英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

bridge (n.1)[bridge 词源字典]: "causeway over a ravine or river," Old English brycge, from Proto-Germanic *brugjo (cognates: Old Saxon bruggia, Old Norse bryggja, Old Frisian brigge, Dutch brug, Old High German brucca, German Brücke), from PIE root *bhru "log, beam," hence "wooden causeway" (cognates: Gaulish briva "bridge," Old Church Slavonic bruvuno "beam," Serbian brv "footbridge"). For vowel evolution, see bury. Meaning "bony upper part of the nose" is from early 15c.; of stringed instruments from late 14c. The bridge of a ship (by 1854) originally was a "narrow raised platform athwart the ship whence the Captain issues his orders" [Sir Geoffrey Callender, "Sea Passages"].
Bridge in steam-vessels is the connection between the paddle-boxes, from which the officer in charge directs the motion of the vessel. [Smythe, "The Sailor's Word-Book," 1867]
[bridge etymology, bridge origin, 英语词源]
bridge (v.): Old English brycgian "to bridge, make a causeway," from bridge (n.). Related: Bridged; bridging.
bridge (n.2): card game, 1886 (perhaps as early as 1843), an alteration of biritch, but the source and meaning of that are obscure. "Probably of Levantine origin, since some form of the game appears to have been long known in the Near East" [OED]. One guess is that it represents Turkish *bir-üç "one-three," because one hand is exposed and three are concealed. The game also was known early as Russian whist (attested in English from 1839).
Bridget: fem. proper name, from Irish Brighid, fire goddess, from brigh "strength," from Celtic *brig-o-, from PIE *bhrgh-nt- "high, mighty," from root *bhrgh- "high" (see borough).
bridle (n.): Old English bridel "bridle, rein, curb, restraint," related to bregdan "move quickly," from Proto-Germanic *bregdilaz (see braid (v.)).
bridle (v.): "to control, dominate," c. 1200, from Old English bridlian "to fit with a bridle," from bridel (see bridle (n.)). Meaning "to throw up the head" (as a horse does when reined in) is from mid-15c. Related: Bridled; bridling.
Brie (n.): type of soft cheese, 1848, from name of district in department Seine-et-Marne, southeast of Paris, famous for its cheeses. The name is from Gaulish briga "hill, height."
brief (adj.): late 13c., from Latin brevis (adj.) "short, low, little, shallow," from PIE *mregh-wi-, from root *mregh-u- "short" (cognates: Greek brakhys "short," Old Church Slavonic bruzeja "shallow places, shoals," Gothic gamaurgjan "to shorten").
brief (n.): from Latin breve (genitive brevis), noun derivative of adjective brevis (see brief (adj.)) which came to mean "letter, summary," specifically a letter of the pope (less ample and solemn than a bull), and thus came to mean "letter of authority," which yielded the modern, legal sense of "summary of the facts of a case" (1630s).
brief (v.): "to give instructions or information to," 1866; originally "to instruct by a brief" (1862), from brief (n.). Related: Briefed; briefing.
briefcase (n.): "portable folding case for holding papers," 1926, from brief (n.) in the paper sense + case (n.2).
briefing (n.): "fact or situation of giving preliminary instructions," 1910 (but popularized by World War II pre-flight conferences), verbal noun from brief (v.).
briefly (adv.): c. 1300, from brief (adj.) + -ly (2). As an introduction to a statement, "in short," recorded from 1510s.
briefs (n.): "short, tight underwear," 1934, from brief (adj.).
brier (n.1): "thorny shrub, heath," 1540s, variant of Middle English brere, from Old English brer (Anglian), brær (West Saxon) "brier, bramble, prickly bush," which is of unknown origin. Briar is the most recent variant (c. 1600). Originally used of prickly, thorny bushes in general, now mostly restricted to wild rose bushes. Used figuratively (in plural) for "troubles" from c. 1500.
brier (n.2): type of tobacco pipe introduced to England c. 1859 and made from the root of a certain shrub, 1868, from French bruyère "heath plant," from Old French bruiere "heather, briar, heathland, moor" (12c.), from Gallo-Roman *brucaria, from *brucus "heather," from Gaulish (compare Breton brug "heath," Old Irish froech). Form altered in English by influence of brier (n.1).
brig (n.): "two-masted square-rigged vessel," 1720, colloquial shortening of brigantine (q.v.). Apparently such vessels being used for prison ships upon retirement from active duty led to extended meaning "a jail," first recorded 1852.
brigade (n.): "subdivision of an army," 1630s, from French brigade "body of soldiers" (14c.), from Italian brigata "troop, crowd, gang," from brigare "brawl, fight," from briga "strife, quarrel," perhaps of Celtic (compare Gaelic brigh, Welsh bri "power") or Germanic origin.
brigadier (n.): 1670s, "officer in command of a brigade," from French brigadier, from brigade (see brigade).
brigand (n.): c. 1400, "lightly armed foot soldier," from Old French brigand (14c.), from Italian brigante "trooper, skirmisher, foot soldier," from brigare (see brigade). Sense of "one who lives by pillaging" is from early 15c., reflecting the lack of distinction between professional mercenary armies and armed, organized criminals.