fourth estate 的词源

到1824年，尤其是从1831年起，“the press”在英国英语中开始流行。至于其他三个含义，可以参考 estate。早期，这个词被用来指代一些并未广泛接受的概念，比如“暴民”（1752年）和“律师”（1825年）。将其延伸至新闻界，可能是受前者影响的结果。

Hence, through the light of letters and the liberty of the press, public opinion has risen to the rank of a fourth estate in our constitution; in times of quiet and order, silent and still, but in the collisions of the different branches of our government, deciding as an umpire with unbounded authority. ["Memoir of James Currie, M.D.," 1831]

因此，通过文字的传播和新闻自由，public opinion（舆论）在我们的宪法中上升为第四权力；在平静有序的时期，它沉默而安静，但在政府各部门的冲突中，它充当了裁判，以无上的权威做出决定。[摘自《詹姆斯·库里的回忆录》，1831年]

[Newspapers] began to assume some degree of political importance, during the civil wars of the seventeenth century, in England; but it is not until within the last fifty years that they have become, — as they are now justly styled, — a Fourth Estate, exercising a more powerful influence on the public affairs of the countries in which they are permitted to circulate freely, than the other three put together. [Alexander H. Everett, "Address to the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Bowdoin College," 1834]

在17世纪的英格兰内战期间，报纸开始在政治上发挥一定的重要性；但直到过去五十年，它们才真正成为——正如现在所称——Fourth Estate（第四权力），在那些允许其自由传播的国家中，对公共事务的影响力超过了其他三者的总和。[亚历山大·H·埃弗雷特，《致鲍登学院菲贝塔卡帕学会的演讲》，1834年]