【英语学习】【WOTD】nomothetic 释义/词源/示例

nomothetic adj. [nah-muh-THET-ik]

Definition

: relating to, involving, or dealing with abstract, general, or universal statements or laws
：关系到，涉及到，或者处理抽象的，一般化的，普世的声明或法律

Did You Know?

Nomothetic is often contrasted with idiographic, a word meaning "relating to or dealing with something concrete, individual, or unique." Where idiographic points to the specific and unique, nomothetic points to the general and consistent. The immediate Greek parent of nomothetic is a word meaning "of legislation"; the word has its roots in nomos, meaning "law," and -thetēs, meaning "one who estabilishes." Nomos has played a part in the histories of words as varies as metronome, autonomous, and Deuteronomy. The English contriubtions of -thetēs are meager, but -thetēs itself comes from tithenai, meaning "to put, " and tithenai is the ancestor of many common words ending in -thesis --- hypothesis, parenthesis, prosthesis, and thesis itself --- as well as theme, epithet, and apothecary. 

词源演化: nomos + -thetēs -> nomthetic

Nomothetic经常与单词idiographic放在一起进行比较。idiographic的意思是“关系到或者处理具体的，个人的，或者唯一的事物”；这里idiographic指向“特定的与唯一的事物”，而nomothetic则指向”广泛的与一致的事物“。nomothetic直接的希腊语前身是一个意思是“与立法相关的”单词；这个单词由词根nomos（意思是“法律”）与词缀-thetēs（意思是“某人建立的”）构成。nomos这个词根在单词历史上有着广泛的使用，例如metronome(节拍器)，autonomous（自治的），deuteronomy（申命记(圣经旧约中的一卷)）。词缀-thetēs对英语的贡献不多，但是-thetēs本身来自于tithenai，意思是“放置”，而tithenai却是许多以-thesis结尾的常用单词的先祖 --- 例如，hypothesis(假设)，parenthesis（括号），prosthesis(弥补；假体；添字首音)，synthesis（合成），以及thesis（论文，论题，命题）自身 --- 还包括theme（主题，主旋律。词源thema-> something laid down 写下某个主题/论点）, epithet（称号，诨名。词源epi- + tithenai -> to put on 给某人加上一个称号）和apothecary（药剂师；药师。词源是apo- + tithenai -> to put away 把药给别人带走）。

注：contrast：与...对比； idiographic：个人的；个别的；独特的； meager：贫乏的，不足的，瘦得
deuteronomy(deuter- + nomy 字面意思是第二法律 ): the fifth book of canonical Jewish Torah and Christian Old Testament containing narrative and Mosaic laws（摩西法律）

 

Examples

• "Moreover, there is the often-incorrect assumption that crimes and offenders are sufficiently similar to be lumped together for aggregate study. In such cases the resulting nomothetic knowledge is not just diluted, it is inaccurate and ultimately misleading"
  --- Brent E. Turvey, Criminal Profiling, 2011
  
  而且，有一个通常不正确的假设，认为犯罪与罪犯足够相似，于是经常放在一起合并研究。在这种情况下，由此产生的立法认知则是不太有力的，不但不准确，而且最终还有误导性。
  
  注：lump together：放在一起； aggregate study: 合并研究 ；diluted：冲淡的，稀释的，无力的
• "First, they can expect to find an investigation of the ways in which males and femals differ universally: that is, of the nomothetic principles grounded in biology and evolutionary psychology that govern sex-differentiated human development."
  --- Frank Dumont, A History of Personality Psychology, 2010
  
  首先，他们期望找到一个研究方向，在这个方向上男性与女性有普遍的不同点：即一个广泛原则，这个原则以生物学上与进化心理学位基础，而且主导性别分化的人类发育。