英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

itchy (adj.)[itchy 词源字典]: Old English giccig; see itch + -y (2). Figurative itchy palm is attested by 1590s. Related: Itchiness.[itchy etymology, itchy origin, 英语词源]
item: late 14c. (adv.) "moreover, in addition," from Latin item (adv.) "likewise, just so, moreover," used to introduce a new fact or statement, probably from ita "thus," id "it" (see id) + adverbial ending -tem (compare idem "the same"). Thus "a statement or maxim" (of the kind formerly introduced by the word item), first recorded 1560s. Meaning "detail of information" (especially in a newspaper) is from 1819; item "sexually linked unmarried couple" is 1970, probably from notion of being an item in the gossip columns. Noun sense of "an article of any kind" (1570s) developed from adverbial sense of "moreover, in addition," which was used before every article in a list (such as an inventory or bill).
itemize (v.): 1864, American English, from item + -ize. Related: Itemized; itemizing. Earlier verb was simply item (c. 1600).
iterate (v.): 1530s, "to do again, repeat," back-formation from iteration, or else from Latin iteratus, past participle of iterare. Related: Iterated; iterating.
iteration (n.): late 15c., from Latin iterationem (nominative iteratio) "repetition," noun of action from past participle stem of iterare "do again, repeat," from iterum "again," from PIE *i-tero-, from pronominal root *i- (see yon).
iterative (adj.): "involving repetition," late 15c., from French iteratif (c. 1400), from Late Latin iterativus, from iterat-, past participle stem of iterare (see iteration). As a noun, from 1854. Related: Iteratively.
Ithaca: western Greek Island, legendary home of Odysseus; the first element is perhaps Phoenician I "island;" the rest is unknown.
ither: Scottish form of other.
ithyphallic: 1610s, "poem in ithyphallic meter," from Greek ithyphallos "phallos carried in the festivals," from ithys "straight" + phallos "erect penis" (see phallus). As an adjective from 1795. The meter was that of the Bacchic hymns, which were sung in the rites during which such phalloses were carried. Thus, in Victorian times, the word also meant "grossly indecent" (1864).
itinerant (adj.): 1560s (attested in Anglo-Latin from late 13c.), from Late Latin itinerantem (nominative itinerans), present participle of itinerare "to travel," from Latin iter (genitive itineris) "journey," from ire "go" (see ion). Originally in reference to circuit courts.
itinerary (n.): mid-15c., "route of travel," from Late Latin itinerarium "account of a journey," noun use of neuter of itinerarius "of a journey," from Latin itineris "journey" (see itinerant). By late 15c. it meant "record of a journey;" extended sense "sketch of a proposed route" is from 1856.
itinerate (v.): c. 1600, from Late Latin itineratus, past participle of itinerare "to travel" (see itinerant). Especially "to travel from place to place preaching" (1775). Related: Itinerated; itinerating.
its: neuter possessive pronoun; the modern word begins to appear in writing at the end of 16c., from it + genitive/possessive ending 's (q.v.), and "at first commonly written it's, a spelling retained by some to the beginning of the 19c." [OED]. The apostrophe came to be omitted, perhaps because it's already was established as a contraction of it is, or by general habit of omitting apostrophes in personal pronouns (hers, yours, theirs, etc.).

The neuter genitive pronoun in Middle English was his, but the clash between grammatical gender and sexual gender, or else the application of the word to both human and non-human subjects, evidently made users uncomfortable. Restriction of his to the masculine and avoidance of it as a neuter pronoun is evidenced in Middle English, and of it and thereof (as in KJV) were used for the neuter possessive. Also, from c. 1300, simple it was used as a neuter possessive pronoun. But in literary use, his as a neuter pronoun continued into the 17c.
itself (pron.): late 14c., from Old English hit sylf, from it + self. Since 17c. usually regarded as its self (compare its own self).
itsy-bitsy (adj.): "charmingly small," 1890, from itty and/or bitsy. Bitsy-itsy is recorded from 1875.
itty (adj.): 1798, in a letter of Jane Austen, baby-talk form of little. Related: itty-bitty (1855); tiddy-itty (1852).
Ivan: masc. proper name, from Russian, literally "John," from Greek Ioannes "John." As the personification of Russia, or the typical name for a Russian man (originally a Russian soldier), attested from 1870.
ivory (n.): mid-13c. (late 12c. as a surname), Anglo-French ivorie, from Old North French ivurie (12c.), from Latin eboreus "of ivory," from ebur (genitive eboris) "ivory," probably via Phoenician from an African source (compare Egyptian ab "elephant," Coptic ebu "ivory"). Replaced Old English elpendban, literally "elephant bone." Applied in slang to articles made from it, such as dice (1830) and piano keys (1854). As a color, especially in reference to human skin, it is attested from 1580s. Ivories as slang for "teeth" dates from 1782. Related: Ivoried.
ivory tower (n.): as a symbol of artistic or intellectual aloofness, by 1889, from French tour d'ivoire, used in 1837 by critic Charles-Augustin Sainte-Beuve (1804-1869) with reference to the poet Alfred de Vigny, whom he accused of excessive aloofness.
Et Vigny, plus secret, comme en sa tour d'ivoire, avant midi rentrait. [Sainte-Beuve, "Pensées d'Août, à M. Villemain," 1837]
Used earlier as a type of a wonder or a symbol of "the ideal." The literal image is perhaps from Song of Solomon [vii:4]:
Thy neck is as a tower of ivory; thine eyes like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim: thy nose is as the tower of Lebanon which looketh toward Damascus. [KJV]
ivy (n.): Old English ifig, from West Germanic *ibakhs (cognates: Middle Low German iflof, Dutch eiloof, Old High German ebahewi, German Efeu), of unknown origin; the second element in the Old High German word might be "hay."

Ivy bush as a sign of a tavern where wine is served is attested from mid-15c. Ivy League, inspired by the notion of old, ivy-coated walls, dates to 1933 (perhaps originally in reference to football; it consists of Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale).