boss：來自紐約的荷蘭文單字
Almost everyone has a boss, or has had one at some point. But "boss" is a surprisingly young word in English, and it came from a language that most people don't expect: Dutch.
In the 1600s, the city we now call New York was a Dutch colony called New Amsterdam. Even after the English took control in 1664, many Dutch families stayed, and their language continued to be spoken in the area for a long time.
The Dutch word baas meant "master" – the person in charge of a household, a workshop or a ship. English speakers in New York heard it all the time, and by the early 1800s, Americans had borrowed it as "boss".
Why did they need a new word? English already had "master". But in the young United States, "master" didn't sound right to many people. It was the word used by servants and enslaved people, and many free workers didn't like the idea of calling their employer their "master". "Boss" was more neutral. It simply meant the person who gave you your instructions and paid your wages.
The word spread quickly. By the late 1800s, "boss" was also being used for powerful politicians who controlled cities behind the scenes. Today it's used everywhere – and in very casual English, it has even become an adjective. If someone says your new shoes look "boss", they mean they look great.
Dutch also gave English several other everyday words, including "cookie", "yacht" and "landscape". Not bad for a small country on the North Sea.
幾乎每個人都有老闆，或在某個時候有過老闆。可是「boss」在英文裡是個出奇年輕的字，而且它來自一種大多數人想不到的語言：荷蘭文。
17 世紀，今天的紐約還是荷蘭的殖民地，叫做新阿姆斯特丹。1664 年英國人接管了這裡，但許多荷蘭家庭留了下來，荷蘭話在這一帶又流傳了很長一段時間。
荷蘭文單字 baas 的意思是「主人」，也就是一個家、一間工坊或一艘船上管事的人。紐約說英文的人每天都聽得到這個字，到了 19 世紀初，美國人把它借了過來，變成了「boss」。
他們為什麼需要一個新字呢？英文裡明明已經有「master」（主人）了。可是在剛建國的美國，很多人覺得「master」聽起來不對勁。那是僕人和被奴役的人才用的稱呼，許多自由的勞工不喜歡把雇主叫做自己的「主人」。「boss」就中性多了，它只是指那個交代你工作、發你薪水的人。
這個字傳播得很快。到了 19 世紀末，「boss」還被用來指那些在幕後操控城市的政治大老。今天，這個字無所不在——在非常口語的英文裡，它甚至變成了形容詞。如果有人說你的新鞋看起來很「boss」，意思就是很棒。
荷蘭文還給了英文好幾個日常用字，例如「cookie」（餅乾）、「yacht」（遊艇）和「landscape」（風景）。對北海邊的一個小國來說，這成績已經很不錯了。