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balance [balance 词源字典]: balance: [13] The underlying etymological meaning of balance is of a weighing apparatus with ‘two pans’ for holding things. In Latin this was a lībra bilanx, literally ‘scales with two pans’ – bilanx being compounded from bi- ‘two’ and lanx ‘plate, pan’. Bilanx passed, in its stem from bilanc-, via Vulgar Latin *bilancia into Old French balance, the source of the English word.
[balance etymology, balance origin, 英语词源]
deliver: deliver: [13] To deliver something is etymologically to ‘set it free’. The word comes via Old French delivrer from late Latin dēlīberāre, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix dē- and Latin līberāre ‘set free’, a derivative of the adjective līber ‘free’. Its meaning developed through ‘set free’ to ‘give up, surrender’ and finally ‘hand over to someone else’. (Classical Latin dēlīberāre, source of English deliberate [15], is an entirely different verb, derived from Latin lībra ‘scales’.)
=> liberate
level: level: [14] The Latin word for a ‘balance’ or ‘scales’ was libra (it has given English Libra the zodiacal sign [14] and also lies behind many terms for units of measurement, including litre and the abbreviation lb for ‘pound’). Its diminutive form was lībella, which denoted an ‘instrument for checking horizontality’, and hence a ‘horizontal line’. It passed into Old French as livel (which in modern French has become niveau ‘level’), and English took it over as level.
=> litre
aegis (n.): "protection," 1793, from Latin aegis, from Greek Aigis, the name of the shield of Zeus, said by Herodotus to be related to aix (genitive aigos) "goat," from PIE *aig- "goat" (cognates: Sanskrit ajah, Lithuanian ozys "he-goat"), as the shield was of goatskin. Athene's aigis was a short goat-skin cloak, covered with scales, set with a gorgon's head, and fringed with snakes. The exact use and purpose of it is not now clear.
The goatskin would be worn with the two forelegs tied in front of the wearer's breast, or possibly with the head passed through an opening made at the neck, by the removal of the animal's head. [F. Warre Cornish, ed., "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities," London, 1898]
balance (n.): early 13c., "apparatus for weighing," from Old French balance (12c.) "balance, scales for weighing," also in the figurative sense; from Medieval Latin bilancia, from Late Latin bilanx, from Latin (libra) bilanx "(scale) having two pans," possibly from Latin bis "twice" + lanx "dish, plate, scale of a balance." The accounting sense is from 1580s; the meaning "general harmony between parts" is from 1732; sense of "physical equipoise" is from 1660s. Balance of power in the geopolitical sense is from 1701. Many figurative uses (such as hang in the balance, late 14c.), are from Middle English image of the scales in the hands of personified Justice, Fortune, Fate, etc.
blenny (n.): 1774, from Latin blennius (in Pliny), from Greek blennos, from blenna "slime, mucus," from PIE *mled-sno-, from root *mel- "soft." The fish so called from the coating on its scales.
boilermaker (n.): "a maker of boilers for engines," 1814, from boiler (n.) + maker. Meaning "shot of whiskey with a glass of beer" is short for boilermaker's delight (1910), strong cheap whiskey, so called in jest from the notion that it would clean the scales from the interior of a boiler.
bran (n.): c. 1300, "the husk of wheat, barley, etc., separated from the flour after grinding," from Old French bren "bran, scurf, scales, feces" (12c., Modern French bran), perhaps connected with Gaulish *brenno- "manure," or with burn (v.). The word also was used 16c. in English for "dandruff flakes."
cataphract (n.): "coat of mail," Middle English, from Latin cataphractes "breastplate of iron scales," from Greek kataphraktes "coat of mail," from kataphraktos "covered up," from kataphrassein "to fortify," from kata "entirely" (see cata-) + phrassein "to fence around, enclose, defend" (see diaphragm).
counterbalance (v.): 1570s, from counter- + balance (v.), in reference to scales. Figurative use dates from 1630s. As a noun, from c. 1600.
extol (v.): also extoll, c. 1400, "to lift up," from Latin extollere "to place on high, raise, elevate," figuratively "to exalt, praise," from ex- "up" (see ex-) + tollere "to raise," from PIE *tele- "to bear, carry," "with derivatives referring to measured weights and thence money and payment" [Watkins].

Cognates include Greek talantos "bearing, suffering," tolman "to carry, bear," telamon "broad strap for bearing something," talenton "a balance, pair of scales," Atlas "the 'Bearer' of Heaven;" Lithuanian tiltas "bridge;" Sanskrit tula "balance," tulayati "lifts up, weighs;" Latin tolerare "to bear, support," latus "borne;" Old English þolian "to endure;" Armenian tolum "I allow." Figurative sense of "praise highly" in English is first attested c. 1500. Related: Extolled; extolling.
major (adj.): c. 1300, from Latin maior (earlier *magjos), irregular comparative of magnus "large, great" (see magnate). Used in music (of modes, scales, or chords) since 1690s, on notion of an interval a half-tone greater than the minor.
music (n.): mid-13c., musike, from Old French musique (12c.) and directly from Latin musica "the art of music," also including poetry (also source of Spanish musica, Italian musica, Old High German mosica, German Musik, Dutch muziek, Danish musik), from Greek mousike (techne) "(art) of the Muses," from fem. of mousikos "pertaining to the Muses," from Mousa "Muse" (see muse (n.)). Modern spelling from 1630s. In classical Greece, any art in which the Muses presided, but especially music and lyric poetry.

The use of letters to denote music pitch probably is at least as old as ancient Greece, as their numbering system was ill-suited to the job. Natural scales begin at C (not A) because in ancient times the minor mode was more often used than the major one, and the natural minor scale begins at A.

Music box is from 1773, originally "barrel organ;" music hall is from 1842, especially "hall licensed for musical entertainment" (1857). To face the music "accept the consequences" is from 1850; the exact image is uncertain, one theory ties it to stage performers, another to cavalry horses having to be taught to stay calm while the regimental band plays. To make (beautiful) music with someone "have sexual intercourse" is from 1967.
scale (n.2): weighing instrument, early 15c.; earlier "pan of a balance" (late 14c.); earlier still "drinking cup" (c. 1200), from Old Norse skal "bowl, drinking cup," in plural, "weighing scale" from a noun derivative of Proto-Germanic *skæla "split, divide" (cognates: Old Norse skel "shell," Old English scealu, Old Saxon skala "a bowl (to drink from)," Old High German scala, German Schale "a bowl, dish, cup," Middle Dutch scale, Dutch schaal "drinking cup, bowl, shell, scale of a balance"), from PIE root *skel- (1) "to cut" (see scale (n.1)).

The connecting sense seems to be of half of a bivalve ("split") shell used as a drinking cup or a pan for weighing. But according to Paulus Diaconus the "drinking cup" sense originated from a supposed custom of making goblets from skulls (see skull). Related: Scales. This, as a name for the zodiac constellation Libra, is attested in English from 1630s.
scale (v.3): "weigh in scales," 1690s, from scale (n.2). Earlier "to compare, estimate" (c. 1600). Meaning "measure or regulate by a scale" is from 1798, from scale (n.3); that of "weigh out in proper quantities" is from 1841. Scale down "reduce proportionately" is attested from 1887. Scale factor is from 1948. Related: Scaled; scaling.
scale (v.2): "remove the scales of (a fish, etc.)," c. 1400, from scale (n.1). Intransitive sense "to come off in scales" is from 1520s. Related: Scaled; scaling.
squamous (adj.): 1540s, from Latin squamosus "covered with scales, scaly," from squama "scale," perhaps related to squalus "foul, filthy" (see squalid). Middle English had squame "a scale" (late 14c.), from Old French esquame, from Latin squama. Alternative form squamose attested from 1660s.
talent (n.): late 13c., "inclination, disposition, will, desire," from Old French talent (12c.), from Medieval Latin talenta, plural of talentum "inclination, leaning, will, desire" (11c.), in classical Latin "balance, weight; sum of money," from Greek talanton "a balance, pair of scales," hence "weight, definite weight, anything weighed," and in later times sum of money," from PIE *tele- "to lift, support, weigh," "with derivatives referring to measured weights and thence money and payment" [Watkins]; see extol.
An ancient denomination of weight, originally Babylonian (though the name is Greek), and varying widely in value among different peoples and at different times. [Century Dictionary]
According to Liddell & Scott, as a monetary sum, considered to consist of 6,000 drachmae, or, in Attica, 57.75 lbs. of silver. Also borrowed in other Germanic languages and Celtic. Attested in Old English as talente). The Medieval Latin and common Romanic sense developed from figurative use of the word in the sense of "money." Meaning "special natural ability, aptitude, gift committed to one for use and improvement" developed by mid-15c., in part perhaps from figurative sense "wealth," but mostly from the parable of the talents in Matt. xxv:14-30. Meaning "persons of ability collectively" is from 1856.
tip (v.1): c. 1300, "to knock down, overturn, topple, knock askew" (transitive), of uncertain origin, possibly from Scandinavian (compare Swedish tippa "to tip, dump"), or from a special use of tip (n.). Intransitive sense of "to fall over, be overturned" is from mid-15c. Related: Tipped; tipping. To tip the scales at "weigh (so much" is from 1879. Tipping point attested by 1972. To tip (one's) hand "reveal one's intentions" is from 1907, an image from poker-playing.
wey (n.): dry goods weight of fixed amount (but varying over time and place), Old English weg "scales, balance, weight" (see weigh).
monkey puzzle: "An evergreen coniferous tree with branches covered in spirals of tough spiny leaf-like scales, native to Chile", Mid 19th century: said to be so named in response to a remark that an attempt to climb the tree would puzzle a monkey.
psora: "Any of various skin diseases characterized by the presence of scabs or scales, usually with itching; especially scabies, mange, or (in later use) psoriasis", Late 16th cent.; earliest use found in John Banister (1532/3–?1610), surgeon. From classical Latin psōra or its etymon ancient Greek ψώρα itch, mange from an alternative form (with different vocalism) of the stem of ψῆν to rub, wipe + -ρα, suffix forming nouns.
Testudines: "An order of reptiles which comprises the turtles, terrapins, and tortoises. They are distinguished by having a shell of bony plates covered with horny scales, and many kinds are aquatic", Modern Latin (plural), based on Latin testa 'shell'.
desquamate: "(Of a layer of cells, e.g. of the skin) come off in scales or flakes", Early 18th century (in the sense 'remove the scales from'): from Latin desquamat- 'scaled', from the verb desquamare, from de- 'away from' + squama 'a scale'.
cryptomeria: "A tall conical coniferous tree with long, curved, spirally arranged leaves and short cones. Native to China and Japan, it is grown for timber in Japan", Modern Latin, from crypto- 'hidden' + Greek meros 'part' (because the seeds are concealed by scales).