The history of nomenclature in Britain is so old that no one knows the beginning of the story. Since written history began, people have had names. It is therefore impossible to do more than guess at how the earliest given names were chosen.
Most names appear to have had some sort of original meaning, usually descriptive, rather than being simply a pleasing collection of sounds.
These descriptive names developed both from nouns and adjectives. The Irish Gaelic people used descriptive nouns and adjectives which were meaningful. Early in prehistory some descriptive names began to be used again and again until they formed a name pool for that particular culture. Parents would choose names from the pool of existing names rather than invent new ones for their children.
With the rise of Christianity, Christians were encouraged to name their children after the holy people of the church. These early Christian names can be found in many culture today, in various forms. The pool of names in use in England changed basically after the came in 1066. Then French names of Germanic origin became popular within three generations. As a result names like Emma, Matilda, Richard, and William, became com in English nomenclature. At the same time a few Old English names, like Edward and A remained because they were names of holy people or kings; others were kept because they were used with slight changes by Germanic names from the Normans like Robert.
Surnames developed from bynames, which are additional ones used to differentiate people with the same given name.
These bynames fall into particular patterns.
These started out as specific to a person and were taken down from father to son be the twelfth and sixteenth century. The noble usually used taken-down surnames early or the peasants did so later.
1. We can infer from the text that ________. A. people had no names before written language was invented B. names began to be used long before there was written language C. the history of nomenclature is just as long as written history D. the first given names had not any actual meanings
2. The underlined word “they” (in para.3) refers to ________. A. Old English names
B. names of holy people C. names of Germanic origin
D. other names
3. According to the text, which of the following statements is true? A. Names like Edward and Alfred were French names of Germanic origin. B. Names like Emma and William were the most popular in 1066. C. Robert is a Germanic name from the Normans. D. Church didn’t encourage nomenclature used in the church.
4. Give the right order of surname development in history.
(a) People used bynames to differ people with the same given names.
(b) People chose given names from the pool of existing names.
(c) Bynames started out as specific to a person.
(d) Surnames became popular with common people.
(e) Surnames were taken down from father to son in noble families. A. b-a-e-c-d
B. a-b-c-d-e C. a-b-c-e-d
D. b-a-c-e-d
5. Which group of words can best describe the development of British nomenclature? A. meaningful, Christian and foreign B. descriptive, meaningful and Germanic C. additional, particular and various D. Old English-styled, Christian and original
vocabulary:
nomenclature n.系统命名法，术语 Gaelic adj.盖尔人的 n.盖尔语 Christianity n. 基督教 suname n. 姓名 byname n.别名，诨名，绰号
发表于 2009-3-16 11:46
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发表于 2009-3-16 12:11
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