The Economist’s word of the year for 2024
《经济学人》2024年度词汇
The Greeks knew how to talk about politics and power
SOME YEARS it is hard to identify the main event, much less sum it up in a word. This is not the problem in 2024; the return of Donald Trump to the White House after a four-year absence is consequential not only for the world’s most powerful country but also for its neighbours and everywhere else. Which word can capture the mix of surprise, excitement and trepidation people feel as the MAGA movement returns to power?
某些年份难以辨识主要事件，更遑论用一个词概括。但2024年并非如此；唐纳德·特朗普四年后重返白宫，不仅对这个世界最强大的国家意义重大，对其邻国乃至全球都具深远影响。哪个词语能够捕捉人们面对“让美国再次伟大（MAGA）” 运动卷土重来时那复杂的惊讶、兴奋与忧虑？
First, a counterfactual. Had Kamala Harris won, The Economist would have had a different shortlist for its annual “word of the year”. Her campaign was described as one of “vibes”, rather than policy. Her appeal to the young was captured in “brat” (youth slang for “a little messy and likes to party”); it was Charli XCX, a British pop star, who offered Ms Harris that compliment. But Ms Harris did not win, and so “brat” is unlikely to go down in history except as the answer to a trivia question.
且按一个假设性场景：如果卡玛拉·哈里斯获胜，《经济学人》的年度词汇榜单或将截然不同。她的竞选被形容为"情绪"而非政策驱动，吸引年轻选民的流行语是"brat"（年轻人俚语，意指"稍显凌乱且乐于派对"）——这一称赞来自英国流行歌手酷娃恰莉（Charli XCX）。然而哈里斯未能胜出，"brat"大概只能沦为琐事问答中的答案。
For the year’s defining word, it helps to look back—a long way. English has a host of political terms derived from Greek, because it got a lot of its political thinking from the likes of Plato and Aristotle. So if you go through the lexicon (itself Greek), a few roots abound. Arche (ruler), for example, is found in monarchy, oligarchy and anarchy (the rule of one, the few and none, respectively).
论及年度词汇，不妨追溯既往，且追溯得颇为久远。英语众多政治术语源自希腊，因为它从柏拉图和亚里士多德那里汲取了大量政治思想。翻检词典（本身就是希腊词），几个词根频繁出现。例如"arche"（统治者）就存在于"monarchy"（君主制）、"oligarchy"（寡头政治）和"anarchy"（无政府状态）等词中。
Greek has another root for “rule”, kratia, which is even more common. It features in democracy, aristocracy, gerontocracy, theocracy and plutocracy, as well as meritocracy (a modern coinage for which Alan Fox, a British sociologist, married a Latin root with a Greek one in 1956). The Oxford English Dictionary is also full of rarer species such as ochlocracy (rule by the mob), gynaecocracy (rule by women) and thalassocracy (mastery of the seas).
希腊语中另一个表示"统治"的词根是"kratia"，使用更为广泛。它出现在"democracy"（民主）、"aristocracy"（贵族政治）、"gerontocracy"（老年人治国）、"theocracy"（神权政治）和"plutocracy"（财阀政治）等词中，甚至包括1956年由英国社会学家艾伦·福克斯（Alan Fox）创造的"meritocracy"（精英治国）。《牛津英语词典》还收录了一些罕见变体，如"ochlocracy"（暴民政治）、"gynaecocracy"（女性统治）和"thalassocracy"（制海权）。
Two other “-cracy” words seem appropriate in this election year. One is theatrocracy, or rule by theatre-goers. This sounds as if it might refer to dominance by the media elites writing for the culture sections of newspapers. But the word has its origins in Plato, who described people skilled in fanning the emotions of the crowd at a theatre into a powerful political force. This might, in hindsight, have been a good word of the year for 2016, when a former reality-TV star with a talent for working the crowd was first elected president.
在这个选举年，两个"-cracy"词格外应景。其一是"theatrocracy"，即剧场政体。乍听似乎指报社文化版面精英的主导地位，但词源实际可追溯至柏拉图，描述那些能将剧场人群情绪煽动成强大政治力量的人。回望2016年，一位擅长煽动群众情绪的前真人秀明星首次当选总统，此词或许更为贴切。
After Mr Trump was re-elected on November 5th, the world watched anxiously as he began filling top jobs. Some picks, such as the sensible Susie Wiles for chief of staff and Marco Rubio, a long-serving senator, for secretary of state, were qualified and competent. But a flurry of nominations in the week ending November 15th led to a spike in people looking up another “-cracy” word on Google.
特朗普于11月5日再度当选后，世界焦虑地观察他开始任命高层职位。一些任命，如为幕僚长任命经验丰富的苏西·怀尔斯（Susie Wiles），为国务卿任命资深参议员马可·卢比奥，还算称职。然而，截至11月15日的一系列提名，令谷歌上查询另一个"-cracy"词的人数骤然攀升。
Matt Gaetz, accused of sex and drug crimes and the subject of a congressional ethics investigation, was nominated to be the country’s highest law-enforcement officer. Robert F. Kennedy junior, a man with crackpot views on vaccines, was to be secretary of health. Tulsi Gabbard, a conspiracy theorist with nice things to say about the despots of Syria and Russia, was to run America’s intelligence services. And Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host sporting tattoos associated with the far right (and who had been accused of sexual assault) was tapped as defence secretary.
马特·盖茨（Matt Gaetz）——遭性犯罪和毒品指控、正接受国会道德调查的人——被提名为最高执法官。小罗伯特·弗朗西斯·肯尼迪（Robert F. Kennedy Jr.）——持有疫苗阴谋论的人——将出任卫生部长。图尔西·加巴德（Tulsi Gabbard）——对叙利亚和俄罗斯专/制政权持正面态度的阴谋论者——将管理美国情报部门。皮特·海格塞斯（Pete Hegseth）——一位福克斯新闻主持，身上有极右翼纹身（且曾遭性侵指控）——将出任国防部长。
So the word everyone was Googling was kakistocracy: the rule of the worst. The first root, kakos, is found in few others in English. “Kakistocracy” is not found in ancient sources; it seems to have been coined in English as an intentional antonym to aristocracy, originally “rule by the best”. Having spiked on Google Trends the day after Mr Trump’s election, kakistocracy jumped a second time in the wake of these nominations. Searches surged a third time on November 21st, when Mr Gaetz announced that he would withdraw from consideration for attorney-general, suggesting that he was seen as the worst of the worst. The term was particularly popular in Democratic strongholds such as Oregon, Massachusetts and Minnesota.
因此，所有人在谷歌搜索的词是"kakistocracy （/ˌkæk.ɪˈstɒk.rə.si/）恶人政治"：由最糟者统治。这个词根"kakos"在英语中罕见。"Kakistocracy"并非古代出处，似乎是刻意与"aristocracy"（由最优者统治）相对创造的。在特朗普当选后的第二天，谷歌趋势中首次出现高峰；随后因这些任命再度攀升；当马特·盖茨于11月21日不再考虑接受关于担任美下届司法部长的提名时，搜索量第三次激增，仿佛印证他被视为"最糟中的最糟"。这一术语在俄勒冈、马萨诸塞和明尼苏达等民主党大本营颇受欢迎。
Much remains to be seen about Mr Trump’s new kratia. Last time round he seemed to fire more officials than most presidents have trips on Air Force One. (Many then became outspoken critics.) This time, though, he has chosen his people for their loyalty above all. And many of his supporters are delighted, seeing in his appointments a wrecking crew to pull down a deep state they loathe.
特朗普新的"kratia"尚待观察。上一届他似乎罢黜官员的频率超过大多数总统乘坐空军一号的次数。这一次，他选拔班底首推效忠。许多支持者为此欢欣鼓舞，视这些任命为拆解他们深恶痛绝的"深层政府"的破坏性力量。
Kakistocracy has the crisp, hard sounds of glass breaking. Whether that is a good or bad thing depends on whether you think the glass had it coming. But kakistocracy’s snappy encapsulation of the fears of half of America and much of the world makes it our word of the year.
"Kakistocracy"一词发音清脆，如玻璃破碎之声。至于这是好是坏，取决于你是否认为这玻璃自作自受。不过，这个词精准捕捉了美国半数民众和全球的忧虑，故而成为我们的年度词汇。
END
来源：The Economist - Dec. 7th-13th, 2024
原文标题：The Economist’s word of the year for 2024
AI翻译，仅供参考
往期阅读
2024年诺贝尔文学奖得主韩国女作家韩江代表作英译本 | 英文电子书
「如何理解剑桥词典2024年度词汇manifest? | 外刊阅读
介绍一本金句频出、提升认知的英语原版书
崔娃新书 Into the Uncut Grass | 英文畅销书