英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

snail (n.)[snail 词源字典]: Old English snægl, from Proto-Germanic *snagila (cognates: Old Saxon snegil, Old Norse snigill, Danish snegl, Swedish snigel, Middle High German snegel, dialectal German Schnegel, Old High German snecko, German Schnecke "snail"), from *snog-, variant of PIE root *sneg- "to crawl, creep; creeping thing" (see snake (n.)). The word essentially is a diminutive form of Old English snaca "snake," which literally means "creeping thing." Also formerly used of slugs. Symbolic of slowness since at least c. 1000; snail's pace is attested from c. 1400.[snail etymology, snail origin, 英语词源]
snake (n.): Old English snaca, from Proto-Germanic *snakon (cognates: Old Norse snakr "snake," Swedish snok, German Schnake "ring snake"), from PIE root *sneg- "to crawl, creeping thing" (cognates: Old Irish snaighim "to creep," Lithuanian snake "snail," Old High German snahhan "to creep"). In Modern English, gradually replacing serpent in popular use.

Traditionally applied to the British serpent, as distinguished from the poisonous adder. Meaning "treacherous person" first recorded 1580s (compare Old Church Slavonic gadu "reptile," gadinu "foul, hateful"). Applied from 17c. to various snake-like devices and appliances. Snakes! as an exclamation is from 1839.

Snake eyes in crap-shooting sense is from 1919. Snake-bitten "unlucky" is sports slang from 1957, from a literal sense, perhaps suggesting one doomed by being poisoned. The game of Snakes and Ladders is attested from 1907. Snake charmer is from 1813. Snake pit is from 1883, as a supposed primitive test of truth or courage; figurative sense is from 1941. Phrase snake in the grass is from Virgil's Latet anguis in herba [Ecl. III:93].
snake (v.): 1650s, "to twist or wind (hair) into the form of a snake," from snake (n.). The intransitive sense of "to move like a snake" is attested from 1848; that of "to wind or twist like a snake" (of roads, etc.) is from 1875. Related: Snaked; snaking.
snake oil (n.): 1927 as "phony remedy," American English, from the use of oil derived from the fat of snakes (especially the rattlesnake) as a folk remedy in the rural regions of the U.S. Snake oil in this sense is attested by 1858. It was a folk remedy for rheumatism and gout in Georgia, but a cure for deafness in rural Pennsylvania. Professional pharmacy journals began to condemn it early 20c., not because it was quackery but because products sold under the name had no real snake oil in them.
What is known as snake oil is usually a combination which is handed out by the dealer to satisfy the demand of some credulous customer. A genuine oil of course is that which is obtained by "trying out" the fat of a snake, usually the rattlesnake, and to preserve their faces druggists sometimes employ a small proportion of such oil in preparing the weird mixtures dispensed by them. ["The Practical Druggist," July 1912]
snakehead (n.): 1845 as a type of plant; 1891 as a type of Asian carnivorous fish," from snake (n.) + head (n.).
snakestone (n.): "fossil ammonite," 1660s, from snake (n.) + stone (n.). So-called from the old popular notion that they were coiled snakes petrified.
snaky (adj.): 1560s, from snake (n.) + -y (2).
snap (n.): late 15c., "quick, sudden bite or cut," from Dutch or Low German snappen "to snap," probably related to Middle Low German or Middle Dutch snavel "bill, beak," from West Germanic *snu-, an imitative root forming words having to do with the nose (see snout).

As an adjective from 1790. Commonly used to indicate instantaneous action, as in snap judgment (1841). Sense of "quick movement" is first recorded 1630s; that of "something easily done" is 1877. Meaning "brief or sudden spell" of weather (usually cold) is from 1740. Meaning "catch or fastener that closes with a snapping sound" is from 1815. The card game name is attested from 1881, from a call used in the game. Meaning "a snap-shot" is from 1894. U.S. football sense is from 1912, earlier snap-back (1880), which also was a name for the center position. Snap, Crackle and Pop, cartoon characters associated with Kellogg breakfast cereal Rice Krispies, are from 1940.
snap (v.): 1520s, of animals, "to make a quick bite," from snap (n.). Meaning "to break suddenly or sharply" is first recorded c. 1600; the mental sense is from 1970s. Meaning "come into place with a snap" is from 1793. Meaning "take a photograph" is from 1890. U.S. football sense first recorded 1887. Related: Snapped; snapping. To snap the fingers is from 1670s. Phrase snap out of it recorded by 1907. Snapping turtle is attested from 1784. Snap-brim (adj.) in reference to a type of hat is from 1928.
snapdragon (n.): garden plant, 1570s, from snap (n.) + dragon. So called from fancied resemblance of antirrhinum flowers to a dragon's mouth. As the name of a Christmas game of plucking raisins from burning brandy and eating them alight, from 1704.
snape (v.): also sneap, "to be hard upon, rebuke, revile, snub," early 14c., from Old Norse sneypa "to outrage, dishonor, disgrace," probably related to similar-sounding words meaning "cut" (compare snip (v.)). Verbal meaning "bevel the end (of a timber) to fit an inclined surface" is of uncertain origin or connection. Snaiping "rebuking, reproaching, reviling" is attested from early 14c.
snapper (n.): "one who or that which snaps," 1570s, agent noun from snap (v.). Applied to various fishes since 1690s. Slang meaning "vagina" is by 2000. As a short form of snapping turtle (1784) it is recorded from 1872. Snappers "teeth" is attested from 1924.
snappish (adj.): "peevish," 1540s, from snap (v.) + -ish. Related: Snappishly; snappishness.
snappy (adj.): "quick, energetic," 1825, from snap (v.) + -y (2). Meaning "clever, smart" is from 1871; that of "neat and stylishly elegant" is from 1881. Related: Snappily; snappiness. Command make it snappy attested from 1910.
snapshot (n.): also snap-shot, 1808, "a quick shot with a gun, without aim, at a fast-moving target," from snap + shot (n.). Photographic sense is attested from 1890. Figuratively, of something captured at a moment in time, from 1897.
snare (n.1): "noose for catching animals," late Old English, from a Scandinavian source such as Old Norse snara "noose, snare," related to soenri "twisted rope," from Proto-Germanic *snarkho (cognates: Middle Dutch snare, Dutch snaar, Old High German snare, German Schnur "noose, cord," Old English snear "a string, cord"). Figuratively from c. 1300.
snare (n.2): "string across a drum," 1680s, probably from Dutch snaar "string," from same source as snare (n.1). From 1938 as short for snare-drum (1873).
snare (v.): late 14c., "to ensnare," from snare (n.1). Related: Snared; snaring.
snarf (v.): "to take, grab," by 1989. Related: Snarfed; snarfing.
snark (n.): imaginary animal, coined 1876 by Lewis Carroll in "The Hunting of the Snark." In 1950s, name of a type of U.S. cruise missile, and in 1980s, of a type of sailboat. Meaning "caustic, opinionated, and critical rhetoric" is from c.2002, probably from snarky and not directly related, if at all, to Lewis Carroll's use of snark.