英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

swordfish (n.)[swordfish 词源字典]: late 15c., swerdfysche (in a recipe), from sword + fish (n.). So called for its elongated upper jaw.[swordfish etymology, swordfish origin, 英语词源]
swordplay (n.): also sword-play, Old English sweordplege; see sword + play (n.).
swordsman (n.): 1670s, from sword + genitive -s- + man (n.). Earlier was swordman (late 14c.); Old English had sweordfreca in the same sense. Related: Swordsmanship (1765).
sworn: past participle of swear; sworn enemies, those who have taken a vow of mutual hatred, is from c. 1600.
swum: past participle and sometimes past tense of swim (v.).
swung: past participle of swing (v.).
sy-: form of syn- before -s- or -z-.
sybarite (n.): "person devoted to pleasure," 1590s, literally "inhabitant of Sybaris," ancient Greek town in southern Italy, whose people were noted for their love of luxury. From Latin Sybarita, from Greek Sybarites.
sybaritic (adj.): 1610s, from Latin sybariticus, from Greek sybaritikos, from Sybarites (see sybarite).
sycamore (n.): mid-14c., sicamour "mulberry-leaved fig tree," from Old French sicamor, sagremore, from Latin sycomorus, from Greek sykomoros "African fig-tree," literally "fig-mulberry," from sykon "fig" (see fig) + moron (see mulberry). But according to many sources this is more likely a folk-etymology of Hebrew shiqmah "mulberry."

A Biblical word, originally used for a wide-spreading shade tree with fig-like fruit (Ficus sycomorus) common in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, etc., whose leaves somewhat resemble those of the mulberry; applied in English from 1580s to a large species of European maple (also plane-tree), perhaps because both it and the Biblical tree were notable for their shadiness (the Holy Family took refuge under a sycamore on the flight to Egypt), and from 1814 to the North American shade tree that also is called a buttonwood, which was introduced to Europe from Virginia 1637 by Filius Tradescant).

Spelling apparently influenced by sycamine "black mulberry tree," which is from Greek sykcaminos, which also is mentioned in the Bible (Luke xvii:6). For the sake of clarity, some writers have used the more Hellenic sycomore in reference to the Biblical tree.
sycophancy (n.): 1620s, from sycophant + -cy, or else from Latin sycophantia, from Greek sykophantia "false accusation, slander; conduct of a sycophant," from sykophantes.
sycophant (n.): 1530s (in Latin form sycophanta), "informer, talebearer, slanderer," from Middle French sycophante and directly from Latin sycophanta, from Greek sykophantes "false accuser, slanderer," literally "one who shows the fig," from sykon "fig" (see fig) + phainein "to show" (see phantasm). "Showing the fig" was a vulgar gesture made by sticking the thumb between two fingers, a display which vaguely resembles a fig, itself symbolic of a vagina (sykon also meant "vulva"). The modern accepted explanation is that prominent politicians in ancient Greece held aloof from such inflammatory gestures, but privately urged their followers to taunt their opponents. The sense of "mean, servile flatterer" is first recorded in English 1570s.
The explanation, long current, that it orig. meant an informer against the unlawful exportation of figs cannot be substantiated. [OED]
sycophantic (adj.): 1670s, from Greek sykophantikos, from sykophantes (see sycophant). Related: Sycophantical (1560s).
Sydney: Australian city, founded 1788 and named for British Home Secretary Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney (1733-1800). The family name (also Sidney) is literally "dweller by the well-watered land," from Old English sid "side" + ieg "island."
syl-: assimilated form of Greek syn- before -l-.
syllabic (adj.): 1728, from Modern Latin syllabicus, from Greek syllabikos "of or pertaining to a syllable," from syllabe "a syllable" (see syllable). Related: Syllabical (1520s).
syllable (n.): late 14c., from Anglo-French sillable, alteration of Old French silabe "syllable" (12c., Modern French syllabe), from Latin syllaba, from Greek syllabe "that which is held together; a syllable, several sounds or letters taken together," i.e. "a taking together" of letters; from syllambanein "take or put together, collect, gather," from assimilated form of syn- "together" (see syn-) + stem of lambanein "to take" (see analemma). The unetymological -le apparently is by analogy with participle and principle.
syllabus (n.): 1650s, "table of contents of a series of lectures, etc.," from Late Latin syllabus "list," ultimately a misreading of Greek sittybos "parchment label, table of contents," of unknown origin. The misprint appeared in a 15c. edition of Cicero's "Ad Atticum" (see OED). Had it been a real word, the proper plural would be syllabi.
syllepsis (n.): use of a word at once in both a literal and metaphoric sense, 1570s, from Late Latin syllepsis, from assimilated form of Greek syn "together" (see syn-) + lepsis "a taking," related to lambanein (see analemma). Related: Sylleptic.
syllogism (n.): late 14c., from Old French silogisme "a syllogism, scholastic argument based on a formula or proof" (13c., Modern French syllogisme), from Latin syllogismus, from Greek syllogismos "a syllogism," originally "inference, conclusion; computation, calculation," from syllogizesthai "bring together before the mind, compute, conclude," literally "think together," from assimilated form of syn- "together" (see syn-) + logizesthai "to reason, count," from logos "a reckoning, reason" (see logos).