英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

mutism (n.)[mutism 词源字典]: "state of being mute," 1824, from French mutisme (1741), from Latin mutus (see mute (adj.)).[mutism etymology, mutism origin, 英语词源]
mutt (n.): 1901, "stupid or foolish person," probably a shortening of muttonhead (1803) in the same sense; see mutton and compare meathead, etc. Mutt was used by 1898 of a dog, especially a stupid one, and perhaps this is the same word formed independently (muttonhead also was used of stupid animals), or else a separate word of unknown derivation. Wright's "English Dialect Dictionary" (1900) has "Mutton! used in scolding a dog, prob. in allusion to the offence of sheep-worrying."
"That dog ain't no mutt," McManus would say as he stood behind the bar opening oysters; "no an he ain't no rube! Say! he's in it all the time when Charley trims the steaks." [Robert W. Chambers, "The Haunts of Men," 1898]
Used by 1910 in dog fancier publications to refer to a non-purebred animal.
Mutt and Jeff: comic strip characters Augustus Mutt and Jim Jeffries, in U.S. cartoonist Henry Conway ("Bud") Fisher's strip, which debuted in 1907. Used allusively from 1917 in reference to "a pair of stupid men, affable losers," or to one tall (Mutt) and one short (Jeff).
mutter (v.): early 14c., moteren "to mumble," from a common PIE imitative *mut- "to grunt, mutter" (cognates: Old Norse muðla "to murmur," Latin muttire "to mutter," Old High German mutilon "to murmur, mutter; to drizzle"), with frequentative suffix -er. Related: Muttered; muttering.
mutter (n.): 1630s, from mutter (v.).
mutton (n.): "flesh of sheep used as food," late 13c., from Old French moton "mutton; ram, wether, sheep" (12c., Modern French mouton), from Medieval Latin multonem (8c.), probably from Gallo-Roman *multo-s, accusative of Celtic *multo "sheep" (cognates: Old Irish molt "wether," Mid-Breton mout, Welsh mollt); the same word also was borrowed into Italian as montone "a sheep." Transferred slang sense of "food for lust, loose women, prostitutes" (1510s) led to extensive British slang uses down to the present day for woman variously regarded as seeking lovers or as lust objects. Mutton chop is from 1720; as a style of side whiskers, from 1865.
mutual (adj.): late 15c., originally of feelings, from Middle French mutuel (14c.), from Latin mutuus "reciprocal, done in exchange," from PIE root *mei- (1) "to change, exchange" (see mutable).
That is common which pertains equally to two or more persons or things.
That is mutual which is freely interchanged: mutual love, affection, hatred. The word is sometimes incorrectly used for common: our mutual friend, a phrase of very frequent occurrence, no doubt owing to the perfectly correct 'mutual friendship.'
[J.H.A. Günther, "English Synonyms Explained & Illustrated," Groningen, 1904]
Mutual Admiration Society (1851) seems to have been coined by Thoreau. Mutual fund is recorded from 1950. The Cold War's mutual assured destruction attested from 1966. (Assured destruction was an early 1960s term in U.S. military policy circles in reference to nuclear weapons as a deterrent, popularized c. 1964 by Robert McNamara, U.S. Secretary of Defense under Lyndon Johnson, e.g. statement before House Armed Services Committee, Feb. 18, 1965; the mutual perhaps first added by Donald Brennan, conservative defense analyst and a public critic of the policy, who also noted the acronym MAD.)
mutual (n.): short for mutual fund, 1971; see mutual.
mutualism (n.): 1849, in reference to the doctrine of French anarchist/socialist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865), from French mutuellisme. In biology, from 1876, from mutual + -ism.
mutualistic (adj.): 1885, from mutualist "advocate of mutualism" (1848); see mutualism.
mutuality (n.): 1580s, from mutual + -ity.
mutually (adv.): 1530s, from mutual + -ly (2). Mutually exclusive is recorded by 1650s.
muumuu (n.): also muu-muu, 1923, from Hawaiian mu'u mu'u, literally "cut off," name given to the local adaptation of the dresses given to Island women by early 19c. Christian missionaries "in the early days when a few flowers sufficed for a garment" [Don Blanding, "Hula Moons," 1930]. So called because the native style hangs from the shoulder and omits the high neck and the train.
Muzak (n.): 1935, proprietary name for piped music, supposedly a blend of music and Kodak, said to have been coined c. 1922 by Gen. George Squier, who developed the system of background music for workplaces.
muzzle (n.): late 14c., "device put over an animal's mouth to stop it from biting, eating, or rooting," from Old French musel "muzzle," also "snout, nose" (12c., Modern French museau), from muse "muzzle," from Gallo-Roman *musa "snout" (source also of Provençal mus, Old Spanish mus, Italian muso), of unknown origin, possibly related to Latin morsus "bite" (but OED finds "serious difficulties" with this). Meaning "projecting part of the head of an animal" is from early 15c. in English; sense of "open end of a firearm" first recorded 1560s.
muzzle (v.): "to put a muzzle on," early 15c., from muzzle (n.). Figurative use from 1610s. Related: Muzzled; muzzling.
muzzy (adj.): "confused, dazed," 1720s, perhaps from mossy, or from dialectal mosey (adj.) "moldy, hazy; stupefied with drink, dull, stupid."
mwah: sound indicative of a kiss or an air-kiss, 1994, imitative.
my (pron.): c. 1200, mi, reduced form of mine used before words beginning in consonants except h- (my father, but mine enemy), and from 14c. before all nouns. As interjection, by 1825, probably a shortened form of my God!
myalgia (n.): "muscular pain," 1827, coined in Modern Latin (on analogy of neuralgia) from myo- "muscle" + -algia "pain."