Mysteries of vernacular: Venom.
通用俗语的谜团：Venom。
The poisonous fluid secreted by animals, like snakes and scorpions, typically transmitted by bite or sting.
Venom是指一种有毒的液体，由蛇蝎等动物分泌出来，通常经由口咬或叮刺的方式输送。
As vile as the word is now, the history of venom begins with the pleasant Indo-European root wen, which meant to desire or strive for.
虽然现在这个单词令人很厌恶，但它的历史可追溯至有着美好含义的印欧语词根“wen”，是指渴望或力争的意思。
Perhaps, not surprisingly, wen also generated a number of amiable modern words, like win or wish.
也许并不令人惊讶，“wen”也衍生出不少讨人喜爱的现代词汇，比如胜利（win）或愿望（wish）。
Wenes, a form of the original root, was tailored to the mythology of the time,
“Wenes”是原本词根的一个形态，过去是专为了当时的神话而创造的，
and applied to the Roman goddess of love, Venus, known to the Greeks as Aphrodite and to the Egyptians as Hathor.
并用于罗马爱神维纳斯身上，希腊人称她为阿弗洛狄忒，埃及人则称她为哈索尔。

From this milieu of amore, the word wenesom emerged, meaning love potion.
在这种充满爱的氛围下，“Wenesom”这个词就诞生了，意指“爱的毒药”。
Over time, wenesom became venenum,
经过一段时间以后，“Wenesom”变成了“Venenum”
a word that specifically described potions or medicines that evoked intense physical reactions from the patient.
这个词专门用来形容会在病人身上引起剧烈物理反应的药剂或药物。
The definition of venenum eventually narrowed to refer solely to poisonous concoctions,
后来，“Venenum”的定义渐渐缩小到仅仅指有毒的药汁，
a shift that puts us within striking distance of the word under investigation.
这一字义的转变，使得我们与正在探究的那个词的距离接近了。
A bit of shortening and a slight distinction in source brings us to venom,
稍微缩短了一些拼写，并在来源上有些微小的差异，我们就得到了venom这个词，
a deadly fluid that comes from a snake rather than a pharmacist.
而这种致命的液体是来自蛇类，而非药剂师。