英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

anatomy [anatomy 词源字典]: anatomy: [14] Etymologically, anatomy means ‘cutting up’ (the Greek noun anatomíā was compounded from the prefix ana- ‘up’ and the base *tom-, which figures in several English surgical terms, such as tonsillectomy [19], as well as in atom and tome), and when it first came into English it meant literally ‘dissection’ as well as ‘science of bodily structure’.

From the 16th century to the early 19th century it was also used for ‘skeleton’, and in this sense it was often misanalysed as an atomy, as if the initial anwere the indefinite article: ‘My bones … will be taken up smooth, and white, and bare as an atomy’, Tobias Smollett, Don Quixote 1755.
=> atom, tome[anatomy etymology, anatomy origin, 英语词源]
dentist: dentist: [18] Dentist was borrowed from French dentiste, and at first was ridiculed as a highfalutin foreign term: ‘Dentist figures it now in our newspapers, and may do well enough for a French puffer; but we fancy Rutter is content with being called a tooth-drawer’, Edinburgh Chronicle 15 September 1759. It was a derivative of French dent ‘tooth’, which goes back via Latin dēns to an Indo-European base *dont-, *dent-, source also of English tooth. Other English descendants of Latin dēns include dental [16] and denture [19].
=> indent, tooth
group: group: [17] Group was originally a term in art criticism. It referred to the disposition of a set of figures or objects in a painting, drawing, etc. Not until the 18th century was it used in its current general sense. It comes via French groupe from Italian gruppo, which was borrowed originally from prehistoric Germanic *kruppaz ‘round mass, lump’ (formed from the same base as produced English crop).
=> crop
sum: sum: [13] Latin summus meant ‘highest’ (a meaning preserved in English summit [15], which is ultimately derived from it); it evolved from an earlier *supmus, a superlative form based on the stem of Latin super ‘above’ (source of English super). When the Romans counted up columns of figures they worked from the bottom upwards, and put the total on top – whence the use of the expression rēs summa, literally ‘highest thing’, for ‘total’. This was eventually shortened to summa, which reached English via Old French summe. Other derivatives in English include consummate [15] and summary [15].
=> consummate, summary, summit
table: table: [12] Latin tabula originally denoted a ‘board’ or ‘plank’, and hence a ‘slab for writing on’ and a ‘list or similar arrangement of words or figures written on such a slab’ (as in a ‘table of contents’). It was in the farther outposts of the Roman empire that the sense ‘piece of furniture for serving meals on’ emerged – possibly in Frankish, where it would have been a direct translation of the term used for ‘table’, which meant literally ‘serving board’ (until tables with legs found their way northward from Greece and Rome, food had been served on individual trays or boards).

In much of the empire it became established as the word for ‘table’ (and it passed into English via Old French table), although in Spanish the original Latin term mensa survived as mesa. Derivatives in English include entablature [17], tableau [17] (originally a French diminutive form), tablet, tabloid, and tabular [17].
=> entablature, tableau, tablet, tabloid, tabular
troubadour: troubadour: [18] A troubadour is etymologically someone who ‘finds’ – that is, ‘composes’ – songs. The word comes via French troubadour from Provençal trobador, a derivative of the verb trobar (whose modern French equivalent is trouver). This seems originally to have meant ‘compose’, and later to have shifted its semantic ground via ‘invent’ to ‘find’.

It is not known for certain where it came from, but one theory traces it back via a Vulgar Latin *tropāre to Latin tropus ‘figure of speech’ (source of English trope [16]). This in turn was borrowed from Greek trópos ‘turn’, a relative of English trophy and tropic. If this is so, its ancestral meaning would be ‘use figures of speech’.
=> tropic
zodiac: zodiac: [14] The zodiac is etymologically a circle of ‘little animals’. Greek zóidion originally denoted a ‘carved figure of an animal’ (it was a diminutive of zóion ‘animal’, a relative of English zoo). From it was derived the adjective zōidiakós, which was used in the expression zōidiakós kúklos ‘circle of carved figures’, denoting the twelve figures or signs representing the divisions of a band around the celestial sphere. Zōidiakós became a noun in its own right, and passed into English via Latin zōdiacus and French zodiaque.
=> zoo
agate (n.): 1560s, from Middle French agathe (16c.), from Latin achates, from Greek akhates, the name of a river in Sicily where the stones were found (Pliny). But the river could as easily be named for the stone.

The earlier English form of the word, achate (early 13c.), was directly from Latin. Figurative sense of "a diminutive person" (c. 1600) is from the now-obsolete meaning "small figures cut in agates for seals," preserved in typographer's agate (1838), the U.S. name of the 5.5-point font called in Great Britain ruby. Meaning "toy marble made of glass resembling agate" is from 1843 (colloquially called an aggie).
Albert: masc. proper name, from German (the French form is Aubert), from Old High German Adalbert, cognate of Old English Æþelbeorht "Noble-bright" (which was sometimes metathesized as Æþelbriht, hence the surname Albright). Second element is from Proto-Germanic berhta- "bright," from PIE *bhereg- "to shine; bright, white" (see bright). It also figures in the names Egbert, Gilbert, Herbert, Hubert, Lambert. As a kind of watch chain, from 1861 (see Prince Albert).
astronomical (adj.): 1550s, from astronomy + -ical. Popular meaning "immense, concerning very large figures" (as sizes and distances in astronomy) is attested from 1899. Astronomical unit (abbreviation A.U.) "mean distance from Earth to Sun," used as a unit of measure of distance in space, is from 1909. Related: Astronomically.
barleycorn (n.): late 14c., from barley + corn (n.1). Perhaps to distinguish the barley plant or the grain from its products. In Britain and U.S., the grain is used mainly to prepare liquor, hence personification as John Barleycorn (1620) in popular ballad, and many now-obsolete figures of speech, such as to wear a barley cap (16c.) "to be drunk."
beryllium (n.): metallic element, 1863, so called because it figures in the composition of the pale green precious stone beryl and was identified in emerald (green beryl) in 1797 by French chemist Louis Nicolas Vauquelin (1763-1829) and first isolated in 1828. At first and through 19c. also sometimes called glucinum or glucinium.
brite: variant of bright (adj.). It figures in English phonetic spelling reform from at least the late 19c.; as an advertiser's word it dates from at least 1905 ("Star-brite Metal Polish," made by the Star-Brite Company of Lancaster, Pa., U.S.).
care (v.): Old English carian, cearian "be anxious, grieve; to feel concern or interest," from Proto-Germanic *karo- "lament," hence "grief, care" (cognates: Old High German charon "to lament," Old Saxon karon "to care, to sorrow"), from Proto-Germanic *karo (cognates: Old Saxon kara "sorrow;" Old High German chara "wail, lament;" Gothic kara "sorrow, trouble, care;" German Karfreitag "Good Friday"), from PIE root *gar- "cry out, call, scream" (cognates: Irish gairm "shout, cry, call;" see garrulous). OED emphasizes that it is in "no way related to L. cura." Related: Cared; caring. Positive senses, such as "have an inclination" (1550s); "have fondness for" (1520s) seem to have developed later as mirrors to the earlier negative ones.

To not care as a negative dismissal is attested from mid-13c. Phrase couldn't care less is from 1946; could care less in the same sense (with an understood negative) is from 1957. Care also figures in many "similies of indifference" in the form don't care a _____, with the blank filled by fig, pin, button, cent, straw, rush, point, farthing, snap, etc., etc.
caryatid (n.): "carved female figure used as a column," 1560s, from Middle French cariatide, from Latin caryatides, from Greek Karyatides (singular Karyatis) "priestesses of Artemis at Caryae" (Greek Karyai), a town in Laconia where dance festivals were held in Artemis' temple. Male figures in a like situation are Atlantes, plural of Atlas.
case (n.2): "receptacle," early 14c., from Anglo-French and Old North French casse (Old French chasse "case, reliquary;" Modern French châsse), from Latin capsa "box, repository" (especially for books), from capere "to take, hold" (see capable).

Meaning "outer protective covering" is from late 14c. Also used from 1660s with a sense "frame" (as in staircase, casement). Artillery sense is from 1660s, from case-shot "small projectiles put in cases" (1620s). Its application in the printing trade (first recorded 1580s) to the two trays where compositors keep their types in separate compartments for easy access led to upper-case letter for a capital (1862) and lower-case for small letters.
"The cases, or receptacles, for the type, which are always in pairs, and termed the 'upper' and the 'lower,' are formed of two oblong wooden frames, divided into compartments or boxes of different dimensions, the upper case containing ninety-eight and the lower fifty-four. In the upper case are placed the capital, small capital, and accented letters, also figures, signs for reference to notes &c.; in the lower case the ordinary running letter, points for punctuation, spaces for separating the words, and quadrats for filling up the short lines." ["The Literary Gazette," Jan. 29, 1859]
chestnut (n.): 1560s, from chesten nut (1510s), with superfluous nut (n.) + Middle English chasteine, from Old French chastain (12c., Modern French châtaigne), from Latin castanea "chestnut, chestnut tree," from Greek kastaneia, which the Greeks thought meant either "nut from Castanea" in Pontus, or "nut from Castana" in Thessaly, but probably both places are named for the trees, not the other way around, and the word is borrowed from a language of Asia Minor (compare Armenian kask "chestnut," kaskeni "chestnut tree"). In reference to the dark reddish-brown color, 1650s. Applied to the horse-chestnut by 1832.

Slang sense of "venerable joke or story" is from 1885, explained 1888 by Joseph Jefferson (see "Lippincott's Monthly Magazine," January 1888) as probably abstracted from the 1816 melodrama "The Broken Sword" by William Dimond where an oft-repeated story involving a chestnut tree figures in an exchange between the characters "Captain Zavior" and "Pablo":
Zav. Let me see--ay! it is exactly six years since that peace being restored to Spain, and my ship paid off, my kind brother offered me a snug hammock in the dwelling of my forefathers. I mounted a mule at Barcelona and trotted away for my native mountains. At the dawn of the fourth day's journey, I entered the wood of Collares, when, suddenly, from the thick boughs of a cork-tree--
Pab. [Jumping up.] A chesnut, Captain, a chesnut!
Zav. Bah, you booby! I say, a cork!
Pab. And I swear, a chesnut. Captain, this is the twenty-seventh time I have heard you relate this story, and you invariably said, a chesnut, till now.
Jefferson traced the connection through William Warren, "the veteran comedian of Boston" who often played Pablo in the melodrama.
console (n.): 1706, "a cabinet; an ornamental base structure," from French console "a bracket" (16c.), which is of uncertain origin, possibly from Middle French consolateur, literally "one who consoles," word used for carved human figures supporting cornices, shelves or rails in choir stalls. Another guess connects it to Latin consolidare. Sense evolved to "body of a musical organ" (1881), "radio cabinet" (1925), then "cabinet for a TV, stereo, etc." (1944).
dentist (n.): 1759, from French dentiste, from dent "tooth," from Latin dens (see tooth) + -ist.
Dentist figures it now in our newspapers, and may do well enough for a French puffer, but we fancy Rutter is content with being called a tooth-drawer ["Edinburgh Chronicle," Sept. 15, 1759].
Tooth-drawer is attested from late 14c.
diaper (n.): mid-14c., "fabric with a repeated pattern of figures," from Old French diaspre "ornamental cloth; flowered, patterned silk cloth," perhaps via Medieval Latin diasprum from Medieval Greek diaspros "thoroughly white," or perhaps "white interspersed with other colors," from dia- (see dia-) + aspros "white."

Aspros originally meant "rough," and was applied to the raised parts of coins (among other things), and thus was used in Byzantine Greek to mean "silver coin," from which the bright, shiny qualities made it an adjective for whiteness. Modern sense of "underpants for babies" is continuous since 1837, but such usage has been traced back to 1590s.
effigy (n.): "image of a person," 1530s, from Middle French effigie (13c.), from Latin effigies "copy or imitation of something, likeness, image, statue," from or related to effingere "to mold, fashion, portray," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + fingere "to form, shape" (see fiction). The Latin word was regarded as plural and the -s was lopped off by 18c. Especially figures made of stuffed clothing; the burning or hanging of them is attested by 1670s. Formerly done by judicial authorities as symbolic punishment of criminals who had escaped their jurisdiction; later a popular expression against persons deemed obnoxious. Related: Effigial.
fact (n.): 1530s, "action, anything done," especially "evil deed," from Latin factum "an event, occurrence, deed, achievement," in Medieval Latin also "state, condition, circumstance," literally "thing done" (source also of Old French fait, Spanish hecho, Italian fatto), noun use of neuter of factus, past participle of facere "to do" (see factitious). Main modern sense of "thing known to be true" is from 1630s, from notion of "something that has actually occurred."

Compare feat, which is an earlier adoption of the same word via French. Facts "real state of things (as distinguished from a statement of belief)" is from 1630s. In fact "in reality" is from 1707. Facts of life "harsh realities" is from 1854; euphemistic sense of "human sexual functions" first recorded 1913. Alliterative pairing of facts and figures is from 1727.
Facts and Figures are the most stubborn Evidences; they neither yield to the most persuasive Eloquence, nor bend to the most imperious Authority. [Abel Boyer, "The Political State of Great Britain," 1727]
figurante (n.): "one who dances in the 'figures' of the ballet" (in troops and as background for soloists), 1775, from French figurante, noun use of fem. past participle of figurer (see figure (v.)). In some cases perhaps from Italian figurante.
figurative (adj.): late 14c., "emblematical," from Old French figuratif "metaphorical," from Late Latin figurativus "figurative" (of speech), from figurat-, past participle stem of Latin figurare "to form, shape," from figura "a shape, form, figure" (see figure (n.)). Of speech, language, etc., "allegorical, metaphoric, involving figures of speech," from late 14c. Related: Figuratively.
figure (v.): late 14c., "to represent" (in painting or sculpture), "make a likeness," also "to have a certain shape or appearance," from Old French figurer, from Latin figurare (see figure (n.)). Meaning "to shape into" is c. 1400; from mid-15c. as "to cover or adorn with figures." Meaning "to picture in the mind" is from c. 1600. Intransitive meaning "make an appearance, make a figure, show oneself" is from c. 1600. Meaning "work out a sum" (by means of arithmetical figures) is from 1833, American English; hence colloquial sense "to calculate upon, expect" (1837). Related: Figured; figuring.
foreclose (v.): late 13c., from Old French forclos, past participle of forclore "exclude, shut out; shun; drive away" (12c.), from fors "out" (Modern French hors; from Latin foris "outside;" see foreign) + clore "to shut" (see close (v.)). Senses in English influenced by words in for- (which is partly synonymous with the Latin word) and spelling by a mistaken association with native fore-. Specific mortgage law sense is first attested 1728. Other Middle English for- words in which the same prefix figures include forjuggen "condemn, convict, banish;" forloinen "forsake, stray from," and forfeit. Related: Foreclosed; foreclosing.
furlong (n.): measure of distance of roughly 660 feet, from Old English furlang, originally the length of a furrow in a common field of 10 acres, from furh "furrow" (see furrow (n.)) + lang "long" (see long (adj.)). The "acre" of the common field being variously measured, the furlong varied but eventually was fixed by custom at 40 rods. Used from 9c. to translate Latin stadium (625 feet), one-eighth of a Roman mile, and so the English word came to be used for "one-eighth of an English mile," though this led to a different measure for the English mile than the Roman one. Furlong being so important in land deed records (where mile hardly figures) it was thought best to redefine the mile rather than the furlong, which was done under Elizabeth I.
Galilee: "northernmost province of Palestine," late 12c., from Latin Galilaea, Greek Galilaia, with place-name element + Hebrew Haggalil, literally "The District," a compressed form of Gelil haggoyim "the District of Nations" (see Isa. viii:23). The adjective Galilean, also Galilaean, is used both of Jesus, who was raised and began preaching there, and his followers (1610s), who was born there, and of the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei (1727); the family name is from one of its ancestors, Galileo de'Bonajuti, a prominent 15th century physician and civic leader in Florence, and represents Latin Galilaeus "Galilean." Galilean also figures as the word applied to early Christians among the pagans and Jews. Old and Middle English had Galileish
graver (n.): "one who cuts (letters or figures) in stone, wood, etc.," Old English græfere, agent noun from grafan (see grave (v.)). As "tool for engraving" from 1540s.
group (n.): 1690s, originally an art criticism term, "assemblage of figures or objects forming a harmonious whole in a painting or design," from French groupe "cluster, group" (17c.), from Italian gruppo "group, knot," which probably is, with Spanish grupo, from a Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *kruppaz "round mass, lump," part of the general group of Germanic kr- words with the sense :rounded mass" (such as crop (n.). Extended to "any assemblage, a number of individuals related in some way" by 1736. Meaning "pop music combo" is from 1958.
imagery (n.): mid-14c., "piece of sculpture, carved figures," from Old French imagerie (13c.), from imagier "painter," from image (see image (n.)). Meaning "ornate description" (in poetry, etc.) is from 1580s.
isocephalic (adj.): "having the heads of the principal figures at about the same level," from Greek isokephalos "like-headed," from isos "equal" (see iso-) + kephale "head" (see cephalo-).
mannequin (n.): 1902, "model to display clothes," from French mannequin (15c.), from Dutch manneken (see manikin). A French form of the same word that yielded manikin, and sometimes mannequin was used in English in a sense "artificial man" (especially in translations of Hugo). Originally of persons, in a sense where we might use "model."
A mannequin is a good-looking, admirably formed young lady, whose mission is to dress herself in her employer's latest "creations," and to impart to them the grace which only perfect forms can give. Her grammar may be bad, and her temper worse, but she must have the chic the Parisienne possesses, no matter whether she hails from the aristocratic Faubourg St. Germain or from the Faubourg Montmartre. ["The Bystander," Aug. 15, 1906]
Later (by 1939) of artificial model figures to display clothing.
meld (v.): "to blend together, merge, unite" (intransitive), by 1910, of uncertain origin. OED suggests "perh. a blend of MELT v.1 and WELD v." Said elsewhere to be a verb use of melled "mingled, blended," past participle of dialectal mell "to mingle, mix, combine, blend."
[T]he biplane grew smaller and smaller, the stacatto clatter of the motor became once more a drone which imperceptibly became melded with the waning murmur of country sounds .... ["Aircraft" magazine, October 1910]
But it is perhaps an image from card-playing, where the verb meld is attested by 1907 in a sense of "combine two cards for a score:"
Upon winning a trick, and before drawing from the stock, the player can "meld" certain combinations of cards. [rules for two-hand pinochle in "Hoyle's Games," 1907]
The rise of the general sense of the word in English coincides with the craze for canasta, in which melding figures. The card-playing sense is said to be "apparently" from German melden "make known, announce," from Old High German meldon, from Proto-Germanic *meldojan (source of Old English meldian "to declare, tell, display, proclaim"), and the notion is of "declaring" the combination of cards. Related: Melded; melding.
moxie (n.): "courage," 1930, from Moxie, brand name of a bitter, non-alcoholic drink, 1885, perhaps as far back as 1876 as the name of a patent medicine advertised to "build up your nerve;" despite legendary origin stories put out by the company that made it, it is perhaps ultimately from a New England Indian word (it figures in river and lake names in Maine, where it is apparently from Abenaki and means "dark water"). Much-imitated in its day; in 1917 the Moxie Company won an infringement suit against a competitor's beverage marketed as "Proxie."
musical (n.): "theatrical piece in which music figures prominently," 1937, from musical (adj.) in musical play. Earlier as a noun it meant "musical instrument" (c. 1500), "musical performance" (1570s); "musical party" (1823, a sense now in musicale).
posable (adj.): 1972 of questions; 1975 of action figures; from pose (v.1 and 2) + -able.
punching (n.): c. 1400, "the cutting out of figures;" early 15c. as "a blow with the fist," verbal noun from punch (v.). Related: Punching-bag (1889, figurative sense by 1903; also punch-bag).
razzle-dazzle (n.): 1886, American English slang, varied reduplication of dazzle (q.v.).
My confrère, The Chevalier, last month gave a new name to the scarfs of disjointed pattern when he called them the razzle-dazzle. The name was evidently a hit of the most patent character, for in several avenue and Broadway stores the clerks have thrown out a display of broken figures before me and explained that the ruling style at present was the razzle-dazzle, and the word seems to have been equally effective with the public, for when it is quoted by the live salesman, the customer, I am told is at once interested and caught by it. ["Clothier and Furnisher" magazine, Jan. 1889]
Meaning "state of confusion" is from 1889.
sack (n.1): "large bag," Old English sacc (West Saxon), sec (Mercian), sæc (Old Kentish) "large cloth bag," also "sackcloth," from Proto-Germanic *sakkiz (cognates: Middle Dutch sak, Old High German sac, Old Norse sekkr, but Gothic sakkus probably is directly from Greek), an early borrowing from Latin saccus (also source of Old French sac, Spanish saco, Italian sacco), from Greek sakkos, from Semitic (compare Hebrew saq "sack").

The wide spread of the word is probably due to the Biblical story of Joseph, in which a sack of corn figures (Gen. xliv). Baseball slang sense of "a base" is attested from 1913. Slang meaning "bunk, bed" is from 1825, originally nautical. The verb meaning "go to bed" is recorded from 1946. Sack race attested from 1805.
Saxon (n.): c. 1200, from Late Latin Saxonem (nominative Saxo; also source of French Saxon, Spanish Sajon, Italian Sassone), usually found in plural Saxones, from a Germanic source (Old English Seaxe, Old High German Sahsun, German Sachse "Saxon"), with a possible literal sense of "swordsmen" (compare Old English seax, Old Frisian, Old Norse sax "knife, short sword, dagger," Old High German Saxnot, name of a war-god), from Proto-Germanic *sahsam "knife," from PIE *sek- "to cut" (see section (n.)).

The word figures in the well-known story, related by Geoffrey of Monmouth, who got it from Nennius, of the treacherous slaughter by the Anglo-Saxons of their British hosts:
Accordingly they all met at the time and place appointed, and began to treat of peace; and when a fit opportunity offered for executing his villany, Hengist cried out, "Nemet oure Saxas," and the same instant seized Vortigern, and held him by his cloak. The Saxons, upon the signal given, drew their daggers, and falling upon the princes, who little suspected any such design, assassinated them to the number of four hundred and sixty barons and consuls ....
The OED editors helpfully point out that the correct Old English (with an uninflected plural) would be nimað eowre seax. For other Germanic national names that may have derived from characteristic tribal weapons, see Frank, Lombard. As an adjective from 1560s. Still in 20c. used by Celtic speakers to mean "an Englishman" (Welsh Sais, plural Seison "an Englishman;" Seisoneg "English").

In reference to the modern German state of Saxony (German Sachsen, French Saxe) it is attested from 1630s. Saxon is the source of the -sex in Essex, Sussex, etc. (compare Middlesex, from Old English Middel-Seaxe "Middle Saxons"). Bede distinguished the Anglo-Saxons, who conquered much of southern Britain, from the Ealdesaxe "Old Saxons," who stayed in Germany.
scarlet (n.): mid-13c., "rich cloth" (often, but not necessarily, bright red), from a shortened form of Old French escarlate "scarlet (color), top-quality fabric" (12c., Modern French écarlate), from Medieval Latin scarlatum "scarlet, cloth of scarlet" (also source of Italian scarlatto, Spanish escarlate), probably via a Middle Eastern source (compare Arabic siqillat "fine cloth"), from Medieval Greek and ultimately from Late Latin sigillatus "clothes and cloth decorated with small symbols or figures," literally "sealed," past participle of sigillare, from the root of sign (n.).

In English as the name of a color, attested from late 14c. As an adjective from c. 1300. Scarlet lady, etc. (Isa. i:18, Rev. xvii:1-5) is from notion of "red with shame or indignation." Scarlet fever is from 1670s, so called for its characteristic rash. Scarlet oak, a New World tree, attested from 1590s. Scarlet letter traces to Hawthorne's story (1850). German Scharlach, Dutch scharlaken show influence of words cognate with English lake (n.2).
separatrix (n.): line or hooked line used to separate printed figures, originally with numerals and used where modern texts use a decimal point, also in other specialized senses, from Late Latin (linea) separatrix, feminine agent noun from separare (see separate (v.)).
spoonerism (n.): 1900, but according to OED in use at Oxford as early as 1885, involuntary transposition of sounds in two or more words (such as "shoving leopard" for "loving shepherd," "half-warmed fish" for "half-formed wish," "beery work speaking to empty wenches," etc.), in reference to the Rev. William A. Spooner (1844-1930), warden of New College, Oxford, who was noted for such disfigures of speech. A different thing from malapropism.
square (adj.): early 14c., "containing four equal sides and right angles," from square (n.), or from Old French esquarre, past participle of esquarrer. Meaning "honest, fair," is first attested 1560s; that of "straight, direct" is from 1804. Of meals, from 1868.

Sense of "old-fashioned" is 1944, U.S. jazz slang, said to be from shape of a conductor's hand gestures in a regular four-beat rhythm. Square-toes meant nearly the same thing late 18c.: "precise, formal, old-fashioned person," from the style of men's shoes worn early 18c. and then fallen from fashion. Squaresville is attested from 1956. Square dance attested by 1831; originally one in which the couples faced inward from four sides; later of country dances generally.
[T]he old square dance is an abortive attempt at conversation while engaged in walking certain mathematical figures over a limited area. [March 1868]
sum (n.): c. 1300, summe, "quantity or amount of money," from Anglo-French and Old French summe, somme "amount, total; collection; essential point; summing up, conclusion" (13c., Modern French somme), from Latin summa "the top, summit; chief place, highest rank; main thing, chief point, essence, gist; an amount (of money)," noun use (via phrases such as summa pars, summa res) of fem. of summus "highest, uppermost," from PIE *sup-mos-, from root *uper "over" (see super-).

The sense development from "highest" to "total number, the whole" probably is via the Roman custom of adding up a stack of figures from the bottom and writing the sum at the top, rather than at the bottom as now (compare the bottom line).

General sense of "numerical quantity" of anything, "a total number" is from late 14c. Meaning "essence of a writing or speech" also is attested from mid-14c. Meaning "aggregate of two or more numbers" is from early 15c.; sense of "arithmetical problem to be solved" is from 1803. Sum-total is attested from late 14c., from Medieval Latin summa totalis.
suspicion (n.): c. 1300, "act of suspecting; unverified conjecture of wrongdoing; mistrust, distrust," from Anglo-French suspecioun, corresponding to Old French suspicion, sospeçon "mistrust, suspicion" (Modern French soupçon), from Late Latin suspectionem (nominative suspectio) "mistrust, suspicion, fear, awe," noun of state from past participle stem of Latin suspicere "look up at" (see suspect (adj.)). Spelling in English influenced 14c. by learned Old French forms closer to Latin suspicionem. Used as a verb meaning "to suspect," it figures in literary representations of U.S. Western (Kentucky) slang from 1830s.

"Suspicion" words in other Indo-European languages also tend to be words for "think" or "look" with prefixes meaning "under, behind;" such as Greek hypopsia (hypo "under," opsis "sight"), hyponoia (noein "to think"); Lettish aizduomas (aiz "behind," duomat "think"); Russian podozrenie (Slavic podu "under," Old Church Slavonic zireti "see, look"); Dutch achterdocht (achter "behind," denken "to think").
table (n.): late 12c., "board, slab, plate," from Old French table "board, square panel, plank; writing table; picture; food, fare" (11c.), and late Old English tabele "writing tablet, gaming table," from Germanic *tabal (cognates: Dutch tafel, Danish tavle, Old High German zabel "board, plank," German Tafel). Both the French and Germanic words are from Latin tabula "a board, plank; writing table; list, schedule; picture, painted panel," originally "small flat slab or piece" usually for inscriptions or for games (source also of Spanish tabla, Italian tavola), of uncertain origin, related to Umbrian tafle "on the board."

The sense of "piece of furniture with the flat top and legs" first recorded c. 1300 (the usual Latin word for this was mensa (see mensa); Old English writers used bord (see board (n.1)). Especially the table at which people eat, hence "food placed upon a table" (c. 1400 in English). The meaning "arrangement of numbers or other figures on a tabular surface for convenience" is recorded from late 14c. (as in table of contents, mid-15c.).

Figurative phrase turn the tables (1630s) is from backgammon (in Old and Middle English the game was called tables). Table talk "familiar conversation around a table" is attested from 1560s, translating Latin colloquia mensalis. Table-manners is from 1824. Table-hopping is first recorded 1943. The adjectival phrase under-the-table "hidden from view" is recorded from 1949; to be under the table "passed out from excess drinking" is recorded from 1913. Table tennis "ping-pong" is recorded from 1887. Table-rapping in spiritualism, supposedly an effect of supernatural powers, is from 1853.
tapetum (n.): of the eye, 1713, from Medieval Latin tapetum, from Latin tapete, collateral form of tapes "carpet, heavy cloth with inwrought figures" (see tapestry).
tertium quid (n.): something indeterminate between two other things, 1724, Latin, literally "third something," from tertius "third, a third," from the root of tres "three" (see three). A loan-translation of Greek triton ti (Plato), used in alchemy for "unidentified element present in a combination of two known ones." The Latin word also figures in phrases tertium non datur "no third possibility exists," and tertius gaudens "a third party that benefits from conflict between the other two."