quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- agoraphobia



[agoraphobia 词源字典] - agoraphobia: [19] Agoraphobia – fear of open spaces or, more generally, of simply being out of doors – is first referred to in an 1873 issue of the Journal of Mental Science; this attributes the term to Dr C Westphal, and gives his definition of it as ‘the fear of squares or open places’. This would be literally true, since the first element in the word represents Greek agorá ‘open space, typically a market place, used for public assemblies’ (the most celebrated in the ancient world was the Agora in Athens, rivalled only by the Forum in Rome).
The word agorá came from ageirein ‘assemble’, which is related to Latin grex ‘flock’, the source of English gregarious. Agoraphobia was not the first of the -phobias. That honour goes to hydrophobia in the mid 16th century. But that was an isolated example, and the surge of compounds based on Greek phóbos ‘fear’ really starts in the 19th century.
At first it was used for symptoms of physical illness (photophobia ‘abnormal sensitivity to light’ 1799), for aversions to other nationalities (Gallophobia 1803; the synonymous Francophobia does not appear until 1887), and for facetious formations (dustophobia, Robert Southey, 1824), and the range of specialized psychological terms familiar today does not begin to appear until the last quarter of the century (CLAUSTROPHOBIA 1879, acrophobia ‘fear of heights’ from Greek akros ‘topmost’ – see ACROBAT – 1892).
=> aggregate, allegory, gregarious, segregate[agoraphobia etymology, agoraphobia origin, 英语词源] - algorithm




- algorithm: [13] Algorithm comes from the name of an Arab mathematician, in full Abu Ja far Mohammed ibn-Musa al-Khwarizmi (c. 780–c. 850), who lived and taught in Baghdad and whose works in translation introduced Arabic numerals to the West. The last part of his name means literally ‘man from Khwarizm’, a town on the borders of Turkmenistan, now called Khiva. The Arabic system of numeration and calculation, based on 10, of which he was the chief exponent, became known in Arabic by his name – al-khwarizmi.
This was borrowed into medieval Latin as algorismus (with the Arabic -izmi transformed into the Latin suffix -ismus ‘-ism’). In Old French algorismus became augorime, which was the basis of the earliest English form of the word, augrim. From the 14th century onwards, Latin influence gradually led to the adoption of the spelling algorism in English.
This remains the standard form of the word when referring to the Arabic number system; but in the late 17th century an alternative version, algorithm, arose owing to association with Greek árithmos ‘number’ (source of arithmetic [13]), and this became established from the 1930s onwards as the term for a stepby- step mathematical procedure, as used in computing. Algol, the name of a computer programming language, was coined in the late 1950s from ‘algorithmic language’.
=> allegory, allergy, arithmetic - allegory




- allegory: [14] Etymologically, allegory means ‘speaking otherwise’. It comes from a Greek compound based on allos ‘other’ (which is related to Latin alius, as in English alibi and alias, and to English else) and agoreúein ‘speak publicly’ (derived from agorá ‘(place of) assembly’, which is the source of English agoraphobia and is related to gregarious). Greek allēgorein ‘speak figuratively’ produced the noun allēgorīā, which passed into English via Latin and French.
=> aggregate, agoraphobia, alias, alibi, else, gregarious - category




- category: [15] The word category has a rather complicated semantic history. It comes ultimately from Greek katēgorein ‘accuse’, a compound formed from the prefix katá- ‘against’ and agorá ‘public assembly’ (source of English agoraphobia and related to gregarious) – hence ‘speak against publicly’. ‘Accuse’ gradually became weakened in meaning to ‘assert, name’, and the derived noun katēgoríā was applied by Aristotle to the enumeration of all classes of things that can be named – hence ‘category’. The word reached English via late Latin catēgoria or French catégorie.
=> agoraphobia, gregarious, panegyric - clangor




- clangor: see laugh
- gore




- gore: English has three separate words gore, two of them perhaps ultimately related. Gore ‘blood’ [OE] originally meant ‘dung, shit’, or more generally ‘filth, dirt, slime’, and related words in other languages, such as Dutch goor ‘mud, filth’, Old Norse gor ‘slime’, and Welsh gôr ‘pus’, round out a semantic picture of ‘unpleasant semi-liquid material’, with frequent specific application to ‘bodily excretions’.
It was from this background that the sense ‘blood’, and particularly ‘coagulated blood’, emerged in the mid-16th century. Gore ‘triangular piece of cloth, as let into a skirt’ [OE] comes from Old English gāra ‘triangular piece of land’ (a sense preserved in the London street-name Kensington Gore). This was related to Old English gār ‘spear’ (as in garlic; see GOAD), the semantic connection being that a spearhead is roughly triangular. Gore ‘wound with horns’ [14] originally meant simply ‘stab, pierce’; it too may come ultimately from gār ‘spear’, although there is some doubt about this.
=> garlic - gorge




- gorge: [14] Gorge originally meant ‘throat’; the metaphorical extension to ‘rocky ravine’ did not really take place until the mid 18th century (the semantic connection was presumably ‘narrow opening between which things pass’). The word was borrowed from Old French gorge ‘throat’, which goes back via Vulgar Latin *gurga to Latin gurges ‘whirlpool’ from which English gets regurgitate [17]. The superficially similar gorgeous [15], incidentally, is not related. It was adapted from Old French gorgias ‘fine, elegant’, but no one knows where that came from.
=> regurgitate - gorilla




- gorilla: [19] The first we hear of gorilla is as a word used in a Greek translation of the 5thcentury BC Carthaginian explorer Hanno’s account of a voyage to West Africa. He reported encountering there a tribe of wild hairy people, whose females were, according to a local interpreter, called goríllas. In 1847 the American missionary and scientist Thomas Savage adopted the word as the species name of the great ape Troglodytes gorilla, and by the 1850s it had passed into general use.
- gorse




- gorse: [OE] Gorse appears to mean etymologically ‘prickly bush’. It has been traced back to an Indo-European source *ghrzddenoting ‘roughness’ or ‘prickliness’, which also produced German gerste ‘barley’. Of the plant’s other names, furze [OE] is of unknown origin, while whin [11] was probably borrowed from a Scandinavian language.
- invigorate




- invigorate: see vigour
- agora (n.)




- "assembly place," 1590s, from Greek agora "open space" (typically a marketplace), from ageirein "to assemble," from PIE root *ger- "to gather" (see gregarious).
- agoraphobia (n.)




- "fear of open spaces," 1873, from German Agorophobie, coined 1871 by Berlin psychiatrist Carl Westphal (1833-1890) from Greek agora "open space" (see agora) + -phobia "fear." Related: Agoraphobe; agoraphobic.
- algorithm (n.)




- 1690s, from French algorithme, refashioned (under mistaken connection with Greek arithmos "number") from Old French algorisme "the Arabic numeral system" (13c.), from Medieval Latin algorismus, a mangled transliteration of Arabic al-Khwarizmi "native of Khwarazm," surname of the mathematician whose works introduced sophisticated mathematics to the West (see algebra). The earlier form in Middle English was algorism (early 13c.), from Old French.
- algorithmic (adj.)




- by 1799, from algorithm + -ic. In reference to symbolic rules or language, by 1881.
- allegorical (adj.)




- 1520s, from French allégorique, from Latin allegoricus, from Greek allegorikos (see allegory). Earlier form was allegoric (late 14c.). Related: Allegorically.
- allegory (n.)




- late 14c., from Old French allegorie (12c.), from Latin allegoria, from Greek allegoria "figurative language, description of one thing under the image of another," literally "a speaking about something else," from allos "another, different" (see alias (adv.)) + agoreuein "speak openly, speak in the assembly," from agora "assembly" (see agora).
- amphigory (n.)




- 1809, "burlesque nonsense writing or verse," from French amphigouri, which is of unknown origin, perhaps from Greek amphi- (see amphi-) + gyros "circle," thus "circle on both sides," or second element may be from Greek -agoria "speech" (compare allegory, category). Related: Amphigoric.
- angora (n.)




- type of wool, 1810, from Angora, city in central Turkey (ancient Ancyra, modern Ankara), which gave its name to the goat (1745 in English), and to its silk-like wool, and to a cat whose fur resembles it (1771 in English). The city name is from the Greek word for "anchor, bend" (see angle (n.)).
- begorra




- 1839, antiquated Anglo-Irish form of expletive By God.
- categorical (adj.)




- 1590s, as a term in logic, "unqualified, asserting absolutely," from Late Latin categoricus, from Greek kategorikos "accusatory, affirmative, categorical," from kategoria (see category). General sense of "explicit, unconditional" is from 1610s. Categorical imperative, from the philosophy of Kant, first recorded 1827. Related: Categorically.
- categorization (n.)




- 1866, noun of action from categorize. Perhaps influenced by French catégorisation (1845).
- categorize (v.)




- 1705, from category + -ize. Related: Categorized; categorizing.
- category (n.)




- 1580s, from Middle French catégorie, from Late Latin categoria, from Greek kategoria "accusation, prediction, category," verbal noun from kategorein "to speak against; to accuse, assert, predicate," from kata "down to" (or perhaps "against;" see cata-) + agoreuein "to harangue, to declaim (in the assembly)," from agora "public assembly" (see agora). Original sense of "accuse" weakened to "assert, name" by the time Aristotle applied kategoria to his 10 classes of things that can be named.
category should be used by no-one who is not prepared to state (1) that he does not mean class, & (2) that he knows the difference between the two .... [Fowler]
- clangor (n.)




- 1590s, from Latin clangor "sound of trumpets (Virgil), birds (Ovid), etc.," from clangere "to clang," echoic (compare clang).
- clangorous (adj.)




- 1712, from Medieval Latin clangorosus, from Latin clangor, or else from clangor + -ous. Related: Clangorously; clangorousness.
- disgorge (v.)




- late 15c., from Old French desgorgier "to disgorge, pour out," from des- (see dis-) + gorge "throat" (see gorge). Related: Disgorged; disgorging; disgorgement.
- engorge (v.)




- 1510s, "fill to excess," from French engorger "to obstruct, block, congest," Old French engorgier "to swallow, devour," from en- (see en- (1)) + gorge "throat" (see gorge (n.)). Probably originally in reference to hawks. Related: Engorged; engorging.
- engorgement (n.)




- 1610s, from engorge + -ment or else from French
engorgement.
- frigorific (adj.)




- "causing cold," 1660s, from French frigorifique, from Late Latin frigorificus "cooling," from frigor-, stem of Latin frigus "cold, cool, coolness" (see frigid) + -ficus "making," from root of facere "to make, do" (see factitious).
- Gordian knot (n.)




- 1560s, tied by Gordius (Greek Gordios), first king of Phrygia in Asia Minor and father of Midas, who predicted the one to loosen it would rule Asia. Instead, Alexander the Great cut the Gordian knot with his sword; hence the extended sense (1570s in English) "solve a difficult problem in a quick, dramatic way."
- gore (n.2)




- "triangular piece of ground," Old English gara "corner, point of land, cape, promontory," from Proto-Germanic *gaizon- (cognates: Old Frisian gare "a gore of cloth; a garment," Dutch geer, German gehre "a wedge, a gore"), from PIE *ghaiso- "a stick, spear" (see gar). The connecting sense is "triangularity." Hence also the senses "front of a skirt" (mid-13c.), and "triangular piece of cloth" (early 14c.). In New England, the word applied to a strip of land left out of any property by an error when tracts are surveyed (1640s).
- gore (n.1)




- "thick, clotted blood," Old English gor "dirt, dung, filth, shit," a Germanic word (cognates: Middle Dutch goor "filth, mud;" Old Norse gor "cud;" Old High German gor "animal dung"), of uncertain origin. Sense of "clotted blood" (especially shed in battle) developed by 1560s (gore-blood is from 1550s).
- gore (v.)




- "to pierce, stab," c. 1400, from Middle English gore (n.) "spear," from Old English gar "spear" (see gar, also gore (n.2) "triangular piece of ground"). Related: Gored; goring.
- gorge (n.)




- mid-14c., "throat," from Old French gorge "throat; a narrow passage" (12c.), from Late Latin gurges "gullet, throat, jaws," also "gulf, whirlpool," which probably is related to Latin gurgulio "gullet, windpipe," from a reduplicated form of PIE *gwere- (4) "to swallow" (see voracity). Transferred sense of "deep, narrow valley" was in Old French. From 1520s as "what has been swallowed," hence in figurative phrases indicating nauseating disgust.
- gorge (v.)




- c. 1300, "eat greedily, swallow by gulps," from Old French gorgier "to swallow" (13c.), from gorge "throat" (see gorge (n.)). Transitive sense from late 15c. Related: Gorged; gorging.
- gorgeous (adj.)




- c. 1500, "splendid, showy, sumptuously adorned" (of clothing), from Middle French gorgias "elegant, fashionable," of unknown origin; perhaps a special use of gorgias "necklace" (and thus "fond of or resembling jewelry"), from Old French gorge "throat," also "something adorning the throat" (see gorge (n.)). A connection to the Greek proper name Gorgias (supposedly in reference to a notorious sophist) also has been proposed. Related: Gorgeousness.
- gorgeously (adv.)




- 1530s, from gorgeous + -ly (2).
- gorget (n.)




- "armor for the throat," late 15c., from Old French gorgete "throat, necklace," diminutive of gorge "throat" (see gorge (n.)).
- gorgon (n.)




- late 14c., in Greek legend, any of the three hideous sisters, with writhing serpents for hair, whose look turned beholders to stone, from Greek Gorgones (plural; singular Gorgo) "the grim ones," from gorgos "terrible, fierce, grim," of unknown origin. Transferred sense of "terrifyingly ugly person" is from 1520s. Their names were Medusa, Euryale, and Stheino, but when only one is mentioned, Medusa usually is meant. Slain by Perseus, her head was fixed on the aegis of Athena.
- gorgonzola




- type of blue cheese, 1878, short for Gorgonzola cheese (1866), named for Gorgonzola, village near Milan where it was made.
In the neighbourhood is Gorgonzola, celebrated in the annals of the middle ages for the victory of Frederigo Barbarossa over the Milanese, in 1158; for the capture of the chevalric and poetic king Ensius, in 1243; for the advantage gained by the Torriani over the Visconti, in 1278, and which the latter revenged in 1281; but above all, famous for its strachino a cheese of European celebrity. ["Italy and its Comforts," London, 1842]
- gorilla (n.)




- 1847, applied to a species of large apes (Troglodytes gorills) by U.S. missionary Thomas Savage, from Greek gorillai, plural of name given to wild, hairy beings (now supposed to have been chimpanzees) in a Greek translation of Carthaginian navigator Hanno's account of his voyage along the northwest coast of Africa, c. 500 B.C.E. Allegedly an African word.
In its inmost recess was an island similar to that formerly described, which contained in like manner a lake with another island, inhabited by a rude description of people. The females were much more numerous than the males, and had rough skins: our interpreters called them Gorillae. We pursued but could take none of the males; they all escaped to the top of precipices, which they mounted with ease, and threw down stones; we took three of the females, but they made such violent struggles, biting and tearing their captors, that we killed them, and stripped off the skins, which we carried to Carthage: being out of provisions we could go no further. [Hanno, "Periplus"]
Of persons perceived as being gorilla-like, from 1884. - gorm (n.)




- "fool," 1912, perhaps from gormless.
- gormless (adj.)




- c. 1746, also in early use gaumless, gawmless, "wanting sense, stupid," a British dialectal word, from gome "notice, understanding" (c. 1200), from Old Norse gaumr "care, heed" (of unknown origin); + -less.
- gorse (n.)




- Old English gors "gorse, furze," from Proto-Germanic *gorst- (cognates: Old Saxon, Old High German gersta, Middle Dutch gherste, Dutch gerst, German gerste "barley"), from PIE *ghers- "to bristle" (source also of Latin hordeum "barley;" see horror).
- gory (adj.)




- "covered with clotted blood," late 15c., from gore (n.1) + -y (2).
- Gregorian (adj.)




- "pertaining to Gregory," from Late Latin Gregorianus, from Gregorius (see Gregory). From c. 1600 of church music, in reference to Gregory I the Great (pope from 590-604), who traditionally codified it; 1640s in reference to new calendar (introduced 1582) from Pope Gregory XIII (1572-1585); due to Protestant resistance, the calendar was not introduced in England and the American colonies until 1752.
- Gregory




- masc. proper name, popular in England and Scotland by mid-12c. (Pope Gregory I sent the men who converted the English to Christianity), nativization of Late Latin Gregorius, literally "wakeful" (equivalent to Latin Vigilantius), from Greek gregorios, a derivative of gregoros "to be watchful," from PIE root *ger- "to be awake" (cognates: Sanskrit jagarti "he is awake," Avestan agarayeiti "wakes up, rouses"). At times confused with Latin gregarius (see gregarious).
- invigorate (v.)




- 1640s, from in- (2) + vigor + -ate (2). Earlier verb was envigor (1610s). Related: Invigorated; invigorating.
- invigorating (adj.)




- 1690s, adjective from present participle of invigorate. Related: Invigoratingly.
- invigoration (n.)




- 1660s, noun of action from invigorate.