dumdum 的词源

这种金属外壳子弹在撞击时会膨胀，首次出现于1897年，得名于位于孟加拉的Dum-Dum军火库。英国士兵为了抵御部落武士的疯狂冲锋而制造了这种子弹。1899年，国际公约禁止使用。这一地名的字面意思是“山丘、土 mound、炮台”，与波斯语的damdama同源。

It was to stop these fanatics [ Ghazi] — and that firstclass fighting man Fuzzy-Wuzzy, of the Soudan and of Somaliland—that the thing known as the Dum-Dum bullet was invented. No ordinary bullet, unless it hits them in a vital part or breaks a leg, will be sufficient to put the brake on these magnificently brave people. ["For Foreign Service: Hints on Soldiering in the Shiny East," London, 1915]

正是为了对付这些狂热分子 [Ghazi] ——以及那些来自苏丹和索马里的优秀战士 Fuzzy-Wuzzy，才发明了所谓的 Dum-Dum 子弹。普通子弹如果不击中他们的要害，或者不打断他们的腿，是无法遏制这些英勇无畏的人们的。[《外事兵役指南：在光辉东方的士兵须知》，伦敦，1915年]

Pile on the brown man's burden

And if ye rouse his hate,

Meet his old fashioned reasons

With Maxims up-to-date;

With shells and dum dum bullets

A hundred times make plain,

The brown man's loss must ever

Imply the white man's gain.

[Henry Labouchère, from "The Brown Man's Burden," 1899]

加重棕色人的负担

如果你激起他的仇恨，

就用现代的马克沁机枪

来回应他古老的理由；

用炮弹和 Dum-Dum 子弹

一百次明确表明，

棕色人的损失必将

意味着白人的获利。

[亨利·拉布谢尔，《棕色人的负担》，1899年]