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单词 step-
释义

step-comb. form

Stress is often attracted to this combining form; see e.g. stepfamily n.
Old English stéop- (earlier stéup-, Northumbrian stéap-), corresponding to Old Frisian stiap-, stiep- (North Frisian stjap-, sjap-, stîp-, West Frisian stiep-), Middle Low German (irregular) stêf- (modern Low German staif-), (Middle) Dutch (irregular) stief-, Old High German stiuf- (Middle High German, modern German stief-), Old Norse stjúp-, (Middle Swedish stiup-, stiuf-; modern Swedish stiuf-, styf-; Danish stif-, stiv-, now superseded by sted-):—Old Germanic *steupo-; a Common Germanic combining form (not recorded in Gothic), prefixed to terms of relationship (as son, father, brother) to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 Old English stéopbearn, -cild (stepbairn n., stepchild n.) for ‘orphan’, and by the cognates, Old English ástíeped bereaved, Old High German 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 Germanic (except Gothic) have both, and also the extended use in stepbrother, stepsister. Old Norse had shortened forms, stjúpa stepmother, stjúp-r (modern Icelandic stjúpi) stepson. In Dutch and Low German, and in later Scandinavian, the p of Old Germanic *steupo- is anomalously represented by f instead of p. This is probably not due to High German influence, but to assimilation to the following f in the compound stepfather (cf. the early Middle English form steffadyr). A solitary Old English example of this anomaly occurs in the form stéfdohtor (quot. 912 at stepdaughter n.). Occasional forms of the prefix in Middle English 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 figurative). In the 16th and 17th centuries 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 cent.; 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 cent. onwards.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > lord > [noun] > types of lord > oppressive or uncaring
step-lord1549
scorchvillein1577
society > society and the community > social class > nobility > rank > duke or duchess > [noun] > child of duke > stepmother of duke's children
step-duchess1549
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > nephew or niece > [noun] > niece > step-niece
step-niece1852
1549 H. Latimer 1st Serm. before Kynges Grace sig. Diiv You landelordes, you rentreisers, I maye saye you step lordes, you vnnatural lordes, you haue for your possessions yerely to much.
1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 33 His betters will neuer pen such a peec of Latin, whosoeuer wer the Stepp-Tully.
1607 T. Middleton Revengers Trag. i. sig. B Wast euer knowne step-Dutchesse was so milde.
1633 Costlie Whore iv. sig. G2 Oh she was vertuous,..But this step-divell doth promise our fall.
1811 L.-M. Hawkins Countess & Gertrude I. xv. 244 Mr. Sterling, the..step-uncle to the countess.
1829 M. M. Sherwood Lady of Manor VII. xxxii. 219 ‘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.’
1839 J. W. Burgon Life & Times Sir T. Gresham II. vii. 400 Her maternal step-grandmother.
1852 E. M. Sewell Exper. of Life (1858) xi. 84 She is a step-niece of Major Colston.
1870 L. H. Morgan Syst. Consanguinity 482 Since the step-relationships are not discriminated.
1876 A. D. Whitney Sights & Insights ii She is also my cousin; that is, my step-cousin.
1893 ‘M. Twain’ in Cent. Mag. Jan. 346/2 Yes; he's my steppapa, and the dearest one that ever was.
1895 W. Black Briseis ii I never know what that excellent step-papa of mine may be up to.
1898 Westm. Gaz. 5 Sept. 8/2 Mrs. Neale, step-granddaughter of the wife of Lord Nelson.
1900 M. E. Wilkins Love of Parson Lord 40 Richard Pierce, the squire's step-grandson.
1904 Westm. Gaz. 4 Jan. 3/2 The step-sisters and step-aunts.
1905 R. Bagot Passport vii. 69 It had amused him to address no small part of his conversation to his step-niece during these little dinners.
1924 G. B. Stern Tents of Israel vii. 105 Val,..the eldest step~grandchild..had returned from Vienna especially not to miss the occasion.
1936 M. Mitchell Gone with the 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.
1960 M. Spark Ballad of Peckham Rye vii. 130 Your step-dad's on about young Leslie.
1962 Listener 10 May 828/1 A comic private detective, besides step-mum and callous dad.
1974 D. Francis Knock Down xii. 146 My new step-mama will be able to maintain us in the style to which we are accustomed.
1980 M. McMullen My Cousin Death (1981) vii. 82 He's some kind of step~relative, and he's on his uppers.
1982 Listener 23 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’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1916; most recently modified version published online March 2019).
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