英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

pistachio (n.)[pistachio 词源字典]: 1590s, from Italian pistacchio, from Latin pistacium "pistachio nut," from Greek pistakion "pistachio nut," from pistake "pistachio tree," from Persian pistah "pistachio." Borrowed earlier (1530s) as pystace, from Old French form pistace (13c.), which also is from the Italian word.[pistachio etymology, pistachio origin, 英语词源]
piste (n.): also pist, 1727, from French piste, from Latin pista (via) "beaten (track)," from pistus, past participle of pinsere "to pound, stamp" (see pestle).
pistil (n.): "female organ of a flower," 1718, from French pistil, from Modern Latin pistillum "a pistil," so called from resemblance to a pestle, from Latin pistillum "pestle" (see pestle). Related: Pistillary; pistillaceous; pistillate; pistilline.
pistle (n.): "letter," Old English pistol, a shortening of epistol, from Latin epistola (see epistle).
pistol (n.): "small hand-held firearm," 1570s, from Middle French pistole "short firearm" (1566), of uncertain origin, sometimes said to be from German Pistole, from Czech pis'tala "firearm," literally "tube, pipe," from pisteti "to whistle," of imitative origin, related to Russian pischal "shepherd's pipe."

But earlier English form pistolet (1550) is said to be from Middle French pistolet "a small firearm," also "a small dagger," which may be the literal sense; though some connect this word with Italian pistolese, in reference to Pistoia, town in Tuscany noted for gunsmithing. Pistol-whip (v.) is first recorded 1942.
pistole (n.): former Spanish coin (not called that in Spanish), 1590s, from French pistole, from Italian piastola, diminutive of piastra "plate or leaf of metal" (see piaster). Compare earlier pistolet (1550s) "foreign coin," which OED says is from French pistolet "short firearm" (see pistol) and so called for being smaller and thinner than other coins.
pistolero (n.): 1937, from Spanish; see pistolier.
pistolier (n.): also pistoleer, 1570s from obsolete French pistolier, from pistole (see pistol).
piston (n.): 1704, from French piston, from Middle French piston "large pestle," from Old Italian pistone "a piston," variant of pestone "a pestle," from pestare "to pound," from Late Latin pistare, frequentative of Latin pinsere (past participle pistus) "to pound" (see pestle). As a verb from 1930.
pit (n.1): "hole, cavity," Old English pytt "water hole, well; pit, grave," from Proto-Germanic *puttjaz "pool, puddle" (cognates: Old Frisian pet, Old Saxon putti, Old Norse pyttr, Middle Dutch putte, Dutch put, Old High German pfuzza, German Pfütze "pool, puddle"), early borrowing from Latin puteus "well, pit, shaft." Meaning "abode of evil spirits, hell" is attested from early 13c. Pit of the stomach (1650s) is from the slight depression there between the ribs.
pit (v.): mid-15c., "to put into a pit," from pit (n.1); especially for purposes of fighting (of cocks, dogs, pugilists) from 1760. Figurative sense of "to set in rivalry" is from 1754. Meaning "to make pits in" is from late 15c. Related: Pitted; pitting. Compare Pit-bull as a dog breed attested from 1922, short for pit-bull terrier (by 1912). This also is the notion behind the meaning "the part of a theater on the floor of the house" (1640s).
pit (n.2): "hard seed," 1841, from Dutch pit "kernel, seed, marrow," from Middle Dutch pitte, ultimately from West Germanic *pithan-, source of pith (q.v.).
pit-a-pat (adv.): also pitter-pat, 1520s; imitative. As a noun from 1580s.
pita (n.): "thick, flat bread," 1951, from Modern Hebrew pita or Modern Greek petta "bread," perhaps from Greek peptos "cooked," or somehow connected to pizza (q.v.).
pitch (n.2): "resinous substance, wood tar," late 12c., pich, from Old English pic "pitch," from a Germanic borrowing (Old Saxon and Old Frisian pik, Middle Dutch pik, Dutch pek, Old High German pek, German Pech, Old Norse bik) of Latin pix (genitive picis) "pitch," which according to Watkins is from a PIE root *pik- "pitch" (cognates: Greek pissa, Lithuanian pikis, Old Church Slavonic piklu "pitch"), but according to Pokorny this is from the same PIE root as pine (n.). The English word was applied to pine resins from late 14c. Pitch-black is attested from 1590s; pitch-dark from 1680s.
pitch (v.1): c. 1200, "to thrust in, fasten, settle," probably from an unrecorded Old English *piccean, related to prick (v.). The original past tense was pight. Sense of "set upright," as in pitch a tent (late 13c.), is from notion of "driving in" the pegs. Meaning to incline forward and downward" is from 1510s. Meaning "throw (a ball)" evolved late 14c. from that of "hit the mark." Musical sense is from 1670s. Of ships, "to plunge" in the waves, 1620s. To pitch in "work vigorously" is from 1847, perhaps from farm labor. Related: Pitched; pitching.
pitch (n.1): 1520s, "something that is pitched," from pitch (v.1). Meaning "act of throwing" is attested from 1833. Meaning "act of plunging headfirst" is from 1762; sense of "slope, degree, inclination" is from 1540s; musical sense is from 1590s; but the connection of these is obscure. Sales pitch in the modern commercial advertising sense is from 1943, American English, perhaps from the baseball sense.
pitch (v.2): "to cover with pitch," Old English pician, from the source of pitch (n.2).
pitch-pipe (n.): 1711, from pitch (n.) in the musical sense + pipe (n.1).
pitchblende (n.): also pitch-blende, 1770, a loan-translation of German Pechblende; see pitch (n.2) + blende.