牛叫做cow

肉叫做meat

那cow的肉

为什么就不可以像汉语这样直接叫：

牛肉

cow meat

而需要一个新的词：

beef

这不多此一举吗，

英语就不能了解一下我们背单词的辛苦吗?

同理猪肉，羊肉为什么不叫：

pig meat，sheep meat

而都用到了另外的单词 pork和mutton?

今天小编就整理截取了一段科普音频，

一边练听力一边涨知识吧~

为什么“牛肉”不是cow meat而是beef?

00:0003:28未加入话题

可以先看一遍文字再听

Yet it seems something got lost in translation between leaving the farm and ending up on our dinner plates.

似乎动物们在离开农场和最终出现在我们的餐盘之间的那一段时间翻译好像丢了。

Pig became pork, cow became beef and sheep became mutton.

猪肉成了pork，牛肉成了beef，羊肉成了mutton。

Do we call these animals by different names when we eating them to disconnect from the fact that that cute pig you saw the petting zoo is going to be tomorrow's dinner or is there a bit more history to it than that.

当我们吃这些动物的时候，我们是不是用不同的名字来称呼它们，就能让他们与我们往日看到的可爱形象相区分，还是说这其中有更多的历史?

In 1066 the Danish King of England, Edward the Confessor, died leaving to Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, being crowned king and becoming King Harold II.

1066年，英格兰国王爱德华忏悔者去世，王位留给哈罗德·戈德温森，威塞克斯伯爵。他加冕为国王，成为国王哈罗德二世。

Yet things didn't go easily for him, his first issue came from the north, thanks to Harald Hardrada, king of Norway invading Yorkshire.

然而事情并没有只是当国王那么简单，他的第一个问题来自北方，这一切都是由于挪威国王哈拉尔德·哈德拉达入侵约克郡。

While Harold II successfully defeated the Norwegian fleet, William of Normandy, arrived in Sussex in the South of England

当哈罗德二世成功击退挪威舰队时，诺曼底的威廉抵达英格兰南部的苏塞克斯。

What Harold was in the north meaning Harold had to rush back down south to take on the French adversary.

而哈罗德还在北方，意味着哈罗德必须急忙赶回南方再去对付法国

This cumulated in the Battle of Hastings were Harold II, the king of England, was defeated by the French army supposedly with an arrow to the eye leading to William of Normandy becoming King of England and becoming known as William the Conqueror.

在黑斯廷斯战役中，英国国王哈罗德二世，被法国军队击败，据说是被一箭射中眼睛，导致诺曼底的威廉成为英格兰国王，史称征服者威廉

Now I know what you're wondering what has any of this got to do with animals or food.

现在我知道你在想什么，这些和动物或食物的说法又有什么关系?

Well, we have this piece of English history to thank for the variation names between animals when they're alive and when they're being eaten.

这么说吧，多亏了这段英国历史，动物活着的时候和被吃掉的时候才有了不同的名字

The Norman invasion of England has had a longer lasting effect on the English language，

诺曼人入侵英格兰对英语产生了更持久的影响

especially with the division of language in the French upper classes and the anglo-saxon working classes of the time

尤其是当时法国上层阶级和盎格鲁-撒克逊工人阶级的语言分化

It would be this anglo-saxon working class sort of farm and hunt the food keeping the English names of the animals they already knew like cow, pig and sheep

盎格鲁-撒克逊工人阶级耕种并捕猎，所以他们保留了他们经常使用的动物的英文名字，如牛，猪和羊

while the French upper classes who only ever saw the animals cooked would use the French names they already knew.

而只见过被烹饪后的动物的法国上流社会则使用他们的法语叫法

后来被英语化成了pullet，现在用来指年轻的母鸡

这就意味着煮熟的猪用了法语名字porc， 英国化之后成pork

The French boeuf was anglicized to beef to replace cattle，

法语boeuf被英国化为beef来代替牛

and mutton comes from the French word for sheep mouton.

mutton来自法国对羊的叫法mouton。

chicken meat is still just known as chicken and duck meat is just known as duck.

鸡肉仍然被叫作chicken，鸭肉仍然被叫作duck

There seems to be no real answer why chicken and duck meat is still just called chicken and duck.

鸡鸭肉究竟为什么还被叫作chicken和duck，似乎还没有真正的答案。

Poulet it's French for chicken which is where poultry comes from

Poulet是法语，意思是鸡肉，家禽poultry这个单词就是从这里来的。

and was anglicized to pullet which is now just used to refer to a young hen.

后来被英语化成了pullet，现在用来指年轻的母鸡

Horse meat is a rather controversial meat. Due to the fact that for so long horses have played such a large role as companions to humans, some cultures are hesitant eat them especially in english-speaking countries.

马肉是一种颇有争议的肉，因为这么长时间以来，马一直扮演着人类重要的伙伴角色，一些文化对吃马肉很犹豫，尤其是在英语国家。

In France horse meat is just called cheval meat. Cheval being the French name for horses when they are alive, too.

在法国，马肉被称为cheval meat。Cheval也是马活着时的法语名字。

But due to horse meat not coming across the channel with William the conquerer it didn't get a name divided like pig and pork.

但是由于马肉没有随征服者威廉穿越海峡而来，所以马肉没有像猪和猪肉那样被分开命名。

So what about fish? Fish is much like poultry and horses in the fact that they haven't got a separate name for when they're eaten and even specific species of fish don't have food names.

那鱼呢?鱼很像家禽和马，事实上它们被吃的时候没有单独的名字，甚至特定种类的鱼也没有食物名称。

This is for to do the French word for fish being of poisson which is very similar to the English word poison,

这是因为法语中表示鱼的词poisson，这个词与英语中的“毒药”非常相似，

so perhaps people were turned off eating something that sounded similar to poison.

所以也许是人们拒绝吃听起来像毒药的东西。

So next time you re eating a beef burger just remember you re calling that a beef burger and not a cattle burger due to an invasion and a class divide that happened almost 1,000 years ago.

因此，下次您要吃牛肉汉堡时，请记住，您所说的是beef汉堡，而不是cattle汉堡，这与一段入侵和近1000年前发生的阶级分化的历史有关。

今天的内容都学会了么?

欢迎评论交流心得~

，您所说的是beef汉堡，而不是cattle汉堡，这与一段入侵和近1000年前发生的阶级分化的历史有关。

今天的内容都学会了么?

欢迎评论交流心得~