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entail [entail 词源字典]: entail: [14] Entail means literally ‘put a tail on’ – but not the sort that grows. This is a tail in the sense of a ‘legal limitation’. It came from Old French taille, meaning literally ‘cut’, which is also related to English detail, retail, tailor, and tally. The coining of entail itself probably took place in Anglo-Norman. Its current main meaning ‘have as a necessary or logical consequence’ did not develop until as late as the 19th century.
=> detail, retail, tailor, tally[entail etymology, entail origin, 英语词源]
enter: enter: [13] Enter comes ultimately from a Latin preposition and adverb, intrā, which meant ‘inside’ (and was formed from in ‘in’ and the suffix -trā, as in extra). This was taken as the basis of a Latin verb, intrāre ‘enter’, which passed into English via Old French entrer. Of its derivatives, entry [13] has the longer history, going back to a Vulgar Latin *intrāta; entrance [16] is an Old French formation.
enterprise: enterprise: [15] Enterprise is the Romancelanguage equivalent of the native English formation undertaking. It comes from the past participle of Old French entreprendre, a compound verb formed from entre ‘between’ and prendre ‘take’ (a word with many relatives in English, from comprehend to surprise). The original Old French version of the word was emprise (from Vulgar Latin *imprendere ‘undertake’, in which the prefix was in- rather than inter-), and English actually borrowed this in the 13th century; it survived as an archaism into the 19th century.

The underlying meaning of both versions is probably ‘taking something in or between one’s hands’ so as to do something about it.
=> apprehend, comprehend, comprise, surprise
enthusiasm: enthusiasm: [17] Enthusiasm has had a chequered semantic history. Like giddiness, it meant originally ‘state of being inspired by a god’. It comes ultimately from Greek énthous or éntheos ‘possessed, inspired’, a compound formed from the prefix en- ‘in’ and theós ‘god’ (as in English theology). From this in turn was derived the verb enthousiázein ‘be inspired’ and the noun enthousiasmós, which passed into English via Latin or French, still with the sense ‘divine inspiration’ (‘Doth he think they knew it by enthusiasm or revelation from heaven?’ Richard Baxter, Infants’ church membership and baptism 1651).

In the stern climate of Puritanism, however, divine inspiration was not something to be encouraged, and as the 17th century progressed enthusiasm took on derogatory connotations of ‘excessive religious emotion’. The modern approbatory meaning, ‘eagerness’, had its beginnings at the start of the 18th century, and by the early 19th century had ousted the deprecatory sense from leading place.
=> theology
entice: entice: [13] Entice is an inflammatory sort of word. It comes ultimately from Latin tītiō ‘firebrand’, which was used, with the prefix in- ‘in’, to form the Vulgar Latin verb *intītiāre ‘set on fire’. This passed into English via Old French enticier, and originally retained much of the heat and vigour of its origins: ‘Your master is enticed and provoked by the Duke of Burgundy’, Richard Grafton, Chronicles of the Affairs of England 1568; but by the 17th century the process of softening from ‘incitement’ to ‘allurement’ was all but complete.
entire: entire: [14] Entire and integrity [15] have the same source – Latin integer. This meant ‘whole, complete’, and was formed from the prefix in- ‘in’ and *tag-, the base which produced Latin tangere ‘touch’, source of English tactile and tangible (and indeed of intact [15], a parallel formation to entire and integrity).

English borrowed integer [16] itself as a mathematical term denoting a ‘whole’ number, and several of its Latin derivatives – not just integrity but also integral [16], from late Latin integrālis, and integrate [17], from Latin integrāre ‘make whole’. As its difference in form suggests, however, entire came via a different route.

The Latin accusative form integrum produced Vulgar Latin *integro, which passed into Old French as entier – hence English entire.
=> intact, integrity, tactile, tangible
entitle: entitle: see title
entomology: entomology: see insect
entrails: entrails: [13] Entrails means literally just ‘insides’ – and indeed there is an unbroken semantic undercurrent to the word from earliest times to the present day signifying exactly that (as in ‘entrails of the earth’). It comes ultimately from the Latin adjective interāneus ‘internal’, a derivative of the adverb and preposition inter ‘inside, among’. Its neuter plural form interānea came to be used as a noun, and at some point underwent a metamorphosis to medieval Latin intrālia ‘inner parts, intestines’. English acquired the word via Old French entrailles.
entrance: entrance: see enter
entrechat: entrechat: [18] An entrechat has no connection with cats, despite the passing resemblance to French chat. It comes from French, indeed, but there the original form was not entrechat but entrechas, a derivative of the verb entrechasser ‘chase in and out’, the notion being that the dancer’s feet cross, or ‘chase’, each other several times while she or he is in the air. The verb is a compound formed from entre ‘between’ and chasser ‘pursue’, a relative of English chase.
=> chase
entropy: entropy: [19] The term entropy was coined (as entropie) in 1865 by the German physicist Rudolph Clausius (1822–88), formulator of the second law of thermodynamics. It was he who developed the concept of entropy (a measure of the disorder of a system at atomic or molecular level), and he created the name for it (on the model of energy) from Greek en- ‘in’ and tropé ‘turning, transformation’ (source of English trophy and tropical). The first record of the English version of the word is from 1868.
=> trophy, tropical
entry: entry: see enter
enumerate: enumerate: see number
envelope: envelope: [18] English borrowed envelope from French enveloppe in the sense ‘wrapper’, and more specifically ‘cover for a letter’, at the start of the 18th century. It was a derivative of the verb envelopper ‘wrap’, whose ancestor, envoloper, gave English envelop in the 14th century. As in the case of its first cousin develop, the origin of the verb remains a mystery.

It is a compound formed from the prefix en- ‘in’ and voloper ‘wrap’, but the source of voloper has never been satisfactorily explained. It may come from a hypothetical Celtic base *vol- ‘roll’, but an equally good candidate is late Latin *faluppa ‘husk’, from which come Italian viluppo ‘bundle’ and viluppare ‘wrap’.
=> develop
envoy: envoy: [14] English has acquired envoy – literally ‘sent on one’s way’ – twice. The first time, it meant ‘final part of a poem’ (this is now usually spelled envoi); the second time (in the 17th century) it meant ‘diplomatic representative’. Both came from the past participle of the French verb envoyer ‘send’, which in turn was a descendant of late Latin inviāre ‘put on the way’, a compound based on the noun via ‘way’. Its plural formed the basis of invoice [16].
=> invoice
envy: envy: [13] The underlying meaning of envy is simply ‘look at someone’ – the implication being, ‘with malice or resentment’. The word comes via Old French envie from Latin invidia ‘malice’ (source of English invidious [17]), which was a derivative of invidēre ‘look at with malice’. This in turn was a compound verb formed from the prefix in- ‘in, on’ and vidēre ‘see’ (whence English vision).
=> invidious, view, vision
épée: épée: see spade
ephemeral: ephemeral: [16] Ephemeral, now used fairly loosely for ‘transitory’, originally meant specifically ‘lasting only one day’. It comes from Greek ephémeros, a compound formed from the prefix epí- ‘on’ and hēmérā ‘day’. The Greeks named the mayfly ephémeron, since its adult form lives only one day, and English adopted ephemeron [16] as the scientific name for the insect.
epicure: epicure: [16] The Greek philosopher Epicurus (Greek Epíkouros) (341–270 BC) evolved a code of life and behaviour which stressed the avoidance of pain, but since his time it has been stood on its head to signify the active seeking of pleasure – and particularly the pleasures of the table. Indeed, when the word epicure (which arrived via Latin epicūrus) was introduced into English it was even used for a ‘glutton’ – since toned down somewhat to ‘connoisseur of fine food and wine’.