舟動之穿林吟嘯行

因為最近要開單字記憶課程，深入研究一個有意思的主題 etymological fallacy（字源謬誤），亦即某個字詞在歷史長流裡具有某種意義，但現今已不再保留那個意思，但某些人還是會拿那個已縱逝的意義來跟當今的意義來比對。

就英文來說，enormity 的紀錄起自十五世紀，源於古法文énormité，義為 extravagance, enormity, atrocity, heinous sin，與「罪大惡極」有關，由於更早一點的拉丁文帶有 hugeness, vastness 的意義，是由 enormis (enormous) 衍生出來的變化形。後來到了十八世紀末期，有許多人把 enormity 拿來當作有（單純的）「大、碩大」之意思來使用。事實上，帶有負面的「極大的惡」（extreme wickedness）是 1560 年左右收錄於字典裡，把 enormity 拿來當成是 enormous 的涵義來使用，已經是被大家認可的用法。經過兩、三百年的演化，enormity 已經逐漸脫離了負面的意思了。

當代著名的英文辭典如 Merriam-Webster 把兩種意思都收入，不過辭典學家們在 Usage 的部份特別說明：

Enormity, some people insist, is improperly used to denote large size. They insist on enormousness for this meaning, and would limit enormity to the meaning 'great wickedness'. Those who urge such a limitation may not recognize the subtlety with which enormity is actually used. It regularly denotes a considerable departure from the expected or normal. 其後列舉了許多語料，例如：the enormity of the task of teachers in slum schools.——J. B. Conant

身兼律師與語言學家的 Bryan Garner 在其著作 Garner's Modern American Usage 中將「enormity 的意義誤解為 immensity 」的語言指標列為第四級："Ubiquitous but ..."（雖然是搞錯了，不過隨處可見）。我認為，Garner 自己的想法似乎是比較保守一點的，他進行討論一開始就引用 OED 所說的：

recent examples [of enormity for enormousness] might perhaps be found, but the use is now regarded as incorrect.

不過他也提出，這個字的語用證據確實顯露出一種時代的趨勢，使得這個字的意義帶有 monstrous wickedness 的意義，但是次要衍伸出來的意義（hugeness, immensity）從不曾真正消失過。Garner 甚至為這種「文字糾紛」，自己造出一個新詞 skunked term：

When a word undergoes a marked change from one use to another—a phase that might take ten years or a hundred—it's likely to be the subject of dispute. Some people (Group 1) insist on the traditional use; others (Group 2) embrace the new use, even if it originated purely as the result of word-swapping or slipshod extension. Group 1 comprises various members of the literati, ranging from language aficionados to hard-core purists; Group 2 comprises linguistic liberals and those who don’t concern themselves much with language. As time goes by, Group 1 dwindles; meanwhile, Group 2 swells (even without an increase among the linguistic liberals).

A word is most hotly disputed in the middle part of this process: any use of it is likely to distract some readers. The new use seems illiterate to Group 1; the old use seems odd to Group 2. The word has become skunked.

話說回來，若以學習與記憶的觀點來看，大致知道一下爭議點為何，然後把enormity 的核心意義（great wickedness）與衍生意義（greatness, vastness; a thing of huge size）都記住，我們應該就不會被捲入這場文字戰爭之中了吧。

——舟動（2013.08.29）