英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

blackmail [blackmail 词源字典]: blackmail: see mail
[blackmail etymology, blackmail origin, 英语词源]
domain: domain: [17] Etymologically, domain means ‘land belonging to a lord’, but its resemblance to such words as dominate and dominion is somewhat adventitious. Until the 17th century it was essentially the same word as demesne: demaine or demeine ‘lord’s estate’ was the Old French equivalent of (and indeed source of) English demesne. It came ultimately from Latin dominicus ‘of a lord’, but its etymological connection with Latin dominus ‘lord’ had become somewhat obscured over the centuries.

But then, around 1600, by association with Latin dominium (source of English dominion), French demaine became altered to domaine, which English borrowed as domain.
=> dame, demesne, dominate, dominion
maiden: maiden: [OE] Maiden goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *magadiz ‘young (sexually inexperienced) woman’, which is also the source of German mädchen ‘girl’. Its diminutive form, *magadīnam, passed into Old English as mægden, the antecedent of modern English maiden. Maid is a 12th-century abbreviation.
mail: mail: English has two extant words mail. The one meaning ‘post’ [13] goes back via Old French to Old High German malha, which meant ‘bag, pouch’. That indeed was what the word originally denoted in English (and modern French malle is still used for a ‘bag’). It was not until the 17th century that a specific application to a ‘bag for carrying letters’ emerged, and this was followed in the next century by the ‘letters, etc so carried’. Mail ‘chain-armour’ [14] comes via Old French maille ‘mesh’ from Latin macula, which originally meant ‘spot, stain’ (hence English immaculate [15], etymologically ‘spotless’), but was transferred to the ‘holes in a net’, from their appearance of being spots or marks.

The word maquis, made familiar in English during World War II as a term for the French resistance forces, means literally ‘scrub, undergrowth’ in French. It was borrowed from Italian macchia, a descendant of Latin macula, whose literal sense ‘spot’ was applied metaphorically to ‘bushes dotted over a hillside’. English once had a third word mail, meaning ‘payment, tax’ [12].

It was borrowed from Old Norse mál ‘speech, agreement’. It now survives only in blackmail [16].
=> immaculate, maquis
maim: maim: [13] Maim and mayhem [15] are ultimately the same word. Both go back to a Vulgar Latin verb *mahagnāre ‘wound’, whose origins are unknown. This passed into Old French as mahaignier (whose probable Anglo-Norman derivative *mahangler was the source of English mangle ‘mutilate’ [14]). Mahaignier became mayner, and passed into Middle English as mayn.

But it also had a noun derivative, mahaing or main, which in due course became mayhem. This seems to have been borrowed into English twice. First, in the 14th century, as maheym or maim ‘severe injury’; this has now died out, but has left its mark on the verb, which it has changed from mayn to maim. And second, in the 15th century, via Anglo-Norman, as mayhem.
=> mayhem
main: main: [OE] Main goes back to prehistoric Germanic *mag- ‘be able, have power’ (source also of English may and might, and distantly related to machine). From it was descended Old English mægen ‘strength’. This now survives as a noun only in the expression with might and main, but it was also used attributively in Old English to mean ‘of large size, great’, and by the 13th century (helped along partly by the related Old Norse megenn or megn ‘strong’) it was being used as an adjective in its own right. At first it still meant just ‘large’, but by the 15th century its modern sense ‘chief’ had evolved.
=> may, might
maintain: maintain: [13] Etymologically, maintain means ‘hold in the hand’. It comes via Old French maintenir from Vulgar Latin *manūtenēre ‘support’, a compound verb formed from manū, the ablative case of manus ‘hand’, and tenēre ‘hold’. The derivative maintenance [14] comes from Old French.
=> maintenance, manual, tenant
maisonette: maisonette: see manor
mermaid: mermaid: [14] A mermaid is literally a ‘seamaiden’. The word was coined on the basis of English mere [OE], which is now a little-used term for ‘lake’, but originally denoted ‘sea’ (it came ultimately from Indo-European *mori-, *mari- ‘sea’, which also produced German meer ‘sea’ and Latin mare ‘sea’, source of French mer and English marine). Mermaid served in due course as a model for merman [17].
=> marine, mere
ptomaine: ptomaine: [19] Ptomaine denotes etymologically ‘matter from a corpse’. It comes via French ptomaïne from Italian ptomaina, which was based on Greek ptōma ‘corpse’. This in turn was derived from the verb píptein ‘fall’, and originally meant literally ‘fallen body’. The term was coined to name substances produced by decomposing flesh.
remain: remain: [14] Latin manēre meant ‘stay’ (it has given English manor, mansion, permanent [15], etc). Combination with the prefix re- ‘back, in place’ produced remanēre ‘stay behind, remain’, which passed into English via Old French remanoir. Its present participle gave English remnant [14]. A variant of remanoir was remaindre, which is the source of English remainder [15].
=> manor, mansion, permanent, remnant
air mail (n.): also air-mail, 1913, from air (n.1) + mail (n.1).
amain (adv.): 1530s, from main (adj.) by analogy with other words in a- (such as afoot).
Aramaic: northern branch of Semitic language group, 1834, from biblical land of Aram, roughly corresponding to modern Syria; probably related to Hebrew and Aramaic rum "to be high," thus originally "highland." Aramaic became the lingua franca of the Assyrian empire and later for centuries was the official language of the Persian kingdom and the daily language of Israel at the time of Christ.
barmaid (n.): 1650s, from bar (n.2) + maid.
blackmail (n.): 1550s, from black (adj.) + Middle English male "rent, tribute," from Old English mal "lawsuit, terms, bargaining, agreement," from Old Norse mal "speech, agreement;" related to Old English mæðel "meeting, council," mæl "speech," Gothic maþl "meeting place," from Proto-Germanic *mathla-, from PIE *mod- "to meet, assemble" (see meet (v.)). From the practice of freebooting clan chieftains who ran protection rackets against Scottish farmers. Black from the evil of the practice. Expanded c. 1826 to any type of extortion money. Compare silver mail "rent paid in money" (1590s); buttock-mail (Scottish, 1530s) "fine imposed for fornication."
blackmail (v.): 1852, from blackmail (n.). Related: Blackmailed; blackmailing.
bridesmaid (n.): 1550s, bridemaid, from bride + maid. The -s- is excrescent but began to appear by 1794 and the form with it predominated by the end of the 19c.
chambermaid (n.): 1580s, from chamber + maid.
Chiang Mai: city in northwest Thailand, founded in 1292; the name is Thai northern dialect chiang "town" + mai "new."
domain (n.): early 15c., in Scottish, from Middle French domaine "domain, estate," from Old French demaine "lord's estate," from Latin dominium "property, dominion," from dominus "lord, master, owner," from domus "house" (see domestic). Form influenced in Old French by Medieval Latin domanium "domain, estate." Internet domain name attested by 1985.
e-mail: 1982, short for electronic mail (1977; see electronic + mail (n.1)); this led to the contemptuous application of snail mail (1983) to the old system.
Even aerial navigation in 1999 was found too slow to convey and deliver the mails. The pneumatic tube system was even swifter, and with such facilities at hand it is not surprising that people in San Francisco received four daily editions of the Manhattan journals, although the distance between Sandy Hook and the Golden Gate is a matter of 3,600 miles. ["Looking Forward," Arthur Bird, 1899]
Associated Press style guide collapsed it to email 2011.
electronic mail (n.): 1977; see e-mail.
email (n.): type of pottery design pattern, 1877, from French email, earlier esmail (12c.), literally "enamel" (see enamel (n.)). Also now a variant of e-mail.
handmaid (n.): "female servant," c. 1300, from hand (n.) in the sense in close at hand + maid. Compare Old English handþegn "personal attendant" and the original sense of handsome.
Jamaica: West Indian island, from Taino (Arawakan) xaymaca, said to mean "rich in springs." Columbus when he found it in 1494 named it Santiago, but this did not stick. Related: Jamaican. The Jamaica in New York probably is a Delaware (Algonquian) word meaning "beaver pond" altered by influence of the island name.
legerdemain (n.): early 15c., "conjuring tricks," from Middle French léger de main "quick of hand," literally "light of hand," from léger "light" in weight (from Latin levis "light;" see lever) + main "hand" (from Latin manus; see manual).
Maia: Roman goddess of fertility, Latin Maia, literally "she who brings increase," related to magnus "great" (see magnate). Maia, one of the Pleiades, is from Greek Maia, daughter of Atlas, mother of Hermes, literally "mother, good mother, dame; foster-mother, nurse, midwife," said by Watkins to be from infant babbling (see mamma).
maid (n.): late 12c., "a virgin, a young unmarried woman," shortening of maiden (n.). Like that word, used in Middle English of unmarried men as well as women (as in maiden-man, c. 1200, used of both sexes, reflecting also the generic use of man). Domestic help sense is from c. 1300. In reference to Joan of Arc, attested from 1540s (French la Pucelle). Maid Marian, one of Robin Hood's companions, first recorded 1520s, perhaps from French, where Robin et Marian have been stock names for country lovers since 13c. Maid of Honor (1580s) originally was "unmarried lady of noble birth who attends a queen or princess;" meaning "principal bridesmaid" is attested from 1895. Maydelond (translating Latin terra feminarum) was "the land of the Amazons."
maiden (n.): Old English mægden, mæden "maiden, virgin, girl; maid, servant," diminutive of mægð, mægeð "virgin, girl; woman, wife," from Proto-Germanic *magadinom "young womanhood, sexually inexperienced female" (cognates: Old Saxon magath, Old Frisian maged, Old High German magad "virgin, maid," German Magd "maid, maidservant," German Mädchen "girl, maid," from Mägdchen "little maid"), fem. variant of PIE root *maghu- "youngster of either sex, unmarried person" (cognates: Old English magu "child, son, male descendant," Avestan magava- "unmarried," Old Irish maug "slave").
maiden (adj.): "virgin, unmarried," c. 1300, from maiden (n.). The figurative sense of "new fresh, first" (as in maiden voyage) is first recorded 1550s. Maiden name is from 1680s.
maidenhead (n.): c. 1200, from maiden (n.) + Middle English -hede (see -head). Compare also maidehede (c. 1200) "celibacy, virginity" (of men or women).
maidenhood (n.): Old English mægdenhad "maidenhood;" see maiden (n.) + -hood.
maidenly (adj.): mid-15c., from maiden (n.) + -ly (1).
maidservant (n.): 1520s, from maid (n.) + servant.
mail (n.1): "post, letters," c. 1200, "a traveling bag," from Old French male "wallet, bag, bundle," from Frankish *malha or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *malho- (cognates: Old High German malaha "wallet, bag," Middle Dutch male "bag"), from PIE *molko- "skin, bag." Sense extension to "letters and parcels" (18c.) is via "bag full of letter" (1650s) or "person or vehicle who carries postal matter" (1650s). In 19c. England, mail was letters going abroad, while home dispatches were post. Sense of "personal batch of letters" is from 1844, originally American English.
mail (n.2): "metal ring armor," c. 1300, from Old French maille "link of mail, mesh of net," from Latin macula "mesh in a net," originally "spot, blemish," on notion that the gaps in a net or mesh looked like spots.
mail (v.): "send by post," 1828, American English, from mail (n.1). Related: Mailed; mailing; mailable. Mailing list attested from 1876.
mail (n.3): "rent, payment," from Old English mal (see blackmail (n.)).
mail-order (adj.): 1875, from mail (n.1) + order. Before television and the Internet, the bane of retailers and shop-owners.
The origin, foundation and principle of mail order trading is universally recognized as wrong. It was conceived in iniquity and brought forth in despair as the world's greatest destructive medium. Mail Order Trading was born in the brain of knaves and thieves who fired their building for insurance profits, then sold the salvaged and damaged stock to the unsuspecting sons of man in distant territory. [Thomas J. Sullivan, "Merchants and Manufacturers on Trial," Chicago, 1914]
mailbag (n.): also mail-bag, 1794, from mail (n.1) + bag (n.).
mailbox (n.): also mail-box, 1797, "box for mailbags on a coach," from mail (n.1) + box (n.1). Meaning "letterbox" is from 1853, American English.
mailed (adj.): "having mail armor," late 14c., from mail (n.2).
maillot (n.): "tight-fitting one-piece swimsuit," 1928, from French maillot "swaddling clothes," from Old French mailloel (13c.), probably an alteration of maille "mesh" (see mail (n.2)). Borrowed earlier by English in the sense of "tights" (1888).
mailman (n.): also mail-man, 1841, from mail (n.1) + man (n.).
maim (v.): c. 1300, maimen, from Old French mahaignier "injure, wound, muitilate, cripple, disarm," possibly from Vulgar Latin *mahanare (source also of Provençal mayanhar, Italian magagnare), of unknown origin; or possibly from a Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *mait- (source of Old Norse meiða "to hurt," related to mad (adj.)), or from PIE root *mai- "to cut." Related: Maimed; maiming.
main (n.): Old English mægen (n.) "power, bodily strength, force, efficacy," from Proto-Germanic *maginam "power," suffixed form of PIE root *magh- (1) "be able, have power" (see may (v.)). Original sense preserved in phrase with might and main. Meaning "principal channel in a utility system" is first recorded 1727 in main drain. Used since 1540s for "continuous stretch of land or water;" in nautical jargon used loosely for "the ocean," but in Spanish Main the word is short for mainland and refers to the coast between Panama and Orinoco (as contrasted to the islands of the West Indies).
main (adj.): early 13c., "large, bulky, strong," from Old English mægen- "power, strength, force," used in compounds (such as mægensibb "great love," mægenbyrðen "heavy burden;" see main (n.)), probably also from or influenced by Old Norse megenn (adj.) "strong, powerful." Sense of "chief" is c. 1400. Main course in the meal sense attested from 1829. Main man "favorite male friend; hero" is from 1967, U.S. black slang.
main line (n.): "principal line of a railway," 1841; meaning "affluent area of residence" is by 1917, originally (with capitals) that of Philadelphia, from the "main line" of the Pennsylvania Railroad which added local stops to a string of backwater towns west of the city late 19c. that helped turn them into fashionable suburbs.
The Main Line, Philadelphia's most famous suburban district, was deliberately conceived in the 1870's and 1880's by the [Pennsylvania] Railroad, which built high-toned housing developments, ran hotels, more or less forced its executives to plunk their estates out there, and created a whole series of somewhat spurious Welsh towns along the railroad tracks. ... Now everybody assumes these all date from 1682, like the Robertses; but as Chestnut Hill people like to say, "nobody but Welsh peasants lived on the Main Line till the Railroad built it up." [Nathaniel Burt, "The Perennial Philadelphians," 1963]
The original station stops were, in order out from the city, Overbrook, Merion, Narberth, Wynnewood, Ardmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Paoli. The train line for commuters along it is the Paoli Local.
Main Street (n.): "principal street of a (U.S.) town," 1810. Used allusively to indicate "mediocrity, small-town materialism" from late 19c., especially since publication of Sinclair Lewis's novel "Main Street" (1920).