英文也有「被消失」

針對上一則關於「勘譯功德院」的發文，有位網友私訊表達支持，謝謝。但他說，「disappear 這個只能主動，不能用被動，因此要將was disappeared 改為disappeared才正確。即便是為了符合中文的『被消失』，似乎也不該以英文文法的正確性為代價。」

我的回覆：

抱歉我選擇公開回覆並且未具名引述你的話，因為這是一個切磋學習的機會。針對disappear當成及物動詞，請有興趣的朋友上網查詢這個「近期」的用法，英文中文皆然，我甚至認為，中文的新用法「被消失」很可能是仿自、翻譯自英文的to disappear someone; someone was disappeared。語言不斷演進，disappear做及物動詞，已有一百多年了歷史，好一點的、新一點的大字典已收。台灣的「規範派」(prescriptivist)制式英語學習環境或許還來不及教到這個字義。

例如，知名的American Heritage Dictionary第四版，未列出及物用法。幾年前推出的第五版，收了：

https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=disappear

這顯示，好字典必須與時俱進才不被淘汰。另一部著名的美式英語字典，Merriam-Webster，收得更早。

又如，下文指出，disappear的新義，語帶委婉或戲謔的用法，早在1961就有知名英文小說家使用了。

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/111998/disappear-as-a-transitive-verb

// OED shows that disappear has been used as a transitive verb for a surprisingly long time:

3. trans. To cause to disappear.
1897 Chem. News 19 Mar. 143 : We progressively disappear the faces of the dodecahedron.

However its euphemistic use is a bit more recent, and specifically relates to the rule of the Argentine military junta in the late 1970s.

b. trans. euphem. To abduct or arrest (a person), esp. for political reasons, and subsequently to kill or detain as a prisoner, without making his or her fate known.Freq. with reference to Latin America. //

The modern, euphemistic, transitive use can be found many times before the OED's 1979 citation, in Joseph Heller's 1961 novel Catch-22:

She had urgent news about Dunbar.
'They're going to disappear him,' she said.
Yossarian squinted at her uncomprehendingly. 'They're what?' he asked in surprise, and laughed uneasily. 'What does that mean?'
'I don't know. I heard them talking behind a door.'
'Who?'
'I don't know. I couldn't see them. I just heard them say they were going to disappear Dunbar.'
'Why are they going to disappear him?'
'I don't know.'
'It doesn't make sense. It isn't even good grammar. What the hell does it mean when they disappear somebody?'
'I don't know.'
Jesus, you're a great help!'
'Why are you picking on me?' Nurse Duckett protested with hurt feelings, and began sniffing back tears. 'I'm only trying to help. It isn't my fault they're going to disappear him, is it? I shouldn't even be telling you.' //

StackExchange上的這個English Language & Usage論壇，深入紮實而優質，常有說母語且熱衷語言學的人士參與，是個發問、學習道地英語的大寶庫，大力推薦。也有一個較初階，專為英語學習者所設的版本，同樣高品質：
https://ell.stackexchange.com/

#EnglishGrammar