10個常見標誌背後的故事(中)
ematical Signs
7.數學符號The symbols for addition and subtraction first emerged in the 15th century. The "+" sign seems to have been one of many ways that the Latin word et, meaning "and," was abbreviated.
"+"和"—"出現於15世紀。有一種說法認爲"+"是拉丁文"et"的簡寫，意爲"和，加"。The ancient Greeks had used the letter "psi" for addition (or sometimes simply juxtaposition), while the Hindus used the word yu, and the ancient Egyptians used a pair of legs walking forward to denote addition or walking away to denote subtraction.
古希臘用"psi"表示"加"（有時表並列），印度教徒用"yu"表示加，而古埃及人用雙腿前行表示加，走開表示減。
Early 15th-century Europeans were using the letters "p" and "m" for "plus" and "minus" (then called "piu" and "memo"), but the first use of "+" to mean et was probably by the astronomer Nicole d'Oresme in the 14th century.
15世紀早期，歐洲人使用"plus"（加）和"minus"（減）的首字母"p"和"m"表示加減，稱爲"piu"和"memo"。不過，首先用"+"表示"加"的應該是14世紀的天文學家尼科爾·德·奧雷斯姆。The "–" sign may have originated from merchants' notation when cargo was unloaded from ships, or it may have simply have been a shorthand way of denoting the letter "m," which often had a line over it when indicating subtraction.
"—"最初可能是被商人用作卸貨下船的標誌，也可能是字母"m"的縮寫，因爲"m"表示"減"時，上方經常會畫一條橫線。
Interestingly, the modern division sign was originally used to denote subtraction by northern European mathematicians and may have originated from notation used on manuscripts to mark passages suspected of being corrupt or incorrect.
有趣的是，現在使用的除號早期被北歐數學家用來表示"減"，可能是源於手稿中標記錯誤的符號。It wasn't until the late 16th century that these symbols were commonly used in mathematics.
直到16世紀晚期，這些符號才普遍應用於數學領域。Johann Widman and Vander Hoecke, two 15th-century mathematicians, used them.
15世紀時，數學家約翰·韋德曼和範德·赫克最先使用"+""—"符號。They were apparently introduced into English notation by Robert Recorde in 1557, who said, "There be other 2 signes in often use of which the first is made thus + and betokeneth more: the other is thus made — and betokeneth lesse."
1557年，羅伯特·雷克德將符號傳入英國，他說"有兩個常用符號，第一個是‘+'，表示增多，第二個是‘—'，表示減少。"risk And Dagger
6.星號和劍標Now exceedingly more popular due to its usage on the Internet, the asterisk was once much more rarely seen and was associated with a subordinate symbol known as the dagger.
如今星號在網絡中及其常見，但以前星號並不常見，且常和劍標一起出現。Both were traditionally used in footnotes, indicated dates of birth and death in European typography, and also indicated long and short pauses in Gregorian chant notation.
這兩個符號在歐洲印刷體中作爲腳註，表示出生和死亡日期，在格里高列聖詠樂譜中表示停頓的長短。Some claim that the ultimate origins of the asterisk can be traced back 5,000 years to ancient Sumeria, where the cuneiform symbol dingir or an represented "heaven" or "divinity," Others, however, consider this connection dubious at best.
一些人稱，星號的使用起源於5000年前的古蘇美爾，那裏的楔形文字"dingir"和"an"表示"天堂"或"神"。但很多人質疑這種說法。More reliable history ties the asterisk and dagger to the Library of Alexandria, which was attached to a larger center of learning called the Mouseion.
較爲可信的說法是，星號和劍標與亞歷山大圖書館有關，而亞歷山大圖書館又附屬於亞歷山大學宮。At the time, an Athenian official named Peisistratus had offered to pay by the line for Homeric verse, much of which had been lost. Much of what was submitted was fraudulent Homer invented by hucksters.
當時，雅典僭主庇西特拉圖下令編訂《荷馬史詩》，因其大部分內容遺失，而當時呈交的大部分內容都是小商販虛構出來的荷馬。
A grammarian at the Mouseion named Zenodotus of Ephesus was in charge of reviewing the body of work and removing fake verses, which he annotated with a single line in the margin.
來自以弗所的文法學家澤諾多託斯負責審編主要內容，將僞造篇章剔除，並在空白處劃線標記。Zenodotus's line was named "obelus," Greek for "roasting spit," which would later evolve into the dagger symbol.
澤諾多託斯所畫的線稱爲"短劍號"，後演變爲劍標符號。The asterisk came later, invented by another Alexandrian scholar, Aristarchus of Samothrace, who was charged with editing Zenodotus's work.
之後，來自薩莫色雷斯島的阿利斯塔克發明了星號標誌，他是亞歷山大博物館的另一位學者，負責修訂澤諾多託斯審編的著作。He invented several new symbols, such as the simple angled diple to mark noteworthy passages and the spotted diple, which marked passages over which he disagreed with Zenodotus.
他發明了幾個新的符號，比如">"，用來標註值得一讀的段落，以及點，表示與澤諾多託斯意見不同之處。He paired the obelus with a star-like glyph he called asterikos, or "little star," which denoted passages which had been mistakenly duplicated or misplaced.
他將劍標與星形符號（稱爲"星號"或"小星星"）結合使用，表示抄錯或錯位的段落。These symbols would also be adopted by the early Christians, particularly Origen, who used variations on the symbols when trying to reconcile the original Hebrew Old Testament, or Pentateuch, with the first Greek translation.
早期基督徒沿用了這些符號。奧利金將這些符號加以修改，用於覈對希伯來語舊約聖經或摩西五經與希臘譯本。Various permutations of these symbols would be passed down throughout Christian scholarship, though their precise shape and meaning shifted and evolved over time.
這些符號的排列形式經基督教學者流傳後世，具體的形狀和含義也隨時間不斷變化。Signs
5.安全出口標誌There are two major competing standards for exit signs in use around the world. The United States uses the word "EXIT" in bold, red type, which is considered appropriate for its high visibility and bombastic nature, using a color usually associated with danger.
世界上主要有兩種安全出口標誌，美國用粗體的紅色"EXIT"表示，這種標誌字體大，醒目，且一般紅色表示危險。However, much of the rest of the world uses a pictogram of a running man leaving through a door in green, which is readily understandable to people of any language and background and uses a color traditionally associated with safety.
然而，其他國家都使用象形符號，標誌上是一個跑着通過綠門的人，綠色通常讓人聯想到安全，這對所有國家的人來說都很容易理解。The US sign has its origins in the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, in which 146 workers were killed in a Manhattan garment factory.
美國的安全出口標誌，源於1911年曼哈頓一家服裝工廠的火災——三角女衣廠火災，這場火災奪走了146名工人的生命。
This encouraged the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) to begin to promote the concept of "life safety," meaning the importance of getting people out of burning buildings.
這一事件促使美國消防協會推廣宣傳失火大樓逃生的重要性，即"生命安全"。They developed the criteria for emergency exit signage during the 1930s and 1940s, experimenting with different sizes and stroke widths for lettering until establishing a standard.
他們在20世紀30、40年代推出緊急出口的標誌，當時的字體大小和寬度多有不同，最後形成了統一標準。According to Robert Solomon of the NFPA's Building Fire Protection and Life Safety departments, an English word was chosen over a symbol because, "The U.S. was more parochial then."
據美國消防協會建築防火和生命安全部門的羅伯特·所羅門所說，美國之所以選擇英文而不選圖形，是因爲"那時的美國，教區觀念還比較重"。Over the next few decades, however, graphical symbols came into vogue. A Japanese fire safety association ran a competition for a new national emergency exit sign, receiving 3,300 entries. It was won by designer Yukio Ota with his running man image, which was then tweaked and evaluated.
然而，接下來的幾十年，圖像開始流行。日本的一家消防安全協會舉辦了一場"徵集國家新安全出口標識"的競賽，收到了3300件作品，最終，太田幸夫設計的圖像——"一個跑着的人"——獲勝。後來，圖像做了輕微調整，得到認可。The angle of the leg was even changed because it looked like he was sprinting, and they wanted to encourage people to run slowly in an emergency situation.
他們想讓身處緊急狀況的人慢下來，便對圖像上腿的角度也做了調整，因爲之前兩腿的角度像正在衝刺。ation Symbol
4.小心輻射標誌The now universally recognized radiation symbol was first invented in 1946 by a team working at University of California at Berkeley's radiation laboratory.
現在世界通行的輻射標誌，是1946年由奈爾·賈登帶領的團隊在加州大學伯克利輻射實驗室創造的，The team was led by Nels Garden, who was quoted as saying, "A number of people in the group took an interest in suggesting different motifs, and the one arousing the most interest was a design which was supposed to represent activity radiating from an atom."
他曾說"小組成員有很多人對創造不同圖案感興趣，最能激起隊友興趣的圖案是展現原子輻射的。"However, the actual reasons the symbol was chosen are unknown.
然而，圖案入選的真正原因不明。
The theory went that if it represented an atom, then the central circle represented a radiation source, and the three blades represented alpha, beta, and gamma radiation, respectively.
關於輻射圖案的來源，有人認爲，如果圖案代表原子，那中心的圓代表輻射源，三個葉片分別代表α，β和γ射線。It may also have been inspired by a symbol used at the naval dry dock near Berkeley which warned against spinning propellers, or it may have been adapted from a pre-1947 radiation symbol consisting of a red dot with red lightning bolts radiating outward, similar to electrical hazard symbols.
還有人認爲，伯克利附近的海軍幹船塢使用某種圖形來警告飛機，輻射圖樣也許就是受了這種圖形的啓發。而鑑於1947年前的輻射標誌爲一個紅點和向外輻射的閃電螺栓，類似"電氣危害"的標誌，現在的輻射標誌也可能與此有關。Another fringe possibility is that the symbol may have been influenced by the Japanese battle flag, which would have been familiar on the West Coast.
還有一種可能，圖樣受了日本戰旗影響，畢竟美國西海岸對日本戰旗不可謂不熟悉。
