quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- Prussian



[Prussian 词源字典] - 1550s (n.), 1560s (adj.), from Prussia + -an. Prussian blue pigment (1724) came to English from French bleu de Prusse, so called for being discovered in Berlin, the Prussian capital.
All in all, it seems that Prussian blue was synthesised for the first time around 1706 by the Swiss immigrant Johann Jacob Diesbach in Berlin. [Jens Bartoll and Bärbel Jackisch, "Prussian Blue: A Chronology of the Early Years," "Zeitschrift für Kunsttechnologie und Konservierung" 24, No. 1, 2010]
Early German sources refer to it as Preußisches Ultra-Marin and berliner blau. Prussic acid (1790), is from French acide prussique, so called in reference to prussian blue pigment, to which it is chemically related.[Prussian etymology, Prussian origin, 英语词源] - pry (v.1)




- "look inquisitively," c. 1300, from prien "to peer in," of unknown origin, perhaps related to late Old English bepriwan "to wink." Related: Pried; prying. As a noun, "act of prying," from 1750; meaning "inquisitive person" is from 1845.
- pry (v.2)




- "raise by force," 1823, from a noun meaning "instrument for prying, crowbar;" alteration of prize (as though it were a plural) in obsolete sense of "lever" (c. 1300), from Old French prise "a taking hold, grasp" (see prize (n.2)).
- psalm (n.)




- Old English psealm, salm, partly from Old French psaume, saume, partly from Church Latin psalmus, from Greek psalmos "song sung to a harp," originally "performance on stringed instrument; a plucking of the harp" (compare psaltes "harper"), from psallein "play on a stringed instrument, pull, twitch" (see feel (v.)).
Used in Septuagint for Hebrew mizmor "song," especially the sort sung by David to the harp. Related: Psalmodize; psalmody. After some hesitation, the pedantic ps- spelling prevailed in English, as it was in many neighboring languages (German, French, etc.), but English is almost alone in not pronouncing the p-. - psalmist (n.)




- late 15c. (replacing psalmistre, late 14c.), from Middle French psalmiste and directly from Church Latin psalmista, from Ecclesiastical Greek psalmistes, from psalmizein "to sing psalms," from psalmos (see psalm).
- psalter (n.)




- "the Book of Psalms," Old English saltere, psaltere, from Church Latin psalterium "the songs of David," in secular Latin, "stringed instrument played by twanging," from Greek psalterion "stringed instrument, psaltery, harp," from psallein "to pluck, play on a stringed instrument" (see psalm).
- psaltery (n.)




- "ancient stringed instrument," c. 1300, from Old French psalterie (12c.), from Latin psalterium "stringed instrument," from Greek psalterion "stringed instrument," from psallein "play on a stringed instrument, pull, pluck" (see psalm).
- psammo-




- word-forming element meaning "sand," from comb. form of Greek psammos "sand," related to psamathos (see sand (n.)). Related: Psammic; psammite.
- psephocracy (n.)




- "government formed by election by ballot," from Greek psephizein "to vote" (properly "to vote with pebbles," from psephos "pebble") + -cracy.
- psephology (n.)




- "study of elections," 1952, from Greek psephizein "to vote" (properly "to vote with pebbles," from psephos "pebble") + -logy.
- psephomancy (n.)




- "divination by pebbles drawn from a heap," 1727, from Greek psephos "pebble" + -mancy.
- pseudepigraphy (n.)




- "ascription of false authorship to a book," 1842, probably via German or French, from pseudo- + epigraph + -y (1). Related: Pseudepigrapha; pseudepigraphic (1830); pseudepigraphical (1838); pseudepigraphal (1630s).
- pseudo (n.)




- late 14c., "false or spurious thing;" see pseudo-. As an adjective in this sense from mid-15c. In modern use, of persons, "pretentious, insincere," from 1945; as a noun from 1959. Related: Pseudish.
- pseudo-




- often before vowels pseud-, word-forming element meaning "false; feigned; erroneous; in appearance only; resembling," from Greek pseudo-, comb. form of pseudes "false, lying; falsely; deceived," or pseudos "falsehood, untruth, a lie," both from pseudein "to deceive, cheat by lies."
Productive in compound formation in ancient Greek (such as pseudodidaskalos "false teacher," pseudokyon "a sham cynic," pseudologia "a false speech," pseudoparthenos "pretended virgin"), it began to be used with native words in Middle English. - pseudo-science (n.)




- also pseudoscience, "a pretended or mistaken science," 1796 (the earliest reference is to alchemy), from pseudo- + science.
The term pseudo-science is hybrid, and therefore objectionable. Pseudognosy would be better etymology, but the unlearned might be apt to association with it the idea of a dog's nose, and thus, instead of taking "the eel of science by the tail," take the cur of science by the snout; so that all things considered we had better adopt the current term pseudo-sciences ["The Pseudo-Sciences," in "The St. James Magazine," January 1842]
- pseudo-scientific (adj.)




- also pseudoscientific, 1816; see pseudo- + scientific; also compare pseudo-science.
- pseudocide (n.)




- "pretended suicide attempt," 1959, from pseudo- + ending abstracted from suicide.
- pseudograph (n.)




- "writing falsely ascribed to someone," 1828 (in German from 1809), from Late Latin pseudographus, from Greek pseudographos "writer of falsehoods," from pseudo- (see pseudo-) + graphos "(something) drawn or written" (see -graphy). Pseudography was in English from 1570s with a sense "misspelling."
- pseudomorph (n.)




- "irregular form," 1838, earlier in German and French, from pseudo- + Greek morphe "form" (see Morpheus). Related: Pseudomorphic.
- pseudonym (n.)




- 1828, in part a back-formation from pseudonymous, in part from German pseudonym and French pseudonyme (adj.), from Greek pseudonymos "having a false name, under a false name," from pseudes "false" (see pseudo-) + onyma, Aeolic dialectal variant of onoma "name" (see name (n.)).
"Possibly a dictionary word" at first [Barnhart]. Fowler calls it "a queer out-of-the-way term for an everyday thing." Properly in reference to made-up names; the name of an actual author or person of reputation affixed to a work he or she did not write is an allonym. An author's actual name affixed to his or her own work is an autonym (1867).