「artifact」是什么意思？在不同的情景下一般有哪些译法？

回答

这个词也困扰过我。不过现在我大概算是理解了。

Artifact 的词源是拉丁语 arte + factum，arte 是「艺术」或者「技能」的意思，factum 则是「做、造」的动名词形式，artifact 的意思其实就是「用技艺制造（出来的东西）」，所以这个词经常可以翻译为「（手）工艺品」。但它的意义其实不限于此——我们日常所说的「（手）工艺品」一般是指英文的 handicraft，也就是「手制品」。一切手制品其实都是用技艺制造出来的，故而可以说一切 handicraft 都是 artifact，但反过来不行。

Artifact 一词强调的物体属性其实是非自然——一块一万年前的燧石不是 artifact，但一只原始人使用的石斧就是了（此时不应将其翻译为「手工艺品」而是「手工制品」，因为「工艺品」在中文里面暗示这个东西带有一定的艺术欣赏价值，但古人使用的工具并不是拿来当摆设的）。登月时看到月球上的陨石坑不是 artifact，但如果看到一块表面光滑的六面体黑色方形石碑，那就得叫 artifact——即便它显然不可能是（已知的）人类所造。哪怕某种东西是看不到摸不着的，但只要它不是自然形成，也可以算是 artifact，比如互联网。这个意义通常很难翻译，中文里面没有完全对等的概念，只能视乎语境称为「人造物」或者「非自然产物」，如果「非自然」的属性并不重要，那也可以简单地叫做「制品」或者「产物」。

对了，有个同源的词，artificial，一般翻译为「人工的」，与「天然的」相对：Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity。

回答

濤吳的解釋已經很好了，補充一段 Bruce Sterling《Shaping Things》裏的文章。他把人造物的歷史分爲 Artifacts、MACHINES、PRODUCTS、GIZMOS、SPIME 幾個階段，它們對應的使用者分別是獵人和農夫、顧客、消費者、終端用戶、和「信息牛仔」（wrangler）。我們目前正處在從 GIZMOS 階段到 SPIME 階段的過渡期。

上述五種東西都可以叫 artifact，但 Sterling 在本書中用的是 artifact 的狹義定義，如下：

So, by capital ‘A’ “Artifacts” I mean simple artificial objects made by hand, used by hand, and powered by muscle. Artifacts are created one at time, locally, by rules of thumb and folklore rather than through any abstract understanding of the principles of mechanics. People within an infrastructure of Artifacts are ‘Hunters and Farmers.

http://augmentedartifacts.wordpress.com/2011/05/05/bruce-sterling-on-artifacts-machines-products-gizmos-and-spimes/

換言之，狹義的 artifact 是手工製品，使用過程也完全手工。它運作的能量靠人類燃燒肌肉提供，一次只能做一件。生產過程不依賴物流系統。製作靠的是經驗，而不是對經驗的抽象歸納與理解。大致如此。

在本書的語境裏，artifact 就譯作「手工製品」應該沒有大問題。

回答

这个词是万智牌（MtG）里的高频词，除非特殊情况，一般译为“神器”。

说是神器，其实绝大多数是人类和其他智慧种族（而不是神）的造物。可能是“神器”比“人造物”看起来高端洋气？

回答

遇到比较难翻译的词，我一般都会查阅陆谷孙老先生主编的《英汉大辞典》，虽然说不是没有可商榷的地方，总是有相当的参考价值。

Artifact
1、人工制品，制造物（区别于天然物）；（代表特定文化或技术发展阶段的）手工艺品
2、（现代工业）成批生产的东西
3、（质量低劣的）艺术品
4、（喻）（时代等的）典型产物（可指人或事物）
5、（生）矫作物
6、（医）（脑动电流图中）非源自脑中的电波，伪差，假象，人为现象

法律词典多把这个词翻译成“人造物”，强调其非天然的属性。

回答

From Oxford Dictionaries :

1. 1 an object made by a human being, typically one of cultural or historical interest:

1. 2 something observed in a scientific investigation or experiment that is not naturally present but occurs as a result of the preparative or investigative procedure:

回答

在软件工程里面：所有软件开发过程中的有形产物都可以叫artifact
比如开发过程中，源代码，文档，编译后的文件，可执行文件等等。
测试过程中，测试用例，测试文档，测试结果等等
此概念可大可小，由所参与的软件工程活动决定其范围。
在不同的阶段，不同的场景可能都不一样

回答

这个直接在维基百科上搜搜一下就有啊。Artifact
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Look up artifact or artefact in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Artifact(s), or artefact(s), may refer to:
Contents [hide]

• 1 Objects
• 2 Errors
• 3 In popular culture
• 4 See also

[edit] Objects

1. Artifact (archaeology), an object formed by humans, particularly one of interest to archaeologists
2. Artifact (software development), one of many kinds of tangible byproducts produced during the development of software
3. Document artifact, an instantiation of a document

[clarification needed]

1. Social artifact, a product of individuals or groups (social beings) or of their social behavior

1. Virtual artifact, an object in a digital environment

[edit] Errors

1. Artifact (error), undesired alteration in data, introduced by a technique and/or technology
2. Compression artifact, when the data compression of an image, audio, or video is too complex, resulting in a loss of clarity
3. Digital artifact, any undesired alteration in data introduced during its digital processing
4. Iatrogenic artifact, a medical problem created by medical treatment
5. Visual artifact, anomalies during visual representation of digital graphics and imagery

[edit] In popular culture

1. Artefact (band), a black metal band from France
2. Artifact (Magic: The Gathering), a card type in the trading card game Magic: The Gathering
3. Artifacts (album), a tribal ambient music album by the American artist Steve Roach
4. Artifacts (film), a 2007 horror film
5. Artifacts (group), a hip-hop duo from New Jersey
6. The Artifact (Eureka), a fictional object appearing in the TV series Eureka
7. [edit] See also
8. Artifakt
9. All pages with titles containing “Artefact”
10. All pages with titles containing “Artifact”
11. Different spellings and connotations for artefact or artifact
12. Magic item, in fantasy, any object that has magical powers so powerful that it cannot be duplicated or destroyed by ordinary means。
13. 这个在各行各业的翻译我想只有请大家帮忙。集思广益了。

Tags: English translation 汉语翻译 英译中

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