| 释义 |
step-
OE. stéop- (earlier stéup-, Northumb. stéap-), corresponding to OFris. stiap-, stiep- (NFris. stjap-, sjap-, stîp-, WFris. stiep-), MLG. (irreg.) stêf- (mod. LG. staif-), (M)Du. (irreg.) stief-, OHG. stiuf- (MHG., mod.G. stief-), ON. stjúp-, (MSw. stiup-, stiuf-; mod.Sw. stiuf-, styf-; Da. stif-, stiv-, now superseded by sted-):—OTeut. *steupo-; a Com. Teut. combining element (not recorded in Gothic), prefixed to terms of relationship (as son, father, brother) to form designations for the degrees of affinity resulting from the remarriage of a widowed parent. The primitive sense of the word is indicated by the use of OE. stéopbearn, -cild (stepbairn, stepchild) for ‘orphan’, and by the cognates, OE. ástíeped bereaved, OHG. stiufen (also ar-, bistiufen) to bereave. Etymologically, stepfather (stepmother) might be rendered ‘one who becomes a father (mother) to an orphan’, and stepson (stepdaughter) ‘an orphan who becomes a son (a daughter)’ by the marriage of the surviving parent. It is uncertain which of these two applications of the prefix is the original one; all branches of Teut. (exc. Gothic) have both, and also the extended use in stepbrother, stepsister. ON. had shortened forms, stjúpa stepmother, stjúp-r (mod.Icel. stjúpi) stepson. In Du. and LG., and in later Scandinavian, the p of OTeut. *steupo- is anomalously represented by f instead of p. This is prob. not due to HG. influence, but to assimilation to the following f in the compound stepfather (cf. the early ME. form steffadyr). A solitary OE. example of this anomaly occurs in the form stéfdohtor (quot. 912 s.v. stepdaughter). Occasional forms of the prefix in ME. are stip- (styp-), sti-, ste-, stappe-.
In 1755 Johnson says that stepmother is the only one of the compounds of step- that has survived in general use. At the present day stepfather is hardly less frequently used, and stepson, -daughter, -child, -brother, -sister are by no means rare, while stepdame occurs in somewhat archaistic language (chiefly fig.). In the 16th and 17th c. a few writers employed the prefix in nonce-formations which would now seem un-English, as step-devil, a term of abhorrence for a stepmother; step-duchess, the stepmother of a duke's children; step-lord, one who has the position of a lord without the true lord's affection for his subjects; step-Tully, one who assumes the function of a Cicero. New formations with the prefix, denoting actual relations of affinity, do not appear earlier than the 19th c.; in the latter part of the century they became somewhat common, chiefly as more or less jocular nonce-words, though one or two of them, as step-nephew, step-niece, have obtained some currency in serious use.
The concept of orphanage has recently ceased to be essential to the meaning of the step- combinations. Consequently, the relationships of step-brother, -sister, etc., may be considered to refer reciprocally to children of a later as well as a former marriage: i.e. step-brother = half-brother, etc. A step-parent may be created by marriage to a divorced or a bereaved person.
The older compounds of step- are in this Dictionary treated as main words; the following examples illustrate the extended applications of the prefix from the 16th c. onwards.
1549Latimer 1st Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 39 You landelordes, you rentreisers, I maye saye you steplordes, you vnnaturall lordes, you haue for your possessions yerely to much. 1593G. Harvey Pierce's Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 74 His betters will neuer pen such a peec of Latin, whosoeuer wer the Stepp-Tully. 1607Tourneur Rev. Trag. i. ii, Was't euer knowne step-Dutchesse was so milde. 1633Costlie Whore iv. iii. in Bullen O. Pl. IV. 283 Oh she was vertuous,..But this step-divell doth promise our fall. 1812L. M. Hawkins C'tess & Gertrude I. 244 Mr. Sterling, the step-uncle to the countess. 1825–9Mrs. Sherwood Lady of Manor V. xxxii. 349 ‘And I am heartily glad of it,’ said the old man... ‘I am much mistaken, if, after all, the step-lady [sc. a stepmother] will not prove the best friend.’ 1839Burgon Life Sir T. Gresham II. vii. 400 Her maternal step-grandmother. 1852Miss Sewell Exp. Life xi. (1858) 84 She is a step-niece of Major Colston. 1868L. H. Morgan Syst. Consanguinity (1870) 482 Since the step-relationships are not discriminated. 1876Mrs. Whitney Sights & Insights ii, She is also my cousin; that is, my step-cousin. 1893‘Mark Twain’ in Century Mag. Jan. 346/2 Yes; he's my steppapa, and the dearest one that ever was. 1895Black Briseis ii, I never know what that excellent step-papa of mine may be up to. 1898Westm. Gaz. 5 Sept. 8/2 Mrs. Neale, step-granddaughter of the wife of Lord Nelson. 1900M. E. Wilkins Love of Parson Lord 40 Richard Pierce, the squire's step-grandson. 1904Westm. Gaz. 4 Jan. 3/2 The step-sisters and step-aunts. 1905R. Bagot Passport vii. 69 It had amused him to address no small part of his conversation to his step-niece during these little dinners. 1924G. B. Stern Tents of Israel vii. 105 Val,..the eldest step⁓grandchild..had returned from Vienna especially not to miss the occasion. 1936M. Mitchell Gone with Wind xlvii. 844 Ah ain' gwine leave Miss Ellen's gran' chillun fer no trashy step-pa ter bring up. 1959‘E. H. Clements’ High Tension v. 83 His step-cousin's [neck] rose..from an open-necked shirt. 1960M. Spark Ballad Peckham Rye vii. 130 Your step-dad's on about young Leslie. 1962Listener 10 May 828/1 A comic private detective, besides step-mum and callous dad. 1974D. Francis Knock Down xii. 146 My new step-mama will be able to maintain us in the style to which we are accustomed. 1980M. McMullen My Cousin Death (1981) vii. 82 He's some kind of step⁓relative, and he's on his uppers. 1982Listener 23—30 Dec. 12/1 Christmas for many will either be as desolate as an Oxford Street Santa's heart or so extended—what with the myriads of stepfathers, stepmothers, step⁓siblings, step-uncles and step-aunts—as to conjure up images of those family groupings which American family therapists love to gather for what they call ‘working together’. |