你知道七个小矮人的英文名是怎么来的吗？

事实上，七个小矮人在格林兄弟1812年最初创作的故事中以及后来在1854年的修订版中，都是没有名字的（anonymous）。直到1912年，整整100年之后，在一出百老汇的剧目中，七个小矮人才有了各自的名字，即：Blick, Flick, Glick, Plick, Snick, Whick, and Quee。

That's right. Unless you are an aficionado of the playwright Winthrop Ames (who wrote the play under the pseudonym Jessie Graham White), then there's a strong chance that you've not come across those names. It wasn't until the Disney film in 1937 that the better known names Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey came into existence, chosen from a longlist of fifty names. (Even after that, you might have encountered Huckpack, Naseweis, Packe, Pick, Puck, Purzelbaum, and Rumpelbold or Axelrod, Bartholomew, Cornelius, Dexter, Eustace, Ferdinand, and George, or many other groups of names.) But let's admit that Disney's septet are the best known now, and take a closer look at their names.

如果你不是Winthrop Ames的剧迷的话，你恐怕是不会知道七个小矮人原来一开始的名字是这样的。1937年，迪士尼影业把《白雪公主》搬上了荧幕，而且给七个小矮人重新取了名字：Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey。在此之后，七个小矮人还有过其他的名字，但是只有迪士尼版本的名字一直为更多的人所知。

Doc（万事通）

The only dwarf whose name is not an adjective, those who haven't watched the film might assume that he is a doctor. That was actually true in an early incarnation of the character (in an initial outline, 'Doc's stethoscope tangles up with beard') but the final version was simply a paternal miner. Docas an abbreviation of doctoris found as far back as the 1850s, but the earliest known sense of doctorreferred not to medicine but to mediaeval philosophy. Not long after Disney's Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, a famous rabbit by the name of Bugs Bunny would start saying 'What's up, doc?', though this is presumably unrelated.

Doc是七个小矮人中唯一一个名字不是形容词的。大家一看到这个名字，恐怕就会联想到doctor，而实际上，doc作为doctor的缩略形式，最早可追溯到19世纪50年代，而那个时候doctor并不是指医生，而是指学者、导师的意思，所以小矮人Doc其实是个学识渊博的导师级人物哦！

Grumpy（爱生气）

Grumpyhas always meant 'surly; ill-tempered', and is first found (according to current research) in Fanny Burney's 1778 novel Evelina. The Historical Thesaurus of the OEDoffers many earlier synonyms including crouse, currish, apirsmart, thrawn-mowit, and (appropriately, perhaps) elvish.

grumpy的本义是“性情乖戾的；脾气暴躁的”，可见这个小矮人不好惹啊！不过，他可是七个小矮人中最勇敢的主儿哦！

Happy（开心果）

While the dwarf is noted for his cheerful disposition, happyoriginally meant 'lucky, fortunate, successful', and could be used of either a person or an event or period; this sense is retained in the term happy accident. Other early senses of happyinclude 'dextrous, skilful, especially in one's choice of appropriate words' and 'pleasantly appropriate to the occasion'.

happy最初的含义是“幸运的；成功的”，也可以表示“恰当的；巧妙的”。由此看来，小矮人Happy不但是个弥勒佛式的乐天派，而且也该是个心灵手巧、好运常伴的主儿！

Sleepy（瞌睡虫）

Somebody sleepyis, as you might expect, 'inclined to sleep; having a difficulty in keeping awake; drowsy, somnolent'. Other synonyms Disney could have chosen include slummy, anapped, slumber, slumberous, and somniculous.

小矮人Sleepy之所以会有这个“雅号”，多半是因为其生性嗜睡吧，就是个永远睡不醒的主儿！

Dopey（迷糊鬼）

Is this dwarf 'stupefied by sleep or a drug' or 'idiotic'? Those are the two definitions of dopey offered by OxfordDictionaries.com, though the link with dope('a drug taken illegally for recreational purposes, especially cannabis') is probably maligning this lovable guy.

dopey本义表示因嗜酒或嗑药导致每天昏昏沉沉的，不过小矮人Dopey虽然是个糊涂虫，但却相当可爱，dopey这个名字把他的可爱形象给毁了！

Bashful（害羞鬼）

You might be more likely to say shyin everyday conversation, but this dwarf has opted for a longer name with an interesting history. Spotting that –ful, you might wonder what this bashis that the poor guy is full of. Well, bashis an obsolete verb meaning 'destroy the confidence of, make or become abashed', while abashedis 'embarrassed, disconcerted, or ashamed' – which is a bit stronger than this dwarf's diffidence.

bashful意思是“害羞的；羞怯的”，相当于shy。但是，相比较而言，bashful更让人想到的是，小矮人Bashful该是个极度缺乏自信和胆怯的主儿。然而，小矮人Bashful只是不自信，还不至于bashful！

Sneezy（喷嚏精）

Sneezy is a dwarf who sneezes a lot – which, as character traits go, isn't the most immersive – but the origin of sneezemay surprise you. Apparentlysneezeis an alternation of the Middle English fnesedue to misreading or misprinting (after the initial fn-had become unfamiliar). The word was later adopted because it sounded appropriate – though fneseis also pretty onomatopoeic.

小矮人Sneezy喷嚏不断，所以有了这个名字。显然，sneezy取义于sneeze，表示“打喷嚏”。sneeze源自中世纪时期的单词fnese，只是后来因为误读或印刷疏误，加上词首fn-逐渐淡化，所以才有了sneeze。

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