Marissa Laliberte著 張寧

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See someone wearing a ring on their right index finger and you can bet theyre not married. A ring on the left ring finger， though， means that person is “taken”. The choice of wedding ring finger seems arbitrary1， but theres actually historical reason it became known as the “ring finger”， and why most people wear their wedding band on the left.

看到有人在右手食指上戴著戒指，你可以打賭他們沒有結(jié)婚。而左手無名指上的戒指意味著這個(gè)人已經(jīng)結(jié)婚了。選擇無名指戴婚戒似乎是隨意的，但事實(shí)上，無名指被稱為“ring finger”，以及大多數(shù)人把婚戒戴在左手是有歷史原因的。

History of the wedding ring finger左手無名指戴結(jié)婚戒指的歷史

The wedding ring tradition dates back to ancient Egypt， as archaeologists2 have found evidence in hieroglyphics3 that brides would wear a ring. And other ancient cultures wore wedding rings as well. People have been slipping wedding rings on their left ring fingers since the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

戴結(jié)婚戒指的傳統(tǒng)可以追溯到古埃及，因?yàn)榭脊艑W(xué)家們?cè)谙笮挝淖种邪l(fā)現(xiàn)了新娘戴戒指的證據(jù)。其他的古代文化中也有戴結(jié)婚戒指的習(xí)俗。從古希臘人和古羅馬人時(shí)代起，人們就一直把結(jié)婚戒指戴在左手的無名指上。

The reason the fourth finger was the wedding ring finger of choice？ Theres a touching explanation. In ancient times， it was thought that there was a vein in your finger on your left hand that ran straight to your heart. And the heart， of course， was thought to be the center of our emotions back then. So ancient Romans called this vein the “vena amoris”， Latin for “vein of love”.

選擇第四根手指戴結(jié)婚戒指的原因是什么呢？對(duì)此有一個(gè)感人的解釋。在古代，人們認(rèn)為左手的這根手指上有一根血管直接通向你的心臟。當(dāng)然，那時(shí)人們認(rèn)為心臟是情感的中心。因此古羅馬人把這條血管叫做“愛情之脈”，拉丁語叫做“愛情的血脈”。

Our knowledge of the human body has evolved greatly since then， of course. Most notably， we humans have no such vein， sadly. In addition， we know now that the heart is an organ for pumping blood—but that hasnt stopped us from continuing to talk about it in romantic， emotional contexts. Likewise， we still wear wedding rings on our fourth fingers！

當(dāng)然，從那時(shí)起，人們對(duì)人體的認(rèn)識(shí)已經(jīng)逐漸形成。很明顯，可惜我們?nèi)祟惒]有這樣的血管。此外，現(xiàn)在我們知道心臟是一個(gè)輸送血液的器官，但這并沒有影響我們繼續(xù)在浪漫的情感語境中談?wù)撍?。同樣，我們的第四根手指上仍戴著結(jié)婚戒指！

Variations on the tradition傳統(tǒng)的變化

Despite the prevalence4 of this wedding ring finger tradition， especially throughout Western cultures， not everyone follows it to a T5. Some cultures choose freedom and individuality when it comes to deciding for themselves which hand to wear it on. Couples from European countries such as Austria， Denmark， and Germany actually wear the rings on their right hand instead. People in India opt for a right-hand ring as well， because the left hand is considered unclean.

盡管婚戒傳統(tǒng)盛行，尤其是在整個(gè)西方文化中，但并不是每個(gè)人都絲毫不差地遵循這一傳統(tǒng)。在決定（婚戒）戴在哪只手上時(shí)，有些文化選擇了自由和個(gè)性。來自?shī)W地利、丹麥和德國(guó)等歐洲國(guó)家的夫妻實(shí)際上也會(huì)把戒指戴在右手上。印度人也選擇右手戴戒指，因?yàn)樗麄冋J(rèn)為左手是不潔的。

If anything， the variations on the wedding ring finger tradition show that even the most long-standing of marriage-related traditions dont have to be hard and fast6. But there are still some wedding etiquette7 rules experts think you should never， ever break.

如果說有什么不同的話，婚戒傳統(tǒng)的變化表明，即使是最悠久的婚姻相關(guān)的傳統(tǒng)也不一定是一成不變的。但是仍然有一些婚禮禮儀規(guī)則專家們認(rèn)為永遠(yuǎn)不應(yīng)該打破。