suburbia 的词源

“郊区”，1874年，英国英语，最初一般指伦敦；来自 suburb + -ia，可能是模仿 utopia。

THE NIGHT NOISES OF "SUBURBIA."—The night passes calmly until the crescent moon, rising over the housetops, sheds its light on a scene of tranquility tempered only with cats. Unfortunately, Suburbia being rather sentimental, the appearance of the silvery luminary generally causes a severe conflict between rival pianos, divided from each other only by a brick and a half, while multitudinous voices, not always melodious, pay their homage to chaste Diana in hymns culled from "La Fille de Madame Augot." [London Daily News, July 28, 1874]

“郊区”的夜间噪音。——夜晚平静地过去，直到新月升起在房顶上，将光芒洒在只有猫咪陪伴的宁静场景中。不幸的是，郊区相当感伤，银色天体的出现通常会导致 rival pianos 之间的激烈冲突，它们之间仅由一块半砖隔开，而无数的声音，虽不总是悦耳，仍然在从《奥戈特夫人的女儿》中摘录的赞美诗中向贞洁的狄安娜致敬。[伦敦日报，1874年7月28日]

在1890年代的美国背景中得到了证明：

"A Street in Suburbia" would have been such a capital title for one of Mr. Bunner's stories of that district of North New Jersey whose male inhabitants daily take the 8:30 train for New York, or for a study by Mr. Howells of the social life in the environs of Boston, that one feels a pang of regret on realizing that the suburbs of Mr. Pugh's book pertain to London, and are infinitely less attractive places than Brookline and Englewood. [The Saint Paul Daily Globe, Sept. 22, 1895]

“郊区的一条街”本可以是本纳先生关于新泽西北部地区的故事的绝佳标题，那里的男性居民每天都乘坐8:30的火车前往纽约，或者是霍威尔斯先生关于波士顿郊区社会生活的研究，让人感到遗憾的是，普赫先生书中的郊区是伦敦的，并且是比布鲁克莱恩和英尔伍德更不吸引人的地方。[圣保罗每日环球报，1895年9月22日]

这个词在1921年与美国社会学家路易斯·芒福德（1895-1990）联系在一起，他塑造了它的形象。

The great modern city, for the most part, does not create a common bond but a common repulsion. Suburbia—that vast and aimless drift of human beings, spreading in every direction about our cities, large and small—demonstrates the incapacity of our civilization to foster concrete ways and means for living well. [Mumford, "The Wilderness of Suburbia," The New Republic, Sept. 7, 1921]

现代大城市在大多数情况下并不创造共同的联系，而是共同的排斥。郊区——那无目的的人类大流，向四面八方扩散，围绕着我们的大城市，无论大小——展示了我们的文明在促进良好生活的具体方式和手段方面的无能。[芒福德，《郊区的荒野》，《新共和国》，1921年9月7日]