英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

about: about: [OE] About in Old English times meant ‘around the outside of’; it did not develop its commonest present-day meaning, ‘concerning’, until the 13th century. In its earliest incarnation it was onbūtan, a compound made up of on and būtan ‘outside’ (this is the same word as modern English but, which was itself originally a compound, formed from the ancestors of by and out – so broken down into its ultimate constituents, about is on by out).
=> but, by, out
bud: bud: [14] Bud is something of a mystery word. It appears in the late 14th century, with no apparent English ancestors. Various suggestions have been put forward as to its origin, including Old French boter ‘push forward, thrust’ (a distant relative of English button). Similarities have also been noted to Old English budd ‘beetle’ and Sanskrit bhūri ‘abundant’. But the question remains open. The American colloquial form of address bud is short for buddy [19], probably itself an alteration of brother.
chickpea: chickpea: [18] Chickpeas have nothing to do with chickens, and only remotely anything to do with peas (they are both legumes). The word comes ultimately from Latin cicer (the name of the Roman orator Cicero is based on it – one of his ancestors must have had a chickpea-shaped wart). That came into English in the 14th century, by way of Old French, as chich, and chich remained for several centuries the name of the vegetable. The French, meanwhile, noting the leguminous resemblance, had taken to calling it pois chiche, which the English duly translated in the 16th century as chich-pea. Later, folk-etymology transformed chich to chick.
furlong: furlong: [OE] Furlong ‘eighth of a mile’, which has now virtually died out except in horse-racing terminology, is part of a vocabulary of lengthmeasuring bequeathed to us by the agricultural practices of our ancestors. It originated as an Old English compound formed from furh ‘furrow’ and lang ‘long’ – that is, the length of a furrow ploughed across a standard-sized square field of ten acres.

Since the term acre varied somewhat in its application at different times and places, the length of a furlong could not be computed with great precision from it, but in practice from about the 9th century the furlong was pegged to the stadium, a measure equal to one eighth of a Roman mile.
=> furrow, long
honey: honey: [OE] Our Indo-European ancestors were very fond of honey, and their word for it, based on *melit-, has come down to many modern European languages, such as French and Spanish miel, Italian miele, and Welsh mel (it also contributed to English mellifluous, mildew, and molasses). The Germanic languages, however, have not persisted with it.

Their words for ‘honey’ (which also include German honig, Dutch honing, Swedish honung, and Danish honning) come from a prehistoric West and North Germanic *khunagom or *khunanggom. This may originally have described the colour of honey; it has been linked with Greek knēkós ‘pale yellow’ and Sanskrit kāncana- ‘golden’.
imitate: imitate: [16] Latin imitāri meant ‘make a copy of’. It was formed from the base *im-, which also lies behind the Latin ancestors of English emulate [16] and image; all three words share the basic meaning element ‘likeness’. English acquired the word via the Latin past participle imitātus.
=> emulate, image
jelly: jelly: [14] The central idea of ‘coagulation’ takes us back to the ultimate source of jelly, the Latin verb gelāre ‘freeze’ (which also gave English congeal [14]). Its feminine past participle gelāta was used in Vulgar Latin for a substance solidified out of a liquid, and this passed into Old French as gelee, meaning both ‘frost’ and ‘jelly’ – whence the English word. (Culinarily, jelly at first denoted a savoury substance, made from gelatinous parts of animals; it was not really until the early 19th century that the ancestors of modern fruit jellies began to catch on in a big way.) The Italian descendant of gelāta was gelata.

From it was formed a diminutive, gelatina, which English acquired via French as gelatine [19]. Gel [19] is an abbreviation of it.
=> cold, congeal, gel, gelatine
post: post: Including the prefix post-, English has four different words post. The oldest, ‘long upright piece of wood, metal, etc’ [OE], was borrowed from Latin postis. From it was derived the verb post ‘fix to a post’, which in turn produced poster [19], denoting a placard that can be ‘posted’ up. Post ‘mail’ [16] comes via French poste and Italian posta from Vulgar Latin *posta, a contracted version of posita, the feminine form of the past participle of Latin pōnere ‘put, place’ (source of English position).

The notion underlying the sense ‘mail’ is of riders ‘placed’ or stationed at intervals along a road so as to carry letters at speed by a relay system. Post ‘job’ [16] reached English via a very similar route, this time from the neuter form of the Latin past participle, positum. This became *postum in Vulgar Latin, which produced Italian posto, French poste, and English post.

Here again the word’s original meaning, ‘position where a soldier is placed’, reflects that of its Latin source pōnere. The prefix post- comes from the Latin preposition post ‘after’. It occurs in a number of English words that go back to Latin ancestors (including posterior [16], posthumous, postpone [16], postscript [16], and the more heavily disguised preposterous), as well as being widely used to create new coinages (such as postgraduate [19] and postwar [20]).
=> position
rhyme: rhyme: [12] Etymologically, rhyme and rhythm are the same word. Both go back to medieval Latin rythmus ‘rhythm’, but whereas rhythm has reached us almost unchanged, rhyme has come via a branch line. The sort of accented verse to which the medieval Latin word was applied commonly rhymed, and so when rythmus passed into early Old French as *ritme, it carried connotations of ‘rhyming’ with it.

This later developed to rime, and when English borrowed it as rime, it still contained the notion of ‘rhythm’; but by the 13th century ‘rhyme’ was becoming its main meaning. The spelling rhyme, which emerged around 1600, represents a conscious partial return to the word’s ultimate ancestors, Latin rhythmus and Greek rhuthmós.
=> rhythm
salt: salt: [OE] Salt was a key element in the diet of our Indo-European ancestors, and their word for it, *sal-, is the source of virtually all the modern European terms, including Russian sol’, Polish sól, Serbo-Croat so, Irish salann, and Welsh halen. Greek háls has given English halogen [19]. And Latin sāl, besides evolving into French sel, Italian sale, Spanish sal, and Romanian sare, has contributed an enormous range of vocabulary to English, including salad, salary, saline [15], salsa, sauce, saucer, and sausage.

Its Germanic descendant was *salt-, which has produced Swedish, Danish, and English salt and Dutch zout, and also lies behind English silt and souse.
=> halogen, salad, salary, saline, salsa, sauce, saucer, sausage, silt, souse
sky: sky: [13] Our Anglo-Saxon ancestors called the sky heofon ‘heaven’. Not until the early Middle English period did heaven begin to be pushed aside by sky, a borrowing from Old Norse ský ‘cloud’. This came ultimately from an Indo- European base meaning ‘cover’, which also produced Latin obscūrus, source of English obscure [14]. (For a while English continued to use sky for ‘cloud’ as well as for ‘sky’: the medieval Scots poet William Dunbar wrote, ‘When sable all the heaven arrays with misty vapours, clouds, and skies’.)
=> obscure
whether: whether: [OE] Whether was formed in the prehistoric Germanic period from the interrogative base *khwa-, *khwe- (source of English what, who, etc) and the comparative suffix *-theraz, which also occurs in English other. Its Germanic relatives include German weder ‘neither’ and Swedish hvar ‘each’. English either goes back to a Germanic compound formed from the ancestors of ay and whether.
=> either, other
aborigine (n.): 1858, mistaken singular of aborigines (1540s; the correct singular is aboriginal), from Latin Aborigines "the first ancestors of the Romans; the first inhabitants" (especially of Latium), possibly a tribal name, or from or made to conform to ab origine, literally "from the beginning." Extended 1789 to natives of other countries which Europeans have colonized. Australian slang shortening Abo attested from 1922.
Anasazi: Name applied by their Navajo neighbors to modern Pueblo peoples of the U.S. southwest, and to various landscape features associated with them, from Navajo anaasazi "ancestors of the enemies." Said to first have been applied to the ancient Pueblo ruins of southwestern United States in the Mesa Verde region c. 1889 by rancher and trader Richard Wetherill, who began exploration of the sites in the area; established in archaeological terminology 1927.
ancestry (n.): early 14c., from Old French ancesserie "ancestry, ancestors, forefathers," from ancestre (see ancestor); spelling modified in English by influence of ancestor.
degenerate (adj.): late 15c., from Latin degeneratus, past participle of degenerare "to be inferior to one's ancestors, to become unlike one's race or kind, fall from ancestral quality," used of physical as well as moral qualities, from phrase de genere, from de + genus (genitive generis) "birth, descent" (see genus). The noun is from 1550s.
epigone (n.): also epigon, "undistinguished scion of mighty ancestors," (sometimes in Latin plural form epigoni), 1865, from Greek epigonoi, in classical use with reference to the sons of the Seven who warred against Thebes; plural of epigonos "offspring, successor, posterity," noun use of adjective meaning "born afterward," from epi "close upon" (in time), see epi-, + -gonos "birth, offspring," from root of gignesthai "to be born" related to genos "race, birth, descent" (see genus).
Galilee: "northernmost province of Palestine," late 12c., from Latin Galilaea, Greek Galilaia, with place-name element + Hebrew Haggalil, literally "The District," a compressed form of Gelil haggoyim "the District of Nations" (see Isa. viii:23). The adjective Galilean, also Galilaean, is used both of Jesus, who was raised and began preaching there, and his followers (1610s), who was born there, and of the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei (1727); the family name is from one of its ancestors, Galileo de'Bonajuti, a prominent 15th century physician and civic leader in Florence, and represents Latin Galilaeus "Galilean." Galilean also figures as the word applied to early Christians among the pagans and Jews. Old and Middle English had Galileish
Guelph (n.): also Guelf, one of the two great parties in medieval Italian politics, characterized by support of the popes against the emperors (opposed to the Ghibellines), 1570s, from Italian Guelfo, from Old High German Welf, name of a princely family that became the ducal house of Brunswick, literally "whelp," originally the name of the founder (Welf I). The family are the ancestors of the present dynasty of Great Britain. The name is said to have been used as a war-cry at the Battle of Weinsberg (1140) by partisans of Henry the Lion, duke of Bavaria, who was of the family, against Emperor Conrad III; hence it was adopted in Italy as the name of the anti-imperial party in the Middle Ages.
house (n.): Old English hus "dwelling, shelter, house," from Proto-Germanic *husan (cognates: Old Norse, Old Frisian hus, Dutch huis, German Haus), of unknown origin, perhaps connected to the root of hide (v.) [OED]. In Gothic only in gudhus "temple," literally "god-house;" the usual word for "house" in Gothic being razn.

Meaning "family, including ancestors and descendants, especially if noble" is from c. 1000. The legislative sense (1540s) is transferred from the building in which the body meets. Meaning "audience in a theater" is from 1660s (transferred from the theater itself, playhouse); as a dance club DJ music style, probably from the Warehouse, a Chicago nightclub where the style is said to have originated. Zodiac sense is first attested late 14c. To play house is from 1871; as suggestive of "have sex, shack up," 1968. House arrest first attested 1936. On the house "free" is from 1889.
And the Prophet Isaiah the sonne of Amos came to him, and saide vnto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not liue. [2 Kings xx:1, version of 1611]
monogeny (n.): "theory that humankind originated from a single pair of ancestors," 1865; see mono- + -geny.
obscure (adj.): c. 1400, "dark," figuratively "morally unenlightened; gloomy," from Old French obscur, oscur "dark, clouded, gloomy; dim, not clear" (12c.) and directly from Latin obscurus "dark, dusky, shady," figuratively "unknown; unintelligible; hard to discern; from insignificant ancestors," from ob "over" (see ob-) + -scurus "covered," from PIE *(s)keu- "to cover, conceal" (see sky). Related: Obscurely.
patrimony (n.): mid-14c., "property of the Church," also "spiritual legacy of Christ," from Old French patremoine "heritage, patrimony" (12c.) and directly from Latin patrimonium "a paternal estate, inheritance from a father," also figurative, from pater (genitive patris) "father" (see father (n.)) + -monium, suffix signifying action, state, condition. Meaning "property inherited from a father or ancestors" is attested from late 14c. Figurative sense of "immaterial things handed down from the past" is from 1580s. A curious sense contrast to matrimony.
puce (n.): "brownish-purple," 1787, from French puce "flea-color; flea," from Latin pucilem (nominative pulex) "flea," from PIE *plou- "flea" (cognates: Sanskrit plusih, Greek psylla, Old Church Slavonic blucha, Lithuanian blusa, Armenian lu "flea"). That it could be generally recognized as a color seems a testimony to our ancestors' intimacy with vermin.
Salic (adj.): "based on or contained in the law code of the Salian Franks," 1540s, from French Salique, from Medieval Latin Salicus, from the Salian Franks, a tribe that once lived near the Zuider Zee, the ancestors of the Merovingian kings, literally "those living near the river Sala" (modern Ijssel).

Salic Law, code of law of Germanic tribes, was invoked 1316 by Philip V of France to exclude a woman from succeeding to the throne of France (and later to combat the French claims of Edward III of England), but the precise meaning of the passage is unclear.
swan (n.): Old English swan "swan," from Proto-Germanic *swanaz "singer" (cognates: Old Saxon swan, Old Norse svanr, Danish svane, Swedish svan, Middle Dutch swane, Dutch zwaan, Old High German swan, German Schwan), probably literally "the singing bird," from PIE root *swen- "to sing, make sound" (see sound (n.1)); thus related to Old English geswin "melody, song" and swinsian "to make melody."

In classical mythology, sacred to Apollo and to Venus. The singing of swans before death was alluded to by Chaucer (late 14c.), but swan-song (1831) is a translation of German Schwanengesang. The ancient Indo-European mythical swan-maiden so called by mythographers from 1829. Swan dive is recorded from 1898. A black swan was proverbial for "something extremely rare or non-existent" (late 14c.), after Juvenal ["Sat." vi. 164], but later they turned up in Australia (Chenopsis atratus).
"Do you say no worthy wife is to be found among all these crowds?" Well, let her be handsome, charming, rich and fertile; let her have ancient ancestors ranged about her halls; let her be more chaste than all the dishevelled Sabine maidens who stopped the war--a prodigy as rare upon the earth as a black swan! yet who could endure a wife that possessed all perfections? I would rather have a Venusian wench for my wife than you, O Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, if, with all your virtues, you bring me a haughty brow, and reckon up Triumphs as part of your marriage portion. [Juvenal]
Alcheringa: "(In the mythology of some Australian Aborigines) the ‘golden age’ when the first ancestors were created", Late 19th century: from Arrernte aljerre-nge 'in the Dreamtime'.