racer 的詞源

"賽跑者或賽跑物"，1640年代指人，1660年代指馬，1793年指車輛，1809年美國英語中指一種蛇； 代理人名詞來自 race（v.）。

WHEN a lad, I lived with my father in the then province of New Jersey, where the black snake, with a white throat, commonly called the racer, as well as the rattle snake, and other serpents, are frequently met with ; and I never remember to have heard any one dispute the power of charming belonging to several species of serpents, but more common to the black snake, called the racer, which I have twice seen in the operation. ["Extract from a letter from Samuel Beach, dated Whiting, July 24, 1795," in appendix to Samuel Williams, "The Natural and Civil History of Vermont," 2nd ed., 1809]

小時候，我和父親住在當時的新澤西省，那裏經常可以看到黑蛇，有白喉嚨，通常被稱爲賽跑者，以及響尾蛇和其他蛇類； 我從未聽說過有人質疑幾種蛇類擁有魅惑力的能力，但更常見於黑蛇，稱爲賽跑者，我曾兩次見到它在操作中。["Samuel Beach 的一封信摘自1795年7月24日的 Whiting，附在 Samuel Williams 的《佛蒙特州的自然和文明史》第二版中，1809年]