impersonator 的词源

1833年，impersonate的衍生词，最初指“一个人化身另一个人的角色”；到1840年，意指“赋予某物个性的人”；1842年，又专指“舞台上的戏剧演员”。这个词源于拉丁语后缀，表示“执行某种行为的人”。到了1921年，它还被用来形容“为娱乐模仿他人言行举止的人”，可能源自早期戏剧中使用的female impersonator（女扮男装者，1876年）和male impersonator（男扮女装者，1874年），这两者曾是流行的舞台表演。后者的首位代表可能是艾拉·韦斯纳小姐，她在1870年左右颇受欢迎。在英国，黑脸表演者被称为negro impersonators（黑人模仿者，1906年）。作为女性形式的impersonatrix（女扮男装者），看似源自拉丁语，首次出现于1847年；而impersonatress（女模仿者）则是1881年从法语借用的。

Her [Wesner's] impersonation were a genuine surprise and her success was so pronounced that in a short period a host of imitators made their appearance. Her most successful rivals were Bessie Bonehill, Millie Hilton and Vesta Tilley, all of London. [M.B Leavitt, "Fifty Years in Theatrical Management," New York, 1912]

她（韦斯纳）的表演令人惊讶，她的成功如此显著，以至于不久后，许多模仿者纷纷出现。她最成功的对手是贝西·博恩希尔、米莉·希尔顿和维斯塔·蒂利，都是伦敦人。[M.B. 利维特，《五十年戏剧管理》，纽约，1912年]

There is no member of a minstrel company who gets a better salary than a good female impersonator, the line being considered a very delicate one, requiring a high style of art in its way to judge where fun stops and bad taste begins, with decision enough on the part of the performer to stop at the stopping place. ["The Ancestry of Brudder Bones," Harper's New Monthly Magazine, April 1879]

在一个民谣表演团中，没有哪个演员的薪水能比优秀的女扮男装者更高，因为这一行被认为非常微妙，需要极高的艺术水准来判断何时是幽默，何时是低俗，而表演者也必须有足够的判断力，在适当的时候收住手。[《布拉德·博恩斯的家族史》，《哈珀新月刊》，1879年4月]

The most fascinating performer I knew in those days was a dame named Metcalfe who was a female female impersonator. To maintain the illusion and keep her job, she had to be a male impersonator when she wasn't on. Onstage she wore a wig, which she would remove at the finish, revealing her mannish haircut. "Fooled you!" she would boom at the audience in her husky baritone. Then she would stride off to her dressing room and change back into men's clothes. She fooled every audience she played to, and most of the managers she worked for, but her secret was hard to keep from the rest of the company. [Harpo Marx, "Harpo Speaks"]

在我所认识的表演者中，最迷人的是一位名叫梅特卡夫的女士，她是一位female女扮男装者。为了维持这个幻象并保住工作，她在不表演时必须扮演男扮女装者。上台时，她戴着假发，表演结束后会摘下假发，露出她那男性化的短发。“愚弄你们了！”她会用沙哑的男中音对观众大声说道。然后，她会大步走向化妆间，换回男装。她总是能愚弄每一个观众，甚至大多数经理，但她的秘密很难对其他演员保密。[哈波·马克思，《哈波自述》]