英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

your [your 词源字典]: your: see you
[your etymology, your origin, 英语词源]
Yule: Yule: [OE] Old English gēol, the ancestor of modern English Yule, was originally the name of a pre-Christian mid-winter festival, but it later came to be applied to ‘Christmas’. It was related to Old Norse jól ‘mid-winter festival’ (possible source of English jolly), but where it ultimately came from is not known. It has been speculated that it may be descended from the Indo- European base *qwelo- ‘go round’ (source of English cycle and wheel), in which case it would denote etymologically the ‘turn’ of the year.
yuppie: yuppie: [20] Yuppie is an acronym, formed in the USA from the initial letters of ‘young urban professional’. It came on the scene in 1984, and at first competed with yumpie (formed from ‘young upwardly mobile people’). It was yuppie which won out, and indeed has thrived to such an extent as to produce a whole range of (more or less ephemeral) clones such as buppie ‘black yuppie’, guppie ‘green [ecologically concerned] yuppie’, and Juppie ‘Japanese yuppie’.
Y: a late-developing letter in English. Called ipsilon in German, upsilon in Greek, the English name is of obscure origin. The sound at the beginning of yard, yes, yield, etc. is from Old English words with initial g- as in got and y- as in yet, which were considered the same sound and often transcribed as Ȝ, known as yogh. The system was altered by French scribes, who brought over the continental use of -g- and from the early 1200s used -y- and sometimes -gh- to replace Ȝ. As short for YMCA, etc., by 1915.
y'all (pron.): by 1879, U.S. dialect abbreviation of you all (see you, and compare yins).
Children learn from the slaves some odd phrases ... as ... will you all do this? for, will one of you do this? ["Arthur Singleton" (Henry C. Knight), "Letters from the South and West," 1824]
We-all for "us" is attested by 1865; we-uns by 1864. Who-all attested from 1899.
y-: perfective prefix, in yclept, etc.; a deliberate archaism, introduced by Spenser and his imitators, representing an authentic Middle English prefix, from Old English ge-, originally meaning "with, together" but later a completive or perfective element, from Proto-Germanic *ga- "together, with" (also a collective and intensive prefix), from PIE *kom "beside, near, by, with" (cognate with Sanskrit ja-, Latin com-, cum-; see com-). It is still living in German and Dutch ge-, and survives, disguised, in some English words (such as alike, aware, handiwork).

Among hundreds of Middle English words it formed are yfallen, yhacked ("completely hacked," probably now again useful), yknow, ymarried, ywrought.
yacht (n.): 1550s, yeaghe "a light, fast-sailing ship," from Norwegian jaght or early Dutch jaght, both from Middle Low German jacht, shortened form of jachtschip "fast pirate ship," literally "ship for chasing," from jacht "chase," from jagen "to chase, hunt," from Old High German jagon, from Proto-Germanic *yago-, from PIE root *yek- (2) "to hunt" (cognates: Hittite ekt- "hunting net"). Related: Yachting; yachtsman.
yack (v.): also yak, "to talk, to chatter," 1950, slang, probably short for yackety-yacking "talk" (1947), probably echoic (compare Australian slang yacker "talk, conversation," 1882). Related: Yacked; yacking.
yadda-yadda: "and so on," 1990s, of echoic origin (compare yatata "talk idly, chatter," 1940s; and yatter "to talk incessantly or idly," 1825).
yah (interj.): exclamation of defiance or dismissal, from 1812. Extended form yah-boo by 1910.
yahoo (n.): "a brute in human form," 1726, from the race of brutish human creatures in Swift's "Gulliver's Travels." "A made name, prob. meant to suggest disgust" [Century Dictionary]. "Freq. in mod. use, a person lacking cultivation or sensibility, a philistine; a lout; a hooligan" [OED]. The internet search engine so called from 1994.
Yahtzee (n.): dice game, 1957, proprietary (E.S. Lowe Co., N.Y.), apparently based on yacht.
Yahweh: 1869, hypothetical reconstruction of the tetragrammaton YHWH (see Jehovah), based on the assumption that the tetragrammaton is the imperfective of Hebrew verb hawah, earlier form of hayah "was," in the sense of "the one who is, the existing."
yak (n.): "wild ox of central Asia," 1795, from Tibetan g-yag "male yak." Attested in French from 1791.
yak (v.): "laugh," 1938, variant of yuck (2); "talk idly," 1950, variant of yack. Related: Yakked; yakking.
Yakima: Native American people of Washington State, 1852, perhaps from Sahaptin /iyakima/ "pregnant women."
yakuza (n.): traditional Japanese organized crime cartel, literally "eight-nine-three" (ya, ku, sa) the losing hand in the traditional baccarat-like Japanese card game Oicho-Kabu. The notion may be "good for nothing," or "bad luck" (such as that suffered by someone who runs afoul of them), or it may be a reference to the fact that a player who draws this hand requires great skill to win.
Yale: university in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S., founded 1701 as Collegiate School, renamed 1718 in honor of a gift from British merchant-philanthropist Elihu Yale (1649-1721). As a kind of lock, 1854, invented by U.S. mechanic Linus Yale Jr. (1821-1868). The surname is Welsh, from ial, and means "dweller at the fertile upland." Related: Yalie.
yam (n.): 1580s, igname (current form by 1690s), from Portuguese inhame or Spanish igname, from a West African language (compare Fulani nyami "to eat;" Twi anyinam "species of yam"); the word in American and Jamaican English probably is directly from West African sources. The Malay name is ubi, whence German öbiswurzel.
yammer (v.): late 15c., "to lament," probably from Middle Dutch jammeren and cognate Middle English yeoumeren, "to mourn, complain," from Old English geomrian "to lament," from geomor "sorrowful," probably of imitative origin. Cognate with Old Saxon jamar "sad, sorrowful," German Jammer "lamentation, misery." Meaning "to make loud, annoying noise" is attested from 1510s. Related: Yammered; yammering.