英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

cryselephantine (adj.)[cryselephantine 词源字典]: 1827, from Greek khryselephantinos "of gold and ivory," applied to statues overlaid with gold and ivory, such as Athene Parthenos and Olympian Zeus.[cryselephantine etymology, cryselephantine origin, 英语词源]
crystal (n.): Old English cristal "clear ice, clear mineral," from Old French cristal (12c., Modern French crystal), from Latin crystallus "crystal, ice," from Greek krystallos, from kryos "frost," from PIE root *kru(s)- "hard, hard outer surface" (see crust). Spelling adopted the Latin form 15c.-17c. The mineral has been so-called since Old English; it was regarded by the ancients as a sort of fossilized ice. As a shortened form of crystal-glass it dates from 1590s. As an adjective, from late 14c.
crystalline (adj.): late 14c., from Old French cristalin "like crystal" (Modern French crystallin), from Latin crystallinus, from Greek krystallinos "of crystal," from krystallos (see crystal).
crystallisation (n.): chiefly British English spelling of crystallization; for spelling, see -ize.
crystallization (n.): 1660s, noun of action from crystallize + -ation. Figurative use is attested from 1842.
crystallize (v.): 1590s, from crystal + -ize. Figurative use is from 1660s. Related: Crystallized; crystallizing.
crystallized (adj.): c. 1600, past participle adjective from crystallize. Of fruit, etc., from 1875.
cub (n.): 1520s, cubbe "young fox," of unknown origin; perhaps from Old Irish cuib "whelp," or from Old Norse kobbi "seal." Extended to the young of bears, lions, etc., after 1590s. The native word was whelp. Cub Scout is from 1922.
Cuba: said to be from Taino (Arawakan) Cubanacan, the name of the people who occupied the island. Related: Cuban (1829), Cuban heel (1908); Cuban Missile Crisis (October 16-28, 1962).
cubby (n.): 1868, short for cubbyhole.
cubbyhole (n.): 1825, the first element possibly from a diminutive of cub "stall, pen, cattle shed, coop, hutch" (1540s), a dialect word with apparent cognates in Low German (such as East Frisian kubbing, Dutch kub). Or related to cuddy "small room, cupboard" (1793), originally "small cabin in a boat" (1650s), from Dutch kajuit, from French cahute. Or perhaps simply a children's made-up word.
cube (n.): 1550s, from Middle French cube (13c.) and directly from Latin cubus, from Greek kybos "a cube, a six-sided die, vertebra," perhaps from PIE root *keu(b)- "to bend, turn." Mathematical sense is from 1550s in English (it also was in the ancient Greek word: the Greeks threw with three dice; the highest possible roll was three sixes).
cube (v.): 1580s in the mathematical sense; 1947 with meaning "cut in cubes," from cube (n.). The Greek verbal derivatives from the noun all referred to dice-throwing and gambling. Related: Cubed; cubing.
cubic (adj.): 1550s, from Middle French cubique (14c.), from Latin cubicus, from Greek kybikos, from kybos "cube" (see cube (n.)). Related: Cubical.
cubicle (n.): mid-15c., "bedroom," from Latin cubiculum "bedroom," from cubare "to lie down," originally "bend oneself," from PIE root *keu(b)- "to bend, turn." With Latin -clom, suffix denoting place. Obsolete from 16c. but revived 19c. for "dormitory sleeping compartment," sense of "any partitioned space" (such as a library carrel or, later, office work station) is first recorded 1926.
cubism (n.): 1911, from French cubisme, from cube (see cube (n.)), said to have been coined by French art critic Louis Vauxcelles at the 1908 Salon des Indépendants in reference to a work by Georges Braque. Related: Cubist.
cubit (n.): ancient unit of measure based on the forearm from elbow to fingertip, usually from 18 to 22 inches, early 14c., from Latin cubitum "the elbow," from PIE *keu(b)- "to bend." Such a measure, known by a word meaning "forearm" or the like, was known to many peoples (Greek pekhys, Hebrew ammah, English ell).
cuboid (adj.): "cube-like," 1829, a modern coinage; see cube (n.) + -oid.
cucking stool (n.): early 13c., from cuck "to void excrement," from Old Norse kuka "feces" (the chair was sometimes in the form of a close-stool). Also known as trebucket and castigatory, it was used on disorderly women and fraudulent tradesmen, either in the form of public exposure to ridicule or for ducking in a pond.
cuckold (n.): mid-13c., kukewald, from Old French cucuault, from cocu (see cuckoo) + pejorative suffix -ault, of Germanic origin. So called from the female bird's alleged habit of changing mates, or her authentic habit of leaving eggs in another bird's nest.

In Modern French the identity is more obvious: Coucou for the bird and cocu for the betrayed husband. German Hahnrei (13c.), from Low German, is of obscure origin. The second element seems to be connected to words for "ardent," and suggests perhaps "sexually aggressive hen," with transferal to humans, but Kluge suggests rather a connection to words for "capon" and "castrated." Related: Cuckoldry.