| 释义 |
impersonal, a. and n.|ɪmˈpɜːsənəl|
Also 6 imparsonall.
[ad. late L. impersōnāl-is, f. im- (im-2) + persōnālis personal. Cf. F. impersonnel.]
A. adj.
1. Gram. A term applied to verbs when used only in the third person singular, as it rains, it freezes, me thinks, ME. me hungreth, lest it ofthinke him.
In Gr. and L., an impersonal vb. had no pronoun subject, e.g. ὕει, pluit, it rains; hence some have denied the name in English to verbs that have the subject it. Others have applied the term unipersonal to all verbs used only in the third person singular, whether with or without a pronoun subject. Impersonal verbs do not form a sharply defined class, since many ordinary verbs have impersonal constructions; in English, also, many verbs were formerly used impersonally which are now used in all the persons.
1520Whitinton Vulg. (1527) 2 b, If it be a verbe impersonal. 1530Palsgr. Introd. 36 Verbes imparsonalles have no more but the thyrde parsone syngular. 1553Udall Flowres 11 (R.) Wher note that verbes impersonalles be oftentimes turned into personalles. a1637B. Jonson Eng. Gram. xvi, A verb is divided two manner of ways. First, in respect of persons, it is called personal, or impersonal. 1824L. Murray Eng. Gram. (ed. 5) I. 170 As the word impersonal implies a total absence of persons, it is improperly applied to those verbs which have a person. 1841Latham Eng. Lang. xxi. 319 These three [meseems, methinks, me lists] are the only true Impersonal Verbs in the English language..because no Pronoun accompanies them. 1850Ibid. iv. xxvii. 342 In the old language impersonal verbs, or rather the impersonal use of verbs, was commoner than at present.
†b. By extension, applied to other parts of speech which have no inflexions. Obs.
c1620A. Hume Brit. Tongue (1865) 32 A word impersonal is quhilk in al formes of speach keepes one face, and this is adverb or conjunction. 1658Phillips, Impersonal, a term used in Gramar, and signifieth that word whether pronoun or verb which hath but one termination for all the three persons, or at least which wanteth a termination for one of them. [1880Lewis & Short Lat. Dict., Impersōnātīvus (sc. modus), the impersonal mood, i.e. the infinitive.]
2. Not pertaining to or connected with any particular person or persons; having no personal reference or connexion: said of things.
1630R. Brathwait Eng. Gentlem. (1641) 22 This unbounded fury may seeme to have a two-fold relation; either as it is proper and personall or popular and impersonall. 1841Emerson Addr., Method of Nature Wks. (Bohn) II. 231 What is Genius but finer love, a love impersonal, a love of the..perfection of things? 1864Sat. Rev. XVIII. 455/1 The most purely impersonal considerations of public duty. 1880Daily Tel. 9 July, The jewels and other appointments of the harem are quite impersonal, belonging to the establishment and not to any of their successive wearers.
3. Not possessing or endowed with personality; not existing or manifested as a person.
1842Manning Serm., Myst. Sin (1848) I. 4 It is most necessary for us ever to bear in mind the personality of Satan; for we are often wont to speak of sin, as we do of sicknesses or plagues, as if it were an impersonal thing. 1863E. V. Neale Anal. Th. & Nat. 95 Heraclitus..seemed to have called up a rival impersonal Deity, who must swallow up the personal gods of the popular faith. 1875Poste Gaius i. (ed. 2) 64 Slaves being regarded as impersonal men.
B. n.
1. Gram. An impersonal verb.
1612Brinsley Pos. Parts (1669) 40 How are Impersonals declined? They are..only formed in the third Person singular, through all Moods and Tenses. 1845Stoddart in Encycl. Metrop. (1847) I. 63/1 The impersonals are of two kinds, active and neuter.
2. An impersonal thing or creature; an impersonality. rare.
1796Burke Regic. Peace iv. Wks. IX. 11 All those blessings..on him who found out abstraction, personification, and impersonals. In certain cases they are the first of all soporifics. |