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编辑先生: 贵刊一九八九年第三期发表了我写的一篇短文:《Sumer是“春天”还是“夏天”?》。最近,英国民俗学家M·P·苔顿姆先生向我提供了一份资料,使蒙在Sumer词义上的困惑得到彻底澄清。今谨借贵刊一角,对该文加以补正。 “Sumer is i-cumen in—”这首民歌最早见诸于文字记载是在1250年,而用“spring”一词来表示一年中第一个季节则始于1547年。在此之前,在英国人的心目中还不存在“春天(spring)”和“秋天(autumn)”的概念。他们只简单地将一年划分为两季,即“夏天(sumer)
Editor: In your third issue, 1989, I published an essay I wrote: ”Is Sumer Spring or Summer?“ Recently, Mr. P. Dayton, a British folklorist, provided me with a source of information that clarifies the perplexity of Sumer’s semantic meaning. Now I would like to borrow a corner of your publication to amend the text. The song ”Sumer is i-cumen in-“ was first recorded in the language of 1250 and the word ”spring“ was used to indicate that the first season of the year began in 1547. Prior to this, the concept of ”spring“ and ”autumn“ did not exist in English. They simply divide the year into two seasons, namely ”summer (sumer)