tug-of-war 的词源

1670年代，“决定性的较量，真正的斗争”，来自tug（名词）在比喻意义上“极大的努力，力量的激烈较量”（1650年代）。作为实际拔河比赛的名称，1876年有证据。

When Greek meets Greek then comes the tug of war: when one strong champion meets another of equal prowess the fight is a keen one. [Dixon, "Dictionary of Idiomatic English Phrases," 1891]

When Greek meets Greek then comes the tug of war：当一个强大的冠军遇到另一个同样强大的对手时，战斗是激烈的。[Dixon, "Dictionary of Idiomatic English Phrases," 1891]

这个短语似乎是从纳撒尼尔·李（Nathaniel Lee）18世纪关于亚历山大大帝的历史剧中的一句话修改而来：

Clytus. Your father Philip,—I have seen him march,

And fought beneath his dreadful banner, where

The stoutest at the table wou'd ha' trembl'd.

Nay, frown not, sir, you cannot look me dead ;

When Greeks joined Greeks, then was the tug of war,

The labour'd battle sweat, and conqueft bled.

[Nathaniel Lee, "The Rival Queens," 1774] 

There are twenty Greeks in Chicago, hence when they meet there are ten tugs of war. The Secretary of the Navy should buy up those tugs of war without delay, and then we would have a navy. ["Texas Siftings," Feb. 1883]

芝加哥有二十个希腊人，因此当他们相遇时，会有十场拔河比赛。海军部长应该毫不迟疑地购买那些拔河比赛，然后我们就会有一支海军。[“Texas Siftings，”1883年2月]