9 words you need to know to win the Game of Thrones
9个词助你赢得这场“权利的游戏”
By Adam Pulford
With the return of George R. R. Martin’s epic series to TV screens it’s time to brush up on your knowledge of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.
随着乔治·R.R.马丁的史诗系列重返荧幕，是时候温习一下你对维斯特洛大陆七国的了解了。
Whether you have nefarious designs on the Iron Throne itself, or you’re just too honourable for your own good – this vocabulary could be the difference between life and death. Be you Lannister-like in your cunning or Stark in your outlook on life, below you’ll find all you need to know to win the Game of Thrones…
不管你是对铁王座有觊觎之心，还是始终坚持刚正不阿——下面这些词都可能是生死攸关的。无论你是像兰尼斯特家族那般狡猾，还是具有史塔克家族的人生观，你都会在下面的名单中发现赢得“权力的游戏”所需要知道的一切……
Dragons
龙
How do you feel about dragons? You’ll soon find out because they’re on their way and having a couple up your sleeve, so to speak, could do your chances of survival a world of good.
你对龙怎么看？大家很快就会发现，如果有龙做靠山，而且还有两头龙可以使唤，可以说，你就有机会活下来，看到更美好的世界。
This mythical monster is first cited in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) in 1225 but the word has many applications, including the more recent phrase ‘to tickle the dragon’. This evocative idiom, first noted in the 1960s, means to undertake a hazardous activity and plays on the dangerous nature of dragons in the same way the phrase ‘to wake the dragon’ does, something which Viserys frequently threatens: “You don’t want to wake the dragon, do you?”. I think it’s fair to say that tickling a dragon in Westeros would likely be the last thing you do.
《牛津英语词典》（The Oxford English Dictionary，简称OED）中首次引用这种神话怪物是在1225年，但这个词有很多用法，包括最近的短语“to tickle the dragon”（给龙挠痒痒）。这一令人回味的习语在20世纪60年代首次提到，意思是要进行危险的活动，和短语“to wake the dragon”（把龙叫醒）一样强调龙的危险性。韦赛里斯（龙母的哥哥）就经常威胁说：“你可不想把龙叫醒，对吧？”我认为，如果说在维斯特洛大陆给龙挠痒痒可能是你活着能做的最后一件事，这样说一点儿也不夸张。
Honour
荣誉
‘The quality of knowing and doing what is morally right.’ Good luck with that. In this game of treachery you need to be cunning, so leave your honour behind you if you want to succeed.
“所想所为皆须正义”，还是祝你好运吧。在这场背叛的游戏中，你必须狡猾，所以，如果想成功，就把honour（荣誉）抛诸脑后吧。
There is also, however, a less common sense of honour which dates back to the early sixteenth century meaning ‘an obeisance; a bow or a curtsy’. This kind of honour is far more likely to save your skin and help you on the road to power to win the Iron Throne.
然而，还有一种不太常见的honour，可以追溯到16世纪初，意思是“拜服；鞠躬或屈膝礼”。这种honour更有可能助你渡过难关，帮你赢得铁王座。
Dothraki
多斯拉基人
Having a horde of these horse lords at your command would certainly help you rise to power if you can get them to cross the Narrow Sea. Dothraki is also the name of their language, never expressly written in Martin’s books but created for the TV series. Dothraki has now grown to a vocabulary of over 3,000 words.
如果能让这些骑兵穿越狭海，那么掌控这样一个部落肯定会成为你获取权力的一大助力。Dothraki也是他们所用语言的名字，从未明确写在马丁的书中，但为电视剧集真的创造了出来。多斯拉基语现在已经发展到超过3000字的词汇量。
Snow, Flowers, Storm…
斯诺、佛花、风暴等
What’s in a name? A fair amount of information, it would seem. In Westeros the stigma of illegitimacy is displayed prominently through a child’s surname – as a bastard is not deemed worthy of a family name such as Stark, Tully, Baratheon, or Tyrell. The choice of name reflects where the illegitimate child comes from. This means you can immediately know the status and provenance of those you meet; those from the North would bear the name Snow, whereas those from the Riverlands would have the name Rivers, and those from the Southern areas of the Stormlands and the Reach would be Storm and Flowers respectively.
名字里有什么？似乎有很多信息。在维斯特洛大陆，一个私生子的姓氏就是他最大的耻辱，因为作为一个野种是不配使用像史塔克（Stark）、徒利（Tully）、拜拉席恩（Baratheon）或提利尔（Tyrell）这样的姓氏的，于是名字的选择反映了私生子的出身。这意味着你可以马上知道碰面之人的身份和来历。来自北境的姓斯诺，来自河间地的姓河文，而来自南境的风暴地和河湾地的人分别姓风暴和佛花。
If you bear one of these names you will have an uphill struggle to power in the world of the court, but blood will out and if your father is high born you could still topple the kingdom.
一旦姓名是上面提到的某个姓，权力之争将会无比艰难，但是，如果足够心狠手辣而且父亲出身高贵，那仍可能颠覆王国。
Wildling
野人
If you want to command the North you’ll have to be prepared for consistent onslaught from this troop. Wildling currently dates back to the early nineteenth century meaning a wild creature, animal, or plant, and the word wilding also shares this meaning. In addition, there is another word wilding (which although spelt the same way has a different etymology) meaning a violent public rampage by a gang of youths. Both of these definitions capture different elements of the Wildlings and further highlights that they play by different rules, so don’t expect any Southron courtesies.
如果想征服北境，就必须准备好接受这支军队持续不断的袭击。Wildling一词可以追溯到19世纪初，意思是野生的动物或植物，而wilding这个词也具有这种意义。此外，还有另一个wilding（拼法相同，词源不同），意思是一群年轻人引发的公开暴力行为。这两个定义都反映了野人的不同特性，并进一步强调了他们行事不会循规蹈矩，所以不要指望他们具有南部人的礼仪了。
Kissed by fire
火吻而生
Among the Wildlings in the North those with red hair are said to be ‘kissed by fire’ and are regarded as lucky. Every little helps – so why not do a quick dye job – because you’re worth it?
据说在北境的野人中，那些红头发的人被认为是“火吻而生”，并被认为是幸运儿。无论多少，有用就好——那为什么不赶紧染个头发呢——因为你值得拥有？
Once you have flaming locks you could make good use of any one of the following synonyms: auburn, flame-coloured, Titian, chestnut, carroty, ginger, sandy, foxy, rufus, redhead, or sorrel-top.
一旦有了火焰红发，就可以使用以下任何一种同义词：auburn、flame-coloured、Titian, chestnut、carroty、ginger、sandy、foxy、rufus、redhead或sorrel-top.
Turncloak
变节者
These are everywhere and becoming one yourself may not win you respect but it could win you the crown. Turncloak is Martin’s archaic-sounding amendment of turncoatmeaning a treacherous person who deserts one cause in order to join an opposing one. If your side is losing it’s worth considering!
变节者无处不在，成为一个变节者可能不会让你赢得尊重，但可以让你赢得王冠。马丁把turncoat一词做了古语式的修饰，改为turncloak，意思是一个背信弃义的人，为加入对手一方而放弃原本支持的事业。如果你这边就快输了，可以考虑一下哦！
Craven
胆小鬼、懦夫
Being a craven will make you no friends but might just save your life. When battling for the Iron Throne it’s better to choose your moment to be brave!
作一个胆小鬼会让你失去朋友，但可能救你一命。当争夺铁王座时，最好看准时机再往上冲！
Craven meaning cowardly currently dates from the late 16th century as both adjective and noun, and is a development of Middle English cravant meaning ‘vanquished, defeated’.
craven的意思是懦弱（的），可以追溯到16世纪末，既是形容词又是名词，还是中古英语cravant一词的延展，意思是“被征服的、被击败的”。
Direwolf
冰原狼
As the name suggests this is no cuddly pet. Having one at your side in battle could lead to a winning streak.
顾名思义，它不是什么可爱的小宠物。身边有只冰原狼，必能给出致命一击。
This giant wolf has been extinct for around 10,000 years in our world and aptly the word dire derives from the Latin dīrus meaning fearful, awful, portentous, or ill-boding – very fitting for the sigil of the Stark house with their foreboding motto ‘Winter is coming’.
这种巨狼大约1万年前就在我们的世界灭绝了，应该说，dire这个词来源于拉丁语dīrus，意思是可怕的、可畏的、骇人的或不吉利的——非常适合作为史塔克家族的徽章，因为他们的不祥预言正是“寒冬将至”。
Remember these key words and you might just have what it takes to win the Game of Thrones. But in this land of treachery and false friends, victory is a dangerous thing so watch your back!
记住这些关键词，你就可能赢得“权力的游戏”。但在这片充满了背叛和伪友的土地上，胜利是件危险的事情，所以一定要留神！
（本文整理自微信公众号：牛津辞典）
