edman, N.Y. Herald Tribune Book Rev., 1 Nov. 1953 • Anent this, a report from Sweden on establishment of the nation's fourth dental school —Dental Survey, March 1966 • ... and saying, anent the rumors of my going to India, that perhaps a word might go to Ellsworth Bunker —John Kenneth Galbraith, Ambassador's Journal, 1969 • The nattering nabobs of negativism on the national networks will no longer natter negatively anent Nixon —Richard H. Rovere, New Yorker, 1 May 1971 • "A middle-class white son-of-a-bitch without goals will usually break your heart," a trainer remarks, anent fighters —Judith Crist, New York, 29 Oct. 1973 • Anent the practice of snaring ptarmigan with brass wires —Henry Tegner, Scottish Field, February 1975 • A line from his 'Prologue to Macbeth', anent the apparition of Banquo —D. J. Enright, The Listener, 22 May 1975 |
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