Exhibit展品
villain
/ˈvɪlən/
How did a farm worker become the wicked one?庄园里的雇工怎样变成了恶人？
Today此刻
A wicked person, or the antagonist in a story.恶人，或故事里的反派。
Historical历史形态
Take it apart拆开来看
A derivation, not a free compound: villa, then villanus. English borrowed the person-word after its social meaning had already begun to sour.这是派生，不是自由的复合：villa，然后 villanus。英语借入这个指人的词时，它的社会意义已经开始变酸。
Travel through time穿过时间
Latin拉丁语
villa
country estate乡间庄园
Medieval Latin中古拉丁语
villanus
estate worker, villager庄园雇工，村民
Old French古法语
vilein
peasant, low-born person农民，出身低的人
English英语
villain
a wicked person恶人
How the meaning moved意义如何移动
01 · medieval Latin01 · 中古拉丁语
a worker on an estate庄园上的雇工
02 · French and Middle English02 · 法语与中古英语
a person of low status, said with contempt地位低的人，带着轻蔑来说
03 · English03 · 英语
a scoundrel恶棍
04 · modern English04 · 现代英语
the antagonist反派
Story故事
The person who belonged to the villa属于 villa 的那个人
Latin villa is a country estate. Medieval Latin villanus is a person of that estate, a farm worker, a villager. Old French vilein carries the social rank into English: someone low-born, and then, in the mouth of people who had land, someone coarse.
Contempt did the rest. A class name became a moral accusation. By the time English says villain, the farm has vanished and the wickedness remains. Stories seal the change. The villain is the person the plot is against.
This is a classic degradation of meaning, and it is social before it is literary. The word did not wake up one morning and decide to be evil. People who held estates used a worker’s title as an insult, until the insult was all that was left.
拉丁语 villa 是乡间庄园。中古拉丁语 villanus 是属于那座庄园的人，农场雇工，村民。古法语 vilein 把这种社会身份带进英语：出身低的人，然后，在有地的人嘴里，粗鄙的人。
轻蔑做了剩下的事。一个阶级的名称变成道德指控。等到英语说 villain，农场消失了，邪恶留下了。故事把这个变化封住。villain 是情节所反对的那个人。
这是意思贬降的一个经典，而且它先是社会的，然后才是文学的。这个词不是某天早晨醒来决定作恶。拥有庄园的人把雇工的头衔用作侮辱，直到侮辱成了唯一剩下的东西。
Keep wandering继续漫游
Research notes研究笔记
Confidence · High把握 · 高
The outline is the ordinary account in historical dictionaries.轮廓与历史词典里的通行说法一致。
Sources出处
An outline for the visitor, not a critical edition.给访客的纲要，不是校勘本。