英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

cultured (adj.)[cultured 词源字典]: 1743 in the literal sense of "cultivated," of land, etc., past participle adjective from culture; meaning "developed under controlled natural conditions" is from 1906, originally of pearls. Meaning "improved by exposure to intellectual culture" is from 1777.[cultured etymology, cultured origin, 英语词源]
culvert (n.): 1773, origin unknown, perhaps, as Weekley suggests, the name of a long-forgotten engineer or bridge-builder.
cum: verb and noun, by 1973, apparently a variant of the sexual sense of come that originated in pornographic writing, perhaps first in the noun sense. This "experience sexual orgasm" slang meaning of come (perhaps originally come off) is attested from 1650, in "Walking In A Meadowe Greene," in a folio of "loose songs" collected by Bishop Percy.
They lay soe close together, they made me much to wonder;
I knew not which was wether, until I saw her under.
Then off he came, and blusht for shame soe soon that he had endit;
Yet still she lies, and to him cryes, "one more and none can mend it."
As a noun meaning "semen or other product of orgasm" it is on record from the 1920s. The sexual cum seems to have no connection with Latin cum, the preposition meaning "with, together with," which is occasionally used in English in local names of combined parishes or benifices (such as Chorlton-cum-Hardy), in popular Latin phrases (such as cum laude), or as a combining word to indicate a dual nature or function (such as slumber party-cum-bloodbath).
cum laude: 1872, originally at Harvard, from Medieval Latin, literally "with praise," from Latin cum "with" + laude, ablative of laus (genitive laudis) "praise" (see laud). Probably from earlier use (in Latin) at Heidelberg and other German universities.
Cumaean (adj.): 1731, from Latin Cumae (Greek Kyme), ancient city on the Italian coast near Naples, founded by Greeks 8c. B.C.E.; especially famous for the Sybil there, mentioned by Virgil.
cumber (v.): c. 1300, "to overthrow, destroy; to be overwhelmed; to harass," apparently from French, but Old French combrer "to seize hold of, lay hands on, grab, snatch, take by force, rape," has not quite the same sense. Perhaps a shortened formation from a verb akin to Middle English acombren "obstructing progress," from Old French encombrer, from combre "obstruction, barrier," from Vulgar Latin *comboros "that which is carried together," perhaps from a Gaulish word.

The likely roots are PIE *kom (see com-) + *bher- (1) "to bear" (see infer). Weakened sense of "to hamper, to obstruct or weigh down" is late 14c. Related: Cumbered; cumbering.
Cumberland: Old English Cumbra land (945) "region of the Cymry" (see Cymric).
cumbersome (adj.): late 14c., from cumber (v.) + -some (1). Meaning "unwieldy, hard to carry" is from 1590s. Related: Cumbersomely; cumbersomeness.
cumbrous (adj.): late 14c., "cumbersome, troublesome, clumsy, unwieldy," from cumber + -ous.
cumin (n.): Old English cymen, from Latin cuminum, from Greek kyminon, cognate with Hebrew kammon, Arabic kammun.
cummerbund (n.): 1610s, from Hindi kamarband "loin band," from Persian kamar "waist" + band "something that ties," from Avestan banda- "bond, fetter," from PIE root *bhendh- "to bind" (see bend (v.)).
cummin (n.): alternative spelling of cumin.
cumulate (v.): 1530s, from Latin cumulatus "heaped, increased, augmented," past participle of cumulare "to heap," from cumulus "mound, heap" (see cumulus). Related: Cumulated; cumulating.
cumulation (n.): 1610s, noun of action from cumulate.
cumulative (adj.): c. 1600, from Latin cumulatus, past participle of cumulare "to heap," from cumulus "heap" (see cumulus) + -ive.
cumulonimbus (n.): 1887, from cumulo-, comb. form of cumulus, + nimbus.
cumulus (n.): 1650s, "a heap," from Latin cumulus "a heap, pile, mass, surplus," from PIE *ku-m-olo-, suffixed shortened form of root *keue- "to swell" (compare Sanskrit svayati "swells up, is strong," Greek kyein "to swell," Lithuanian šaunas "firm, solid, fit, capable"). Meteorological use for "rounded mass of clouds" first attested 1803.
cun (v.): "to learn to know, inquire into," from Old English cunnian "to learn to know," ultimately from the same ancient root as can (v.1). Surviving into 17c. and perhaps later in dialects.
cuneiform (adj.): 1670s, "wedge shaped," from French cunéiforme (16c.), from Latin cuneus "a wedge, wedge-shaped thing," which is of unknown origin, + French -forme (see form (n.)). Applied to characters in ancient Middle Eastern inscriptions made with wedge-shaped writing tools; first used in this sense by German physician and traveler Engelbert Kämpfer (1681-1716); in English from 1818. As a noun from 1862.
cunnilingus (n.): 1887, from Latin cunnus "vulva" (see cunt) + lingere "to lick" (see lick (v.)). The Latin properly would mean "one who licks a vulva," but it is used in English in reference to the action, not the actor. The verb ought to be *cunnilingue.
Cunnilingus was a very familiar manifestation in classical times; ... it tends to be especially prevalent at all periods of high civilization. [Havelock Ellis, 1905]