英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

account [account 词源字典]: account: [14] Account is of Old French origin. It was formed from compter, conter ‘count’ (which derived from Latin computāre) and the prefix a-. Its original meaning in English, too, was ‘count’ or ‘count up’; this had disappeared by the end of the 18th century, but its specialized reference to the keeping of financial records is of equal antiquity. Account for, meaning ‘explain’, arose in the mid 18th century.
=> count[account etymology, account origin, 英语词源]
accuse: accuse: [13] Accuse comes via Old French acuser from the Latin verb accūsāre, which was based on the noun causa ‘cause’ – but cause in the sense not of ‘something that produces a result’, but of ‘legal action’ (a meaning preserved in English cause list, for instance). Hence accūsāre was to ‘call someone to account for their actions’.

The grammatical term accusative [15] (denoting the case of the object of a verb in Latin and other languages) is derived ultimately from accūsāre, but it arose originally owing to a mistranslation. The Greek term for this case was ptósis aitiātiké ‘case denoting causation’ – a reasonable description of the function of the accusative. Unfortunately the Greek verb aitiásthai also meant ‘accuse’, and it was this sense that Latin grammarians chose to render when adopting the term.
=> cause, excuse
chock-full: chock-full: [14] There is more than one theory to account for this word. It occurs in a couple of isolated instances around 1400, as chokkefulle and chekeful, prompting speculation that the first element may be either chock ‘wooden block’, which came from an assumed Old Northern French *choque (thus ‘stuffed full with lumps of wood’) or cheek (thus ‘full up as far as the cheeks’). It resurfaces in the 17th century as choke-ful, which has given rise to the idea that it may originally have meant ‘so full as to choke’. The available evidence seems too scanty to come to a firm conclusion.
crush: crush: [14] The emergence of crush is something of a mystery. English borrowed it from Old French croissir, but it is not clear where Old French got it from. Some consider it to be of Romance origin, postulating a hypothetical Vulgar Latin *cruscīre to account for it, but others suggest that Old French may have borrowed it from Germanic, pointing to the similarity of Middle Low German krossen ‘crush’.
jerry-built: jerry-built: [19] In the absence of any watertight evidence, many theories have been put forward to account for this adjective (first recorded in 1869). One (touted in newspaper correspondence as early as 1884) holds that it immortalizes the incompetence of a firm of Liverpool builders named Jerry, but no proof of that has ever been found. Another would link it, ingeniously, with the walls of Jericho, which fell down as soon as Joshua blew his trumpet.
lumber: lumber: [14] Swedish has a dialectal verb loma ‘move heavily’, which is the only clue we have to the antecedents of the otherwise mysterious English verb lumber. The noun, too, which first appears in the 16th century, is difficult to account for. In the absence of any other convincing candidates, it is presumed to have been derived from the verb (its earliest recorded sense is ‘useless or inconvenient articles’, plausibly close to the verb; ‘cut timber’ did not emerge until the 17th century, in North America).
monkey: monkey: [16] No one is too sure where monkey came from. Spanish has mono ‘monkey’, and Old Italian had monno ‘monkey’, both probably borrowed from Arabic maimūn ‘monkey’, and it could be that an ancestor of these was borrowed into Low German and given the diminutive suffix -ke. This would account for monkey. No related Germanic form has been found to substantiate this, although the name Moneke does occur in Middle Low German.
panic: panic: [17] Panic is etymologically ‘terror caused by the god Pan’. The ancient Greeks believed that he lurked in lonely spots, and would frighten people by suddenly appearing, or making noises. He was evidently invoked to account for alarming but harmless natural phenomena, and so the element of ‘irrationality’ in the English word was present from the beginning. English acquired it (originally as an adjective) via French panique and modern Latin pānicus from Greek pānikós ‘of Pan’.
=> pan
rancour: rancour: [14] To account for rancour and its close relative rancid we have to postulate a Latin verb *rancēre ‘stink’, never actually recorded but inferable from its present participle rancēns ‘stinking, putrid’. From it were derived the adjective rancidus, source of English rancid [17], and in post-classical times the noun rancor, source of English rancour.
=> rancid
sphere: sphere: [17] Sphere goes back ultimately to Greek sphaira, a word of uncertain origin, which reached English via Latin sphaera or sphēra and Old French espere. Amongst the theories put forward to account for its ancestry are that it was derived from Greek sphurás ‘fall of dung, round pellet of dung, pill’, which has relatives in Lithuanian spira ‘sheep-dung’ and modern Icelandic sperthill ‘goat-dung’; and that it is related to Greek spaírein ‘quiver’ and Sanskrit sphur- ‘spring, quiver, trouble’. It metaphorical use in English for ‘area of activity’ dates from the early 17th century.
allowance (n.): late 14c., "praise" (a sense now obsolete), from Old French aloance "allowance, granting, allocation," from alouer (see allow). Sense of "a sum alloted to meet expenses" is from c. 1400. In accounts, meaning "a sum placed to one's credit" is attested from 1520s. To make allowances is literally to add or deduct a sum from someone's account for some special circumstance. Figurative use of the phrase is attested from 1670s.
behest (n.): Old English behæs "a vow," perhaps from behatan "to promise" (from be- + hatan "command, call;" see cite) and confused with obsolete hest "command," which may account for the parasitic -t as well as the Middle English shift in meaning to "command, injunction" (late 12c.).
blond (adj.): late 15c., from Old French blont "fair, blond" (12c.), from Medieval Latin blundus "yellow," perhaps from Frankish *blund. If it is a Germanic word, it is possibly related to Old English blonden-feax "gray-haired," from blondan, blandan "to mix" (see blend (v.)). According to Littré, the original sense of the French word was "a colour midway between golden and light chestnut," which might account for the notion of "mixed."

Old English beblonden meant "dyed," so it is also possible that the root meaning of blonde, if it is Germanic, may be "dyed," as ancient Teutonic warriors were noted for dying their hair. Du Cange, however, writes that blundus was a vulgar pronunciation of Latin flavus "yellow." Another guess (discounted by German etymologists), is that it represents a Vulgar Latin *albundus, from alba "white."

The word was reintroduced into English 17c. from French, and was until recently still felt as French, hence blonde (with French feminine ending) for females. Italian biondo, Spanish blondo, Old Provençal blon all are of Germanic origin.
Fair hair was much esteemed by both the Greeks and Romans, and so they not only dyed and gold-dusted theirs ..., but also went so far as to gild the hair of their statues, as notably those of Venus de Medici and Apollo. In the time of Ovid (A.U.C. 711) much fair hair was imported from Germany, by the Romans, as it was considered quite the fashionable color. Those Roman ladies who did not choose to wear wigs of this hue, were accustomed to powder theirs freely with gold dust, so as to give it the fashionable yellow tint. [C. Henry Leonard, "The Hair," 1879]
catastrophism (n.): as a geological or biological theory, 1869, coined by Huxley from catastrophe + -ism.
By CATASTROPHISM I mean any form of geological speculation which, in order to account for the phenomena of geology, supposes the operation of forces different in their nature, or immeasurably different in power, from those which we at present see in action in the universe. [T.H. Huxley, "Address" to the Geological Society of London, Feb. 19, 1869]
Related: Catastrophist.
cesspool (n.): also cess-pool, 1670s, the first element perhaps an alteration of cistern, perhaps a shortened form of recess [Klein]; or the whole may be an alteration of suspiral (c. 1400), "drainpipe," from Old French sospiral "a vent, air hole," from sospirer "breathe," from Latin suspirare "breathe deep" [Barnhart]. Meaning extended to "tank at the end of the pipe," which would account for a possible folk-etymology change in final syllable.

Other possible etymologies: Italian cesso "privy," from Latin secessus "place of retirement" (in Late Latin "privy, drain"); dialectal suspool, from suss, soss "puddle;" or cess "a bog on the banks of a tidal river."
en- (1): word-forming element meaning "in; into," from French and Old French en-, from Latin in- "in, into" (see in- (2)). Typically assimilated before -p-, -b-, -m-, -l-, and -r-. Latin in- became en- in French, Spanish, Portuguese, but remained in- in Italian.

Also used with native and imported elements to form verbs from nouns and adjectives, with a sense "put in or on" (encircle), also "cause to be, make into" (endear), and used as an intensive (enclose). Spelling variants in French that were brought over into Middle English account for parallels such as ensure/insure, and most en- words in English had at one time or another a variant in in-, and vice versa.
glance (v.): mid-15c., of weapons, "strike obliquely without giving full impact," a nasalized form of glacen "to graze, strike a glancing blow" (c. 1300), from Old French glacier "to slip, make slippery" (compare Old French glaciere "part of a knight's armor meant to deflect blows"), from glace "ice" (see glacial). Sense of "look quickly" (first recorded 1580s) probably was by influence of Middle English glenten "look askance" (see glint (v.)), which also could account for the -n-. Related: Glanced; glancing.
hoodlum (n.): popularized 1871, American English, (identified throughout the 1870s as "a California word") "young street rowdy, loafer," especially one involved in violence against Chinese immigrants, "young criminal, gangster;" it appears to have been in use locally from a slightly earlier date and may have begun as a specific name of a gang:
The police have recently been investigating the proceedings of a gang of thieving boys who denominate themselves and are known to the world as the Hoodlum Gang. [San Francisco "Golden Era" newspaper, Feb. 16, 1868, p.4]
Of unknown origin, though newspapers of the day printed myriad fanciful stories concocted to account for it. A guess perhaps better than average is that it is from German dialectal (Bavarian) Huddellump "ragamuffin" [Barnhart].
What the derivation of the word "hoodlum" is we could never satisfactorily ascertain, though several derivations have been proposed; and it would appear that the word has not been very many years in use. But, however obscure the word may be, there is nothing mysterious about the thing; .... [Walter M. Fisher, "The Californians," London, 1876]
lymphatic (adj.): 1640s, from Latin lymphaticus, from lympha (see lymph). Also sometimes used in the classical Latin sense "mad, frenzied," which was the primary sense of lymphaticus in Latin: OED reports this "difficult to account for," but perhaps due to association of lympha with nymphe; compare Greek nymphian "to be frenzy-stricken."
Occam's razor: when two competing hypotheses explain the data equally well, choose the simpler. Or, as Sir William Hamilton puts it, "Neither more, nor more onerous, causes are to be assumed, than are necessary to account for the phenomena." Named for English philosopher William of Ockham or Occam (c. 1285-c. 1349), who expressed it with Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter ncccssitatem.
So called after William of Occam (died about 1349): but, as a historical fact, Occam does not make much use of this principle, which belongs rather to the contemporary nominalist William Durand de St. Pourçain (died 1332). [Century Dictionary]
priest (n.): Old English preost probably shortened from the older Germanic form represented by Old Saxon and Old High German prestar, Old Frisian prestere, all from Vulgar Latin *prester "priest," from Late Latin presbyter "presbyter, elder," from Greek presbyteros (see Presbyterian).

An alternative theory (to account for the -eo- of the Old English word) makes it cognate with Old High German priast, prest, from Vulgar Latin *prevost "one put over others," from Latin praepositus "person placed in charge," from past participle of praeponere (see provost). In Old Testament sense, a translation of Hebrew kohen, Greek hiereus, Latin sacerdos.
slow (adj.): Old English slaw "inactive, sluggish, torpid, lazy," also "not clever," from Proto-Germanic *slæwaz (cognates: Old Saxon sleu "blunt, dull," Middle Dutch slee, Dutch sleeuw "sour, tart, blunt," Old High German sleo "blunt, dull," Old Norse sljor, Danish sløv, Swedish slö "blunt, dull"). Meaning "taking a long time" is attested from early 13c. Meaning "dull, tedious" is from 1841. As an adverb c. 1500. The slows "imaginary disease to account for lethargy" is from 1843.
tare (n.2): "allowable difference between gross and net weight, deduction made from gross weight of goods to account for approximate weight of packaging or container holding them," late 15c., from Middle French tare "wastage in goods, deficiency, imperfection" (15c.), from Italian tara, Medieval Latin tara, from Arabic tarah, literally "thing deducted or rejected, that which is thrown away," from taraha "to reject."
Wicca (n.): An Old English masc. noun meaning "male witch, wizard, soothsayer, sorcerer, astrologer, magician;" see witch. Use of the word in modern contexts traces to English folklorist Gerald Gardner (1884-1964), who is said to have joined circa 1939 an occult group in New Forest, Hampshire, England, for which he claimed an unbroken tradition to medieval times. Gardner seems to have first used it in print in 1954, in his book "Witchcraft Today" ("Witches were the Wica or wise people, with herbal knowledge and a working occult teaching usually used for good ...."). In published and unpublished material, he apparently only ever used the word as a mass noun referring to adherents of the practice and not as the name of the practice itself. Some of his followers continue to use it in this sense. According to Gardner's book "The Meaning of Witchcraft" (1959), the word, as used in the initiation ceremony, played a key role in his experience:
I realised that I had stumbled upon something interesting; but I was half-initiated before the word, 'Wica' which they used hit me like a thunderbolt, and I knew where I was, and that the Old Religion still existed. And so I found myself in the Circle, and there took the usual oath of secrecy, which bound me not to reveal certain things.
In the late 1960s the term came into use as the title of a modern pagan movement associated with witchcraft. The first printed reference in this usage seems to be 1969, in "The Truth About Witchcraft" by freelance author Hans Holzer:
If the practice of the Old Religion, which is also called Wicca (Craft of the Wise), and thence, witchcraft, is a reputable and useful cult, then it is worthy of public interest.
And, quoting witch Alex Sanders:
"No, a witch wedding still needs a civil ceremony to make it legal. Wicca itself as a religion is not registered yet. But it is about time somebody registered it, I think. I've done all I can to call attention to our religion."
Sanders was a highly visible representative of neo-pagan Witchcraft in the late 1960s and early 1970s. During this time he appears to have popularized use of the term in this sense. Later books c. 1989 teaching modernized witchcraft using the same term account for its rise and popularity, especially in U.S.
od: "A hypothetical power once thought to pervade nature and account for various scientific phenomena", Mid 19th century: arbitrary term coined in German by Baron von Reichenbach (1788–1869), German scientist.
battels: "(At Oxford University) a college account for food and accommodation expenses", Late 16th century: perhaps from dialect battle 'nourish', from the earlier adjective battle 'nutritious'; probably related to batten².