時(shí)間的表達(dá)我們小學(xué)就已經(jīng)學(xué)過了
相信對(duì)于 o'clock 這個(gè)用法大家都不陌生
但你有沒有想過
o'clock中的這一撇 究竟省略了什么？
Why is there an apostrophe in "o'clock"?音頻：00:0002:35
An apostrophe? is used in o'clock because the word is a contraction of the phrase "of the clock." Just like other contractions, the apostrophe takes the place of missing words or letters from a longer word or phrase. For example, the apostrophe in "don't" takes the place of o in the word "not," and the apostrophe in "you'll" takes the place of wi in the word "will."
? apostrophe /? p?str?f?/ n. 撇號(hào);省略符號(hào);所有格符號(hào)
o'clock中撇號(hào)的使用，是因?yàn)檫@個(gè)詞是"of the clock"這個(gè)短語的縮寫。就像其他的縮寫一樣，撇號(hào)可以代替長(zhǎng)單詞或短語中漏掉的單詞或字母。例如，don't中的撇號(hào)代替not中的o，而you'll中的撇號(hào)代替will中的wi。
When we use the word o'clock we are saying that it is a particular hour "according to the clock." For example, "it is almost four o'clock" means the same as "it is almost four according to the clock." However, the full phrase "of the clock" is not used by native English speakers. Always use the shortened form, "o'clock."
當(dāng)我們使用“o'clock”這個(gè)詞時(shí)，我們是在說它是根據(jù)時(shí)鐘這個(gè)計(jì)量時(shí)間的儀器而來的時(shí)間。例如，it's almost four o'clock(差不多4點(diǎn))和it's almost four according to the clock(根據(jù)時(shí)鐘)的意思是一樣的。以英語為母語的人一般不用"of the clock"的完整形式，而會(huì)使用縮寫形式o'clock。
Using the form of “o'clock” particularly increased in popularity around the eighteenth century when it became common to do a similar slurring in the names of many things such as “Will-o -the wisp” from “Will of the wisp” (stemming from a legend of an evil blacksmith named Will Smith, with “wisp” meaning “torch”) and “Jack-o -lantern” from “Jack of the lantern” (which originally just meant “man of the lantern” with “Jack,” at the time, being the generic “any man” name. Later, either this or the Irish legend of “Stingy Jack” got this name transferred to referring to carved pumpkins with lit candles inside).
這種把of縮寫成o'的習(xí)慣大約在十八世紀(jì)特別流行，那時(shí)候人們開始把很多名字發(fā)成類似的含糊的音——比如說“Will of the wisp（鬼火）”變成“Will-o -the wisp”(源自一個(gè)名叫威爾·史密斯的邪惡鐵匠的傳說，而wisp的意思是火炬)和“Jack of the lantern（杰克南瓜燈）”變成“Jack-o -lantern”(在當(dāng)時(shí)，它的意思是“拿著燈籠”的“杰克”，是“任何男人”的通稱。后來，不論是這個(gè)短語還是愛爾蘭傳說中吝嗇的杰克的故事都變成了里面有點(diǎn)燃蠟燭的雕刻有惡魔臉南瓜燈的意思）。
While today with clocks being ubiquitous and few people, if anybody, telling direct time by the Sun, it isn’t necessary in most cases to specify we are referencing time from clocks, but the practice of saying “o’clock” has stuck around anyway.
雖然今天時(shí)鐘無處不在，很少有人通過太陽直接報(bào)時(shí)，大多數(shù)情況下，是沒有必要特地說明我們的時(shí)間是由時(shí)鐘而來時(shí)間的，但“o'clock”的說法仍然存在。
Ref：
http://www.learnersdictionary.com/qa/Why-is-there-an-apostrophe-in-o-clock-
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/03/say-oclock/
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