英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

birth (n.)[birth 词源字典]: early 13c., from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse *byrðr (replacing cognate Old English gebyrd "birth, descent, race; offspring; nature; fate"), from Proto-Germanic *gaburthis (cognates: Old Frisian berd, Old Saxon giburd, Dutch geboorte, Old High German giburt, German geburt, Gothic gabaurþs), from PIE *bhrto past participle of root *bher- (1) "to carry; to bear children" (cognates: Sanskrit bhrtih "a bringing, maintenance," Latin fors, genitive fortis "chance;" see bear (v.)).

Suffix -th is for "process" (as in bath, death). Meaning "parentage, lineage, extraction" (revived from Old English) is from mid-13c. Birth control is from 1914; birth rate from 1859. Birth certificate is from 1842.[birth etymology, birth origin, 英语词源]
birth (v.): mid-13c., from birth (n.). Related: Birthed; birthing.
birthday (n.): late 14c., from Old English byrddæg, "anniversary celebration of someone's birth" (at first usually a king or saint); see birth (n.) + day. Meaning "day on which one is born" is from 1570s. Birthnight is attested from 1620s.
birthday suit (n.): first attested 1730s, but probably much older. The notion is the suit of clothes one was born in, i.e., no clothes at all. Compare Middle English mother naked "naked as the day one was born;" Middle Dutch moeder naect, German mutternackt.
birthmark (n.): also birth-mark, by 1805, from birth (n.) + mark (n.1). Birth marks in 17c. could be longing marks; supposedly they showed the image of something longed for by the mother while expecting. Related: Birthmarked.
birthplace (n.): also birth-place, c. 1600, from birth (n.) + place (n.).
birthright (n.): also birth-right, 1530s, from birth (n.) + right (n.). Used as an adjective from 1650s, especially by Quakers.
birthstone (n.): 1874, from birth (n.) + stone (n.).
bis-: word-forming element meaning "twice," from Latin bis "twice, in two ways, doubly," from Old Latin dvis, cognate with Sanskrit dvih, Avestan bish, Greek dis, Middle High German zwis "twice," from PIE *dwo- "two" (see two). Also the form of bi- used before -s-, -c-, or a vowel.
biscotti (n.): 1990s, from Italian biscotti, plural of biscotto, from Old Italian biscotto, from Medieval Latin biscoctum (see biscuit).
biscuit (n.): respelled early 19c. from bisket (16c.), ultimately (besquite, early 14c.) from Old French bescuit (12c.), literally "twice cooked;" altered under influence of cognate Old Italian biscotto, both from Medieval Latin biscoctum, from Latin (panis) bis coctus "(bread) twice-baked;" see bis- + cook (v.). U.S. sense of "soft bun" is recorded from 1818.
bisect (v.): "to cut in two," 1640s, from Modern Latin bisectus, from Latin bi- "two" (see bi-) + secare "to cut" (see section (n.)). Related: Bisected; bisecting.
bisection (n.): "division in two," 1650s, noun of state from bisect. Related: Bisectional.
bisector (n.): 1821; agent noun from bisect.
bisexual (adj.): 1824, "having both sexes in one being, hermaphroditic," from bi- + sexual. Meaning "attracted to both sexes" is from 1914; the noun in this sense is attested from 1922, and compare bisexuality. Not in general use until 1950s. Ambisexual was proposed in this sense early 20c.
I suggest that the term ambisexuality be used in psychology instead of the expression "bisexual predisposition." This would connote that we understand by this predisposition, not the presence of male and female material in the organism (Fliess), nor of male and female sex hunger in the mind, but the child's psychical capacity for bestowing his erotism, originally objectless, on either the male or the female sex, or on both. [S. Ferenczi, "Sex in Psycho-Analysis," transl. Ernest Jones, Boston, 1916]
bisexuality (n.): "attraction to both sexes" 1892, in translation of Krafft-Ebing; see bisexual + -ity.
bishop (n.): Old English bisceop "bishop, high priest (Jewish or pagan)," from Late Latin episcopus, from Greek episkopos "watcher, overseer," a title for various government officials, later taken over in a Church sense, from epi- "over" (see epi-) + skopos "one that watches, one that looks after; a guardian, protector" (see scope (n.1)). Given a specific sense in the Church, but the word also was used in the New Testament as a descriptive title for elders, and continues as such in some non-hierarchical Christian sects.
A curious example of word-change, as effected by the genius of different tongues, is furnished by the English bishop and the French évêque. Both are from the same root, furnishing, perhaps the only example of two words from a common stem so modifying themselves in historical times as not to have a letter in common. (Of course many words from a far off Aryan stem are in the same condition.) The English strikes off the initial and terminal syllables, leaving only piscop, which the Saxon preference for the softer labial and hissing sounds modified into bishop. Évêque (formerly evesque) merely softens the p into v and drops the last syllable. [William S. Walsh, "Handy-Book of Literary Curiosities," Philadelphia, J.B. Lippincott, 1892]
Late Latin episcopus in Spanish became obispo. Cognate with Old Saxon biscop, Old High German biscof. The chess piece (formerly archer, before that alfin) was so called from 1560s.
bishopric (n.): Old English bisceoprice "diocese, province of a bishop," from bishop + rice "realm, dominion, province" (see regal).
Bismarck: "drink of champagne and stout" (also called a black velvet), 1910, named for the German chancellor (1815-1898), who was said to have been fond of it. The surname is said to be short for Biscofsmark "bishop's boundary."
bismillah: first attested in English in Byron, from Arabic bi'smillah(i) "in the name of God" (Allah).