英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

abyss [abyss 词源字典]: abyss: [16] English borrowed abyss from late Latin abyssus, which in turn derived from Greek ábussos. This was an adjective meaning ‘bottomless’, from a- ‘not’ and bussós ‘bottom’, a dialectal variant of buthós (which is related to bathys ‘deep’, the source of English bathyscape). In Greek the adjective was used in the phrase ábussos limnē ‘bottomless lake’, but only the adjective was borrowed into Latin, bringing with it the meaning of the noun as well.

In medieval times, a variant form arose in Latin – abysmus. It incorporated the Greek suffix -ismós (English -ism). It is the source of French abîme, and was borrowed into English in the 13th century as abysm (whence the 19th-century derivative abysmal). It began to be ousted by abyss in the 16th century, however, and now has a distinctly archaic air.
[abyss etymology, abyss origin, 英语词源]
actual: actual: [14] In common with act, action, etc, actual comes ultimately from Latin āctus, the past participle of the verb agere ‘do, perform’. In late Latin an adjective āctuālis was formed from the noun āctus, and this passed into Old French as actuel. English borrowed it in this form, and it was not until the 15th century that the spelling actual, based on the original Latin model, became general. At first its meaning was simply, and literally, ‘relating to acts, active’; the current sense, ‘genuine’, developed in the mid 16th century.
=> act, action
adjourn: adjourn: [14] Adjourn originally meant ‘appoint a day for’, but over the centuries, such is human nature, it has come to be used for postponing, deferring, or suspending. It originated in the Old French phrase à jour nomé ‘to an appointed day’, from which the Old French verb ajourner derived. Jour ‘day’ came from late Latin diurnum, a noun formed from the adjective diurnus ‘daily’, which in turn was based on the noun diēs ‘day’.
=> diary, journal
agony: agony: [14] Agony is one of the more remote relatives of that prolific Latin verb agere (see AGENT). Its ultimate source is the Greek verb ágein ‘lead’, which comes from the same Indo- European root as agere. Related to ágein was the Greek noun agón, originally literally ‘a bringing of people together to compete for a prize’, hence ‘contest, conflict’ (which has been borrowed directly into English as agon, a technical term for the conflict between the main characters in a work of literature).

Derived from agón was agōníā ‘(mental) struggle, anguish’, which passed into English via either late Latin agōnia or French agonie. The sense of physical suffering did not develop until the 17th century; hitherto, agony had been reserved for mental stress. The first mention of an agony column comes in the magazine Fun in 1863.
=> antagonist
alter: alter: [14] Alter comes from the Latin word for ‘other (of two)’, alter. In late Latin a verb was derived from this, alterāre, which English acquired via French altérer. Latin alter (which also gave French autre and English alternate [16], alternative [17], altercation [14], and altruism, not to mention alter ego) was formed from the root *al- (source of Latin alius – from which English gets alien, alias, and alibi – Greek allos ‘other’, and English else) and the comparative suffix *-tero-, which occurs also in English other.

Hence the underlying meaning of Latin alter (and, incidentally, of English other) is ‘more other’, with the implication of alternation between the two.
=> alias, alien, alternative, altruism, else
annihilate: annihilate: [16] Annihilate comes from the past participle of the late Latin verb annihilāre, meaning literally ‘reduce to nothing’ (a formation based on the noun nihil ‘nothing’, source of English nihilism and nil). There was actually an earlier English verb, annihil, based on French annihiler, which appeared at the end of the 15th century, but it did not long survive the introduction of annihilate.
=> nihilism, nil
annual: annual: [14] Annual comes, via Old French annuel, from annuālis, a late Latin adjective based on annus ‘year’ (perhaps as a blend of two earlier, classical Latin adjectives, annuus and annālis – ultimate source of English annals [16]). Annus itself may go back to an earlier, unrecorded *atnos, probably borrowed from an ancient Indo-European language of the Italian peninsula, such as Oscan or Umbrian.

It appears to be related to Gothic athnam ‘years’ and Sanskrit átati ‘go, wander’. The medieval Latin noun annuitās, formed from the adjective annuus, produced French annuité, which was borrowed into English as annuity in the 15th century.
=> annals, anniversary, annuity
antagonist: antagonist: [16] Greek agón (source of English agony) meant ‘contest, conflict’. Hence the concept of ‘struggling against (anti-) someone’ was conveyed in Greek by the verb antagōnízesthai. The derived noun antagōnistés entered English via French or late Latin.
=> agony
antipodes: antipodes: [16] Greek antípodes meant literally ‘people who have their feet opposite’ – that is, people who live on the other side of the world, and therefore have the soles of their feet ‘facing’ those of people on this side of the world. It was formed from the prefix anti- ‘against, opposite’ and poús ‘foot’ (related to English foot and pedal). English antipodes, borrowed via either French antipodes or late Latin antipodes, originally meant ‘people on the other side of the world’ too, but by the mid 16th century it had come to be used simply for the ‘opposite side of the globe’.
=> foot, pedal
apothecary: apothecary: [14] Originally, an apothecary was simply a shopkeeper – the word comes via Old French from late Latin apothēcārius, which was based on Greek apothékē ‘storehouse’ (source, via French, of boutique [18] and via Spanish of bodega [19]), a derivative of the verb apotithénai ‘put away’ (formed from the prefix apo- ‘away’ and the verb tithénai ‘put’ – source of thesis).

By the time the word entered English it was reserved to shopkeepers who sold non-perishable groceries, such as spices – and herbal and other remedies. Gradually, apothecaries began to specialize more and more in drugs, so that in 1617 a formal separation took place between the Apothecaries’ Company of London and the Grocers’ Company. Apothecary remained the general term for a ‘druggist’ until about 1800, when chemist began to take over.
=> bodega, boutique, thesis
appraise: appraise: [15] Originally, appraise meant simply ‘fix the price of’. It came from the Old French verb aprisier ‘value’, which is ultimately a parallel formation with appreciate; it is not clear whether it came directly from late Latin appretiāre, or whether it was a newly formed compound in Old French, based on pris ‘price’. Its earliest spellings in English were thus apprize and apprise, and these continued in use down to the 19th century, with the more metaphorical meaning ‘estimate the worth of’ gradually coming to the fore.

From the 16th century onwards, however, it seems that association with the word praise (which is quite closely related etymologically) has been at work, and by the 19th century the form appraise was firmly established. Apprise ‘inform’, with which appraise is often confused (and which appears superficially to be far closer to the source pris or pretium ‘price’), in fact has no etymological connection with it.

It comes from appris, the past participle of French apprendre ‘teach’ (closely related to English apprehend).
=> appreciate, price
appreciate: appreciate: [17] Like appraise, appreciate originally comes from the notion of setting a price on something. It comes from late Latin appretiāre, a compound verb formed from ad- ‘to’ and pretium ‘price’. The neutral sense of ‘estimating worth’ was already accompanied by the more positive ‘esteem highly’ when the word began to be used in English, and by the late 18th century the meaning ‘rise in value’ (apparently an American development) was well in place.
=> appraise, price
approach: approach: [14] Approach is etymologically connected with propinquity ‘nearness’; they both go back ultimately to Latin prope ‘near’. Propinquity [14] comes from a derived Latin adjective propinquus ‘neighbouring’, while approach is based on the comparative form propius ‘nearer’. From this was formed the late Latin verb appropiāre ‘go nearer to’, which came to English via Old French aprochier.

Latin prope, incidentally, may be connected in some way with the preposition prō (a relative of English for), and a hypothetical variant of it, *proqe, may be the source, via its superlative proximus, of English proximity and approximate.
=> approximate, propinquity, proximity
asphalt: asphalt: [14] The ultimate source of asphalt is Greek ásphalton, but when it first came into English it was with the p that had developed in late Latin aspaltus: aspalte. The ph of the original Greek form began to be reintroduced in the 18th century.
attitude: attitude: [17] In origin, attitude is the same word as aptitude. Both come ultimately from late Latin aptitūdō. In Old French this became aptitude, which English acquired in the 15th century, but in Italian it became attitudine, which meant ‘disposition’ or ‘posture’. This was transmitted via French attitude to English, where at first it was used as a technical term in art criticism, meaning the ‘disposition of a figure in a painting’. The metaphorical sense ‘mental position with regard to something’ developed in the early 19th century.
=> aptitude
ball: ball: There are two distinct words ball in English. The ‘round object’ [13] comes via Old Norse böllr from a prehistoric Germanic *balluz (source also of bollock [OE], originally a diminutive form). A related form was Germanic *ballōn, which was borrowed into Italian to give palla ‘ball’, from which French probably acquired balle.

Derivatives of this branch of the family to have reached English are balloon [16], from French ballon or Italian ballone, and ballot [16], from the Italian diminutive form ballotta (originally from the use of small balls as counters in secret voting). The Germanic stem form *bal-, *bul- was also the ultimate source of English bowl ‘receptacle’.

The ‘dancing’ ball [17] comes from French bal, a derivative of the now obsolete verb bal(l)er ‘dance’, which was descended via late Latin ballāre from Greek ballízein ‘dance’. Related words in English include ballad(e) [14], which came via Old French from Provençal balada ‘song or poem to dance to’, and ballet.
=> ballon, ballot, bollock; ballad, ballet
ballet: ballet: [17] Etymologically, a ballet is a ‘little dance’. English acquired the word, via French ballet, from Italian balletto, a diminutive of ballo ‘dance’, related to English ball (the diminutive of Italian balla ‘spherical ball’ is ballotta, whence English ballot). The noun ballo came from the verb ballare (a descendant via late Latin ballāre of Greek ballízein ‘dance’), of which another derivative was ballerino ‘dancing master’.

The feminine form, ballerina, entered English in the late 18th century. Balletomane ‘ballet enthusiast’ is a creation of the 1930s. Another word ballet, also a diminutive, exists, or at least existed, in English. It meant ‘little [spherical] ball’, and was used in the 18th century as a technical term in heraldry.
=> ball
barge: barge: [13] Barge comes in the first instance from Old French barge, but speculation has pushed it further back to medieval Latin *barica, which would have derived from báris, a Greek word for an Egyptian boat. This hypothetical *barica would have been a by-form of late Latin barca, which came into English via Old French as barque, also spelled bark, ‘sailing vessel’ [15] (source of embark). The metaphorical use of the verb barge, ‘move clumsily or rudely’, is barely a hundred years old; it comes from the ponderous progress made by barges.
=> bark, barque, embark
battle: battle: [13] English acquired battle via Old French bataille and Vulgar Latin *battālia from late Latin battuālia ‘fencing exercises’. This was a derivative of the verb battuere ‘beat’ (source also of English batter and battery), which some have viewed as of Celtic origin, citing Gaulish andabata ‘gladiator’, a possible relative of English bat.

Related words include battalion [16], ultimately from Italian battaglione, a derivative of battaglia ‘battle’; battlements [14], from Old French batailler ‘provide with batailles – fortifications or battlements’; and derivatives such as abate, combat, and debate.
=> abate, bat, battalion, battery, combat, debate
beard: beard: [OE] Old English beard came from West Germanic *bartha, which was also the source of German bart and Dutch baard. A close relative of this was Latin barba ‘beard’, which gave English barb [14] (via Old French barbe), barber [13] (ultimately from medieval Latin barbātor, originally a ‘beard-trimmer’), and barbel [14], a fish with sensitive whisker-like projections round its mouth (from late Latin barbellus, a diminutive form of barbus ‘barbel’, which was derived from barba).
=> barb, barber
beer: beer: [OE] Originally, beer was probably simply a general term for a ‘drink’: it seems to have come from late Latin biber ‘drink’, which was a derivative of the verb bibere ‘drink’ (from which English gets beverage, bibulous, imbibe, and possibly also bibber). The main Old English word for ‘beer’ was ale, and beer (Old English bēor) is not very common until the 15th century. A distinction between hopped beer and unhopped ale arose in the 16th century.
=> beverage, bibulous, imbibe
blame: blame: [12] Blame and blaspheme are ultimately the same word. Both come from Greek blasphēmein ‘say profane things about’, but whereas blaspheme has stuck to the path of ‘profanity’, blame has developed the more down-to-earth sense ‘reproach, censure’. The radical change of form seems to have come via blastēmāre, a demotic offshoot of late Latin blasphēmāre, which passed into Old French as blasmer, later blamer (whence English blame).
=> blaspheme
borage: borage: [13] The plant-name borage comes via Old French bourrache from Latin borrāgo. Various words have been advanced as an ultimate source, including late Latin burra ‘shaggy cloth’, on account of its hairy leaves, but in view of the fact that the Arabs used the plant medicinally to induce sweating, the likeliest contender is Arabic abū ‘āraq, literally ‘father of sweat’.
bottle: bottle: [14] Etymologically, a bottle is a small butt, or barrel. The word comes ultimately from medieval Latin butticula, a diminutive form of late Latin buttis ‘cask’ (whence English butt ‘barrel’). It reached English via Old French botele. The 20th-century British colloquial meaning ‘nerve, courage’ comes from rhyming slang bottle and glass ‘class’. In medieval Latin, a servant who handed wine round at meals and looked after the wine cellar was a buticulārius: hence, via Old French bouteillier and Anglo-Norman buteler, English butler [13].
=> butler
box: box: English has two distinct words box. The ‘receptacle’ [OE] probably comes from late Latin buxis, a variant of Latin pyxis (whence English pyx ‘container for Communion bread’ [14]). This was borrowed from Greek puxís, which originally meant not simply ‘box’, but specifically ‘box made of wood’; for it was a derivative of Greek púxos, which via Latin buxus has given English box the tree [OE]. Box ‘fight with the fists’ first appeared in English as a noun, meaning ‘blow’ [14], now preserved mainly in ‘a box round the ears’.

Its ancestry is uncertain: it may be related to Middle Dutch bōke and Danish bask ‘blow’, or it could simply be an obscure metaphorical extension of box ‘receptacle’.
=> pyx
branch: branch: [13] Branch comes via Old French branche from late Latin branca ‘paw’, but its ultimate origins are not known. In other Romance languages it retains more of its original Latin sense (Spanish branca ‘claw’, for example, and Romanian brinca ‘hand, paw’). The semantic connection between ‘limb of a tree’ and ‘appendage of a person or animal’ is fairly straightforward (compare BOUGH).
brief: brief: [14] Brief comes via Old French bref from Latin brevis ‘short’, which is probably related to Greek brakhús ‘short’, from which English gets the combining form brachy-, as in brachycephalic. Latin produced the nominal derivative breve ‘letter’, later ‘summary’, which came into English in the 14th century in the sense ‘letter of authority’ (German has brief simply meaning ‘letter’).

The notion of an ‘abbreviation’ or ‘summary’ followed in the next century, and the modern legal sense ‘summary of the facts of a case’ developed in the 17th century. This formed the basis of the verbal sense ‘inform and instruct’, which is 19th-century. Briefs ‘underpants’ are 20th-century. The musical use of the noun breve began in the 15th century when, logically enough, it meant ‘short note’.

Modern usage, in which it denotes the longest note, comes from Italian breve. Other derivatives of brief include brevity [16], introduced into English via Anglo-Norman brevete; abbreviate [15], from late Latin abbreviāre (which is also the source, via Old French abregier, of abridge [14]); and breviary ‘book of church services’ [16], from Latin breviārium.
=> abbreviate, abridge, brevity
buffalo: buffalo: [16] English probably acquired buffalo from Portuguese bufalo, originally naming the ‘water buffalo’, Bubalis bubalis, a large oxlike animal of Asia and Africa, and subsequently extended to the ‘Cape buffalo’ of South Africa, Syncerus caffer. The Portuguese word came from late Latin bufalus, an alteration of Latin bubalus, which was borrowed from Greek boúbalos. The Greek word, which seems to have named a type of African gazelle, may have been formed from bous ‘ox’. The application of the word to the North American bison, which is still regarded as ‘incorrect’, dates from the late 18th century.
=> buff
burlesque: burlesque: [17] French is the immediate source of English burlesque, but French got it from Italian burlesco, a derivative of burla ‘joke, fun’. This may come from Vulgar Latin *burrula, a derivative of late Latin burra ‘trifle’, perhaps the same word as late Latin burra ‘wool, shaggy cloth’.
butt: butt: There are no fewer than four distinct words butt in English. The oldest, ‘hit with the head’ [12], comes via Anglo-Norman buter from Old French boter. This can be traced back through Vulgar Latin *bottāre ‘thrust’ (source of English button) to a prehistoric Germanic *buttan. Old French boter produced a derivative boteret ‘thrusting’, whose use in the phrase ars boterez ‘thrusting arch’ was the basis of English buttress [13]. Butt ‘barrel’ [14] comes via Anglo-Norman but and Old French bot or bout from late Latin buttis ‘cask’ (a diminutive form of which was the basis of English bottle).

A derivative of the Anglo-Norman form was buterie ‘storeroom for casks of alcohol’, from which English gets buttery ‘food shop in a college’ [14]. Butt ‘target’ [14] probably comes from Old French but ‘goal, shooting target’, but the early English sense ‘mound on which a target is set up’ suggests association also with French butte ‘mound, knoll’ (which was independently borrowed into English in the 19th century as a term for the isolated steep-sided hills found in the Western states of the USA). Butt ‘thick end’ [15], as in ‘rifle butt’ and ‘cigarette butt’, appears to be related to other Germanic words in the same general semantic area, such as Low German butt ‘blunt’ and Middle Dutch bot ‘stumpy’, and may well come ultimately from the same base as produced buttock [13]. (The colloquial American sense of butt, ‘buttocks’, originated in the 15th century.) The verb abut [15] comes partly from Anglo- Latin abuttāre, a derivative of hutta ‘ridge or strip of land’, which may be related to English butt ‘thick end’, and partly from Old French aboter, a derivative of boter, from which English gets butt ‘hit with the head’.
=> button, buttress; bottle, butler, butte, début; buttock, abut
cabin: cabin: [14] English acquired cabin from Old French cabane, which had it via Provençal cabana from late Latin capanna or cavanna ‘hut, cabin’. Surprisingly, despite their formal and semantic similarity, which has grown closer together over the centuries, cabin has no ultimate connection with cabinet [16], whose immediate source is French cabinet [16], whose immediate source is French cabinet ‘small room’.

The etymology of the French word is disputed; some consider it to be a diminutive form of Old Northern French cabine ‘gambling house’, while others take it as a borrowing from Italian gabbinetto, which perhaps ultimately comes from Latin cavea ‘stall, coop, cage’ (from which English gets cage). Its modern political sense derives from a 17th-century usage ‘private room in which the sovereign’s advisors or council meet’; the body that met there was thus called the Cabinet Council, which quickly became simply Cabinet.
cable: cable: [13] The ultimate source of cable is late Latin capulum ‘lasso’, a derivative of the verb capere ‘take, seize’, either directly or perhaps via Arabic habl. In Provençal, capulum became cable, which produced the Old French form chable: so English must either have borrowed the word straight from Provençal, or from *cable, an unrecorded Anglo-Norman variant of the Old French word.
=> capture, heave
calm: calm: [14] The underlying meaning of calm seems to be not far removed from ‘siesta’. It comes ultimately from Greek kauma ‘heat’, which was borrowed into late Latin as cauma. This appears to have been applied progressively to the ‘great heat of the midday sun’, to ‘rest taken during this period’, and finally to simply ‘quietness, absence of activity’. Cauma passed into Old Italian as calma, and English seems to have got the word from Italian.
campaign: campaign: [17] Ultimately, campaign and champagne are the same word. Both go back to late Latin campānia, a derivative of Latin campus ‘open field’ (source of English camp). This passed into Old French as champagne and into Italian as campagna ‘open country’, and both words have subsequently come to be used as the designation of regions in France and Italy (whence English champagne [17], wine made in the Champagne area of eastern France).

The French word was also borrowed into English much earlier, as the now archaic champaign ‘open country’ [14]. Meanwhile, in Italian a particular military application of campagna had arisen: armies disliked fighting in winter because of the bad weather, so they stayed in camp, not emerging to do battle in the open countryside (the campagna) until summer. Hence campagna came to mean ‘military operations’; it was borrowed in to French as campagne, and thence into English.
=> camp, champagne
cap: cap: [OE] Old English cæppa came from late Latin cappa ‘hood’, source also of English cape ‘cloak’. The late Latin word may well have come from Latin caput ‘head’, its underlying meaning thus being ‘head covering’.
=> cappuccino, chapel, chaperone, képi
capable: capable: [16] In common with a wide range of other English words, from capture to recuperate, capable comes from Latin capere ‘take’, a relative of English heave. An adjective derived from the verb was Latin capāx ‘able to hold much’, from which English gets capacious [17] and capacity [15]. From its stem capāci- was formed the late Latin adjective capābilis, also originally ‘able to contain things’.

This meaning still survived when the word passed, via French capable, into English (‘They are almost capable of a bushel of wheat’, Thomas Wright, The Passions of the Mind 1601), but by the end of the 18th century it had died out, having passed into the current ‘able to, susceptible of’.
=> capacious, capacity, capture, chase, heave, recuperate
cape: cape: There are two distinct words cape in English, but they may come from the same ultimate source. The earlier, ‘promontory, headland’ [14], comes via Old French cap and Provençal cap from Vulgar Latin *capo, a derivative of Latin caput ‘bead’. Cape ‘cloak’ [16] comes via French cape and Provençal capa from late Latin cappa ‘hood’, source of English cap; this too may be traceable back to Latin caput. (Other English descendants of caput include achieve, cadet, capital, captain, chapter, and chief; and cappa was also the precursor of chapel, chaperone, and cope).
=> achieve, cadet, capital, cappuccino, captain, chapel, chaperon, chapter, chief, escape
cappuccino: cappuccino: [20] Frothy coffee was given the name cappuccino in Italian from its supposed resemblance to the habit of Capuchin monks, which is the colour of lightly milked coffee. The Order of Friars Minor Capuchins, an independent branch of Franciscans, was founded in 1528. In emulation of St Francis they wear a pointed cowl, in Italian a cappuccio (from late Latin cappa ‘hood’, source of English cap and cape), from which the name Cappuccino ‘Capuchin’ (literally ‘little hood’) was derived.

The term Capuchin itself arrived in English in the late 16th century, and the order’s vestimentary arrangements have gifted other items of vocabulary to English, notably capuchin [18] for a woman’s cloak and hood and capuchin monkey [18] for a type of South American monkey with a tuft of hair on its head resembling a monk’s cowl.
=> cap, cape
captain: captain: [14] Etymologically, a captain is someone who is at the ‘head’ of an organization, team, etc. It derives ultimately from late Latin capitāneus ‘chief’, a derivative of caput ‘head’, which came to English via Old French capitain. A parallel but earlier formation was chieftain, which also came from late Latin capitāneus, but along a different route, by way of Old French chevetaine.
=> chieftain
capture: capture: [16] Along with its relatives captive, captivity, captivate, and captor, capture is the English language’s most direct lineal descendant of Latin capere ‘take, seize’ (others include capable, case for carrying things, cater, and chase, and heave is distantly connected). First to arrive was captive [14], which was originally a verb, meaning ‘capture’; it came via Old French captiver from Latin captīvus, the past participle of capere.

Contemporary in English was the adjectival use of captive, from which the noun developed. (The now archaic caitiff [13] comes from the same ultimate source, via an altered Vulgar Latin *cactivus and Old French caitiff ‘captive’.) Next on the scene was capture, in the 16th century; originally it was only a noun, and it was not converted to verbal use until the late 18th century, when it replaced captive in this role.

Also 16th-century is captivate, from the past participle of late Latin captivāre, a derivative of captīvus; this too originally meant ‘capture’, a sense which did not die out until the 19th century: ‘The British … captivated four successive patrols’, John Neal, Brother Jonathan 1825.
=> captive, cater, chase, cop, heave
carnal: carnal: [15] Carnal means literally ‘of the flesh’; it comes from late Latin carnālis, a derivative of Latin carō ‘flesh, meat’. Other English words from the same source are carnivorous ‘meateating’ [17]; carnage [16], which came via French carnage and Italian carnaggio from medieval Latin carnāticum ‘slaughter of animals’; carnation [16], which originally meant ‘pink, colour of flesh’ and came via French carnation and Italian carnagione from late Latin carnātiō ‘fleshiness, fatness’; charnel [14], as in charnel house, from Old French charnel; and also carnival and carrion.
=> carnage, carnation, carnival, carnivorous, carrion, charnel
carol: carol: [13] English acquired carol from Old French carole, and the similarity of form and meaning naturally suggests that this in turn came from late Latin choraula ‘choral song’. In classical Latin times this had meant ‘person who accompanies a choir on a flute or reed instrument’, and it came from Greek khoraúlēs, a compound formed from khorós ‘choir’ (source of English chorus and choir) and aulos ‘reed instrument’.

However, the fact that the earliest recorded use of the word is for a dance in a ring, accompanied by singing, has led some etymologists to speculate that the underlying notion contained in it may be not ‘song’ but ‘circle’ (perhaps from Latin corolla ‘little crown, garland’).
=> choir, chorus
carpenter: carpenter: [14] Etymologically, a carpenter is a ‘maker of carriages’. The word comes, via Anglo-Norman carpenter, from late Latin carpentārius, originally an adjective derived from carpentum ‘two-wheeled vehicle’. This, like the similar and perhaps related Latin carrus, source of English car, was of Celtic origin. The generalization in meaning to ‘worker in wood’ took place before the word was borrowed into English.
catarrh: catarrh: [16] Etymologically, catarrh is ‘something that flows down’. It comes via French catarrhe and late Latin catarrhus from Greek katárrhous, a derivative of the verb katarrhein, a compound formed from the prefix katá- ‘down’ (as in cataract) and the verb rhein ‘flow’ (a relative of English rheumatism and stream).
=> diarrhoea, rheumatism, stream
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
caterpillar: caterpillar: [15] Etymologically, a caterpillar is a ‘hairy cat’. The word comes ultimately from late Latin *catta pilōsa: catta is the source of English cat, while pilōsus ‘hairy’ is a derivative of Latin pilus ‘hair’, from which English gets pile of a carpet. In Old French *catta pilōsa became chatepelose, which passed into English as catyrpel.

The present-day form arose in the 16th century, probably from association with the now obsolete piller ‘plunderer’ (related to English pillage) – caterpillars being regarded, of course, as plunderers of leaves. The notion that caterpillars resemble small furry mammals is also reflected in such names as pussmoth and woolly bear.
=> cat, pile
cathedral: cathedral: [13] Cathedral is a shortening of cathedral church, which was originally the ‘church housing the bishop’s throne’. For ultimately cathedral comes from Greek kathédrā (source also of English chair), a compound noun meaning ‘seat’, formed from katá- ‘down’ and *hed- ‘sit’. The adjectival form was created in late Latin as cathedrālis, and reached English via Old French. The notion of the bishop’s authority residing in his throne recurs in see, which comes from Latin sēdem ‘seat’, a relative of English sit.
=> chair
cauldron: cauldron: [13] Etymologically, cauldrons are for heating not food but people. The word comes ultimately from Latin calidārium ‘hot bath’, which was a derivative of the adjective calidus ‘warm’ (related to English calorie, and, by a much more circuitous route, lee ‘sheltered area’ and probably lukewarm). Among the descendants of calidārium were late Latin caldāria ‘pot’, which produced French chaudière (possible source of English chowder) and Vulgar Latin *caldario, which passed into Anglo-Norman, with a suffix indicating great size, as caudron ‘large cooking pot’.

In English, the l was reintroduced from Latin in the 15th century.
=> calorie, chowder, nonchalant
cauliflower: cauliflower: [16] Cauliflower is literally ‘flowered cabbage’. English probably borrowed and adapted the word from Italian cavoli fiori, plural of cavolo fiore ‘cabbage flower’. Cavolo came from late Latin caulus, a variant of Latin caulis ‘cabbage’. This word originally meant ‘stem’, but the notion ultimately underlying it is ‘hollow stem’, for it can be traced back to an Indo-European base which also produced hole and hollow.

It was borrowed early on into the Germanic languages, and via this route has produced in English the now rare cole ‘cabbage, rape’[14] (more familiar in the Dutch borrowing coleslaw); the Scots version kale [13], from Old Norse kál, best known south of the border in the form curly kale; and via German kohlrabi [19], the last element of which is related to English rape the plant.
=> cole, coleslaw, hole, hollow, kale, kohlrabi
cavalier: cavalier: [16] Etymologically, a cavalier is a ‘horseman’. The word comes via French cavalier from Italian cavaliere, which was derived from Latin caballus ‘horse’, either directly or via late Latin caballārius ‘horseman, rider’. From the beginning in English its connotations were not those of any old horserider, but of a mounted soldier or even a knight, and before the end of the 16th century the more general meaning ‘courtly gentleman’ was establishing itself.

This led in the mid-17th century to its being applied on the one hand to the supporters of Charles I, and on the other as an adjective meaning ‘disdainful’. Italian cavaliere was also the source of cavalleria ‘body of horsesoldiers’, which was borrowed into English in the 16th century, via French cavallerie, as cavalry. (The parallel form routed directly through French rather than via Italian was chivalry.)
=> cavalry, chivalry