incorporation 的词源

14世纪晚期，incorporacioun，意指“将物质结合的行为或过程；光或水分的吸收”，源自古法语的incorporacion，或直接来自晚期拉丁语incorporationem（主格incorporatio），意为“具象化，体现”，是由动词incorporare（“合并为一体”，参见incorporate (v.)）的过去分词构成的名词。到15世纪初，这个词还被用来指“通过人们的联合形成一个法人团体（如行会）”，即一种人为的集合体。

Incorporation, n. The act of uniting several persons into one fiction called a corporation, in order that they may be no longer responsible for their actions. A, B and C are a corporation. A robs, B steals and C (it is necessary that there be one gentleman in the concern) cheats. It is a plundering, thieving, swindling corporation. But A, B and C, who have jointly determined and severally executed every crime of the corporation, are blameless. [Ambrose Bierce, 1885]

Incorporation, n. 将若干人联合为一个虚构的法人团体，以便他们不再对自己的行为负责的行为。A、B和C构成了一个公司。A抢劫，B偷窃，而C（为了使这个团体看起来更体面，必须有一个绅士）则欺诈。这是一个掠夺、偷窃、诈骗的公司。但A、B和C，作为这个公司的共同犯罪者，反而无罪。[安布罗斯·比尔斯，1885年]