英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

sparkle (v.)[sparkle 词源字典]: c. 1200, "to shine as if giving off sparks," frequentative verb form of Middle English sparke (see spark (v.)). Meaning "emit sparks" is from late 15c. Related: Sparkled; sparkling.[sparkle etymology, sparkle origin, 英语词源]
sparkler (n.): 1713, "what sparkles" (often of gems, wits, or women), agent noun from sparkle (v.). In the modern hand-held fireworks sense, from 1905.
The New York Board of Fire Underwriters has issued a warning against the storage, sale and use of a new form of fireworks now on the market. These are known as "electric sparklers," are made in Germany, and come to this country in metal lined cases each containing 120 dozen of pasteboard boxes with 12 sparklers in each box. The Board's warning says that while the sparklers appear harmless, the solid incandescent mass is intensely hot and readily communicates fire to any inflammable substance it may touch. ["The Standard" (weekly insurance newspaper), Boston, May 4, 1907]
sparkling (adj.): early 13c., present participle adjective from sparkle (v.). Of eyes and wines from early 15c.; of conversation from 1640s. Related: Sparklingly.
sparkly (adv.): 1922, from sparkle (n.) + -y (2). Related: Sparkliness.
sparrow (n.): small brownish-gray bird (Passer domesticus), Old English spearwa, from Proto-Germanic *sparwan (cognates: Old Norse spörr, Old High German sparo, German Sperling, Gothic sparwa), from PIE *spor-wo-, from root *sper- (3), forming names of small birds (cognates: Cornish frau "crow;" Old Prussian spurglis "sparrow;" Greek spergoulos "small field bird," psar "starling"). In use, with qualifying words, of many small, sparrow-like birds. Sparrowfarts (1886) was Cheshire slang for "very early morning."
sparrowhawk (n.): hawk that preys on small birds, c. 1400, replacing forms from Old English spearhafoc; see sparrow + hawk (n.).
sparse (adj.): 1727, from Latin sparsus "scattered," past participle of spargere "to scatter, spread," from PIE root *(s)preg- (2) "to jerk, scatter" (cognates: Sanskrit parjanya- "rain, rain god," Avestan fra-sparega "branch, twig," literally "that which is jerked off a tree," Old Norse freknur "freckles," Swedish dialectal sprygg "brisk, active," Lithuanian sprogti "shoot, bud," Old Irish arg "a drop"). The word is found earlier in English as a verb, "to scatter abroad" (16c.). Related: Sparsely; sparseness.
Sparta: capital of Laconia in ancient Greece, famed for severity of its social order, the frugality of its people, the valor of its arms, and the brevity of its speech. Also for dirty boys, men vain of their long hair, boxing girls, iron money, and insufferable black broth. The name is said to be from Greek sparte "cord made from spartos," a type of broom, from PIE *spr-to-, from root *sper- (2) "to turn, twist" (see spiral (adj.)). Perhaps the reference is to the cords laid as foundation markers for the city. Or the whole thing could be folk etymology.
Spartacist (n.): German Bolshevik of November 1918 uprising, 1919, from German Spartakist, from Spartacus (d.71 B.C.E.), Thracian leader of Roman Servile War (73-71 B.C.E.), ultimately from Sparta; the name was adopted 1916 as a pseudonym by Karl Liebknecht in his political tracts; thence Spartacist for the socialist revolutionary group he founded with Rosa Luxemburg and Franz Mehring.
Spartan (n.): early 15c., "citizen of the ancient Greek city of Sparta" (q.v.), from Latin Spartanus. As an adjective from 1580s; meaning "characterized by frugality or courage" is from 1640s.
spasm (n.): late 14c., "sudden violent muscular contraction," from Old French spasme (13c.) and directly from Latin spasmus "a spasm," from Greek spasmos "a spasm, convulsion," from span "draw up, tear away, contract violently, pull, pluck," from PIE *spe- "stretch." Figurative sense of "a sudden convulsion" (of emotion, politics, etc.) is attested from 1817.
spasm (v.): 1900, from spasm (n.). Related: Spasmed; spasming.
spasmatic (adj.): c. 1600, from French spasmatique, from Medieval Latin spasmaticus, from Latin spasm (see spasm). Related: Spasmatical.
spasmodic (adj.): 1680s, from French spasmodique, from Medieval Latin spasmodicus, from Greek spasmodes "of the nature of a spasm," from spasmos (see spasm) + -odes "like" (see -oid). Related: Spasmodically.
spastic (adj.): 1753, from Latin spasticus, from Greek spastikos "afflicted with spasms," literally "drawing, pulling, stretching," from span "draw up" (see spasm (n.)). The noun meaning "a person affected with spastic paralysis" is attested from 1896, used insultingly by 1960s. Related: Spastically; spasticity.
spat (n.1): "petty quarrel," 1804, American English, of unknown origin; perhaps somehow imitative (compare spat "smack, slap," attested from 1823).
spat (n.2): "short gaiter covering the ankle" (usually only in plural, spats), 1779, shortening of spatterdash "long gaiter to keep trousers or stockings from being spattered with mud" (1680s), from spatter and dash (v.).
spat (n.3): "spawn of a shellfish," especially "spawn of an oyster," also "a young oyster," 1660s, of unknown origin, perhaps from the past tense of spit (v.1).
spate (n.): early 15c., originally Scottish and northern English, "a sudden flood, especially one caused by heavy rains or a snowmelt," of unknown origin. Perhaps from Old French espoit "flood," from Dutch spuiten "to flow, spout;" related to spout (v.). Figurative sense of "unusual quantity" is attested from 1610s.
spathic (adj.): 1788, from French spathique, from spath, from German Spath (see feldspar).