THE ORIGINS OF THE WORD SOCCER

“SOCCER”一詞探源

原文發(fā)表機構(gòu)：SoccerHistory

南威爾士每日新聞，1891年1月29日

“Surely, soccer’s the American word for football”, is a view commonly expressed by many followers of the game. But, as we shall see, it is a British English word with a history almost as old as that of ‘a(chǎn)ssociation football’, from which it derives. In this article I shall consider the origins of the word ‘soccer’ and when it came into use.

“在美式英語中，soccer就是足球的意思”，這是廣大足球愛好者普遍認同的觀點。但是，據(jù)我們考證，soccer是一個英式英語的詞匯，而且它的歷史與現(xiàn)代足球幾乎一樣久遠，現(xiàn)代足球在英語中稱為“association football”，意即協(xié)會足球，soccer一詞就源于此。在本文中我們將探討soccer一詞的起源以及何時被使用起來。

Newspaper reports from the 1890s provide clear evidence that ‘soccer’ was in common usage from the middle of that decade and that its origins were in the slang developed by students at Oxford University. In what was almost certainly a syndicated column, ‘Notes from Oxford,’ the North Wales Chronicle for 14 March 1891 reported: “Oxford undergraduates, especially those who are athletes, have passionate fondness for the termination ‘er.’ The number of coined words which are made to end in the termination ‘er’ is quite astounding, and these are absolutely unknown outside the Oxford circle. The following are fair examples, which are added to tickle the reader’s ingenuity: what does he think of: - ragger, fogger, roller, footer, rugger, brecker, soccer, fresher, &c.?”

根據(jù)1890年代的報紙報道提供的證據(jù)，soccer在這一時期的中段被普遍使用，最早是從牛津大學學生的俚語中發(fā)展而來。在《（北威爾士編年史》（North Wales Chronicle）雜志1891年3月14日“牛津消息”專欄（幾乎可以確認是專欄）上曾有如下報道：“牛津大學生，尤其是那些運動員學生，尤其喜愛單詞后面加‘er’。他們創(chuàng)造的以‘er’結(jié)尾的新詞數(shù)量令人吃驚，而且在牛津之外肯定還有未計算在內(nèi)的。下面的詞就是很好的例子，可以讓讀者一窺其一二：ragger, fogger, roller, footer, rugger, brecker, soccer, fresher……

Towards the end of the 1890s the Football Echoes column of the Yorkshire Evening Post (23 September 1899) informed its readers: “It will perhaps interest readers of these Echoes to know why Association and Rugby football are commonly known as ‘Soccer’ and ‘Rugger’ respectively. At the Universities it is the correct slang to break off the latter syllables of words, double the last consonant, and ad ‘er.’ So ‘Sociation becomes ‘Soccer’ and Rugby ‘Rugger.’ But the former is more frequently spelt ‘Socker.’”

到了1890年代末，約克郡晚郵報（Yorkshire Evening Post）的“足球回聲”專欄上寫道（1899年）：“可能本專欄的讀者有興趣了解為什么英式足球和橄欖球分別被稱為Soccer和Rugger。在大學里，人們常常在俚語中把詞匯里后面的音節(jié)砍掉，把最后一個輔音變成兩個，再加上‘er’，于是Sociation就變成了Soccer，Rugby（橄欖球）就變成了Rugger。只不過這種形式往往被拼寫成‘Socker’?！?/p>

So ‘soccer’, like ‘rugger’ and ‘fresher’ (a word meaning ‘freshman’ or recently arrived student) are words that all entered into widespread usage after being adopted by students at Oxford University. Another sporting word ‘cricker’ for cricket appears to have never featured outside of the slang used in public schools and universities of the late 19th century.

所以，同Rugger和fresher（大學新生的意思，源于freshman一詞）一樣，“soccer”也是在經(jīng)過牛津大學學生修改過后才廣為使用的詞匯。另一個體育詞匯“cricker’來源于crecket（板球）也在19世紀的公學和大學俚語中使用，只不過從來沒有向外傳播。

These words can be traced back even further, to Harrow School. An article in The Globe (22 October 1895) informs us: “The extensive use of the termination ‘er’ is now nearly twenty years old, though, circ. ann., 1875-6 it was confined to certain colleges, especially where Harrow men were in the ascendant. For the suffix ‘er,’ as the editor of ‘Isis’ [an Oxford University journal] correctly observes, hails from Harrow, the parent terms being ‘ducker’ and ‘footer.’”

這些詞匯的源頭甚至可以追溯到更久遠的哈羅公學（Harrow School）?！董h(huán)球報》（The Globe，1895年10月22日）上刊載的一篇文章說：“以‘er’作為詞尾的方式被廣泛應(yīng)用已經(jīng)有20年之久了，盡管在1875-6年左右它僅僅局限于特定的學院里，尤其是那些有哈羅公學背景的學生占多數(shù)的?！迸＝虼髮W刊物《Isis》編輯認為，“er”詞尾來自于哈羅公學，最早見于“footer”和“ducker”。

The online version of the Oxford English Dictionary (www.oed.com) provides us with examples of the first occasions some of these slang words appeared in print: ‘footer’ (1863), ‘fresher’ (1882), ‘socker’ (1885), ‘rugger’ (1889) and ‘brekker’ [breakfast] (1889).

牛津英語詞典的在線版本（www.oed.com）為我們提供了上述某些俚語詞匯最早印刷版本的例子：“footer”（1863），“fresher”（1882），“socker”（1885），“rugger”（1889）以及“brekker”[breakfast，早餐] (1889)。

Finally our investigation concludes with a brief review of the contents of the British newspaper Archive. The Optical Character Recognition system offers little help with tracing the earliest usage of ‘soccer’ simply because the presence of ‘soccer’ often appears in print as ‘success’ (or other words). ‘Socker’ is an easier term to search and to date the earliest reference I have traced is from The Star of the East, a Suffolk title, for 12 March 1888. Commenting on the Suffolk Cup final which took place at Ipswich’s Portman Road ground ‘Asterisk’ reported “Many ‘Rugger’ men went home this afternoon with a respect for ‘Socker’ that they had never felt before.” This, significantly, is an earlier reference to the use of ‘rugger’ than currently held by the OED. Note that ‘Socker’ was the original spelling. Almost all late 19th century references were found in one of three geographical regions: South West England (mostly Cornwall), South Wales and London (where most occur in relation university students at Oxford and Cambridge).

我們的調(diào)查最終落腳在對英國報紙檔案的簡要研究。光學字符識別系統(tǒng)在查找“soccer”一詞的最早使用上沒有起到太大作用，原因很簡單，“soccer"在印刷品上的形象往往和“success”（或其它形式）相像而無法區(qū)分?！癝ocker”是一個更容易檢索的詞匯，筆者能查到的最早的使用是在1888年3月12日薩?？顺霭嫖铩稏|方之星》（Star of the East）上。這篇文章評論了薩?？说貐^(qū)杯賽決賽的情況。比賽在伊普斯維奇的波特曼路足球場舉行，文章中著重強調(diào)很多橄欖球（rugger）愛好者在比賽后贊嘆他們從來沒有見識過這樣的足球（socker）。尤為重要的是，這篇文章中“rugger”的出現(xiàn)甚至早于目前牛津英語詞典的考證結(jié)果，而且我們注意到此處的“Socker”使用的也是原始拼寫。此外在19世紀后期所有的使用都出現(xiàn)在以下三個地區(qū)之一的文字中：西南英格蘭（主要是康威爾），南威爾士和倫敦（與牛津和劍橋大學學生關(guān)系密切的地區(qū)）。

More specific searches produce a clearer picture. The Cornishman newspaper provides 12 references for ‘socker’ for 1893, but just one for 1895; in contrast there are no references to ‘soccer’ for 1893 and 17 for 1895. Thereafter ‘soccer’ is the preferred term. The British Newspaper Archive has a gap in its coverage of Athletic News, the main football (both rugby and association) newspaper of the time, between 1887 and 1899 unfortunately. For 1899 the term ‘socker’ is used 21 times and ‘soccer’ just once. From around 1903, however, ‘socker’ is rarely found and ‘soccer’ becomes the recognised spelling. ‘Footer,’ which must originally have referred to the specific game played at Harrow, later became a term to describe football generally and is the preferred informal term of Sporting Life newspaper in the mid 1890s, although ‘socker’ / ‘soccer’ and ‘rugger’ are also found.

通過更為具體的檢索，我們看到了更清晰的證據(jù)。1893年《康威爾人》報中有12次使用了“socker”，但在1895年僅有一次。與之相反的是，該報紙1893年沒有使用“soccer”一詞，但在1895年卻使用了17次。從那以后，“soccer”變得更受歡迎。很不幸，英國報刊檔案在1887年到1899年間《體育新聞》以及主要的足球（包括橄欖球和協(xié)會足球）的報紙都缺失了。1899年，“socker”一詞使用了21次而“soccer”只有一次。從大約1903年開始，“socker”幾乎絕跡而“soccer”成為被認可的拼寫?！癋ooter”一詞最早指的是哈羅公學里面的一種游戲，此后泛指足球，在1890年代的《體育生活》報上，“footer”是該刊的正式用詞，盡管“socker”/“soccer”和“rugger”也不時出現(xiàn)。

In conclusion, we can identify that the first slang word still in modern use for football/soccer derives from Harrow School with the usage of the word ‘footer’ which first appears in print in 1863. The practise of shortening words, particularly in relation to athletic sports, then adding an ‘er’ suffix appears to have transferred from Harrow to Oxford University in the mid 1870s. Almost certainly words such as ‘socker’ and ‘rugger’ were in use before they were committed to print a decade later. The word ‘soccer’ was initially spelt ‘socker’ and as well as being in use amongst university students it was commonly used in geographical areas where the predominant code of football was rugby union (Cornwall, South Wales) in the 1890s. A spelling of ‘soccer’ rather than ‘socker’ became the recognised version of the word by the early 20th century and this word then spread into the general vocabulary of the game. Soccer has remained in the vocabulary of British football, and indeed, when the Players’ Union relaunched their magazine was titled: ‘Soccer: The Official Journal of the Football Players’ Union’. Soccer Star was for many years the most popular British weekly magazine devoted to the association game, and ran from 1952 until 1970.

總之，我們可以確認現(xiàn)代仍在使用的football/soccer一詞源于哈羅公學，最早是以俚語存在的，而“footer”一詞最早于1863年出現(xiàn)在印刷品上。到了1870年代中期，把詞匯尤其是體育詞匯縮短化，加以“er”后綴的做法自哈羅公學傳到了牛津大學。幾乎可以確認的是像“socker”和“rugger”這樣的詞匯在之前就已經(jīng)有人在使用，不過付諸印刷還是在10年后的時期?！皊occer”一詞最早的拼寫為“socker”而且在1890年代在橄欖球規(guī)則主導(dǎo)的地區(qū)（康威爾，南威爾士）的大學生中被廣泛使用。在20世紀初“soccer”取代“socker”成為廣為承認的拼寫版本并逐漸成為這項運動的通用詞匯。Soccer現(xiàn)在仍然是英國足球詞典中的一員，球員工會重新啟動他們的雜志時也將其命名為“Soccer：球員工會官方雜志”。，《Soccer Star》（足球明星）在1952年-1970年間發(fā)行，也曾經(jīng)是多年來在英國最受歡迎的周刊足球雜志。

So ‘soccer’ is a word that derives from the elite classes of Oxford University students in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. It is perhaps not surprising that ‘soccer’ is used instead of ‘football’ in the United States where another version of football (‘American football’) enjoys greater popularity, and probably for the same reasons as those newspapers in Cornwall and South Wales used ‘soccer’ back in the 1890s. It distinguishes association football from other more popular codes of the game in those areas. Nevertheless ‘soccer’ remains a word of British English origin and not American English.

所以說，“soccer”一詞起源于19世紀最后15年間的牛津大學學生中的精英階層。所以說在美國人們把足球稱為“soccer”并不奇怪，因為在那里美式足球（“American football”）更受歡迎，而且或許他們使用“soccer”一詞的原因和當年在1890年代康威爾和南威爾士報紙的初衷是一致的，就是要讓英式足球規(guī)則和當?shù)馗鼮槭⑿械淖闱蛞?guī)則區(qū)分開來。但無議論如何，“soccer”都是一個英式英語詞匯而非美式英語詞匯。

原文來源：

http://www.soccer-history.co.uk/latest-news-events/143-origins-of-the-word-soccer