英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

dollar [dollar 词源字典]: dollar: [16] English originally acquired the word dollar in the form doler; this was the Low German form of German taler, a large silver coin in use in the German states from the 16th century. The word was short for Joachimstaler, literally ‘of Joachim’s valley’, and is a reference to the fact that silver from which the coins were made was mined near Joachimstal (modern Jachymov) in the Erzgebirge mountains, Czech Republic. By around 1700 the spelling dollar had become fairly standard, and in 1785 the term was formally adopted for the main unit of currency in the USA. It has since been taken up by over thirty countries around the world.
=> dale[dollar etymology, dollar origin, 英语词源]
scofflaw: scofflaw: [20] Aside from proprietary names and some scientific terms, it is rare for words that are pure human inventions (rather than naturally evolved forms) to make a permanent place for themselves in the English language, but scofflaw is a case in point. In the US in the early 1920s, in the middle of the Prohibition years, one Delcevare King of Quincy, Massachusetts offered a prize of $200 for a word to denote someone who defied the law and consumed alcohol.

Over 25,000 suggestions were received from America and around the world. In January 1924 King announced his chosen winner: scofflaw, a simple combination of scoff [14] (probably of Scandinavian origin) and law. Two people had submitted it (Henry Irving Dale and Kate L. Butler), and they shared the prize. Whether because or in spite of its homespun transparency, the word caught on, and survives in America to this day, albeit somewhat broadened out in meaning: specific reference to illicit drinkers is no longer in much demand, but it is now used for someone who flouts any law.
globe-trotter (n.): also globetrotter, "world traveler," especially one who goes from country to country around the world with the object of covering ground or setting records, 1871, from globe + agent noun from trot (v.). As a verb, globetrot is recorded from 1883. Related: Globe-trotting.
talk (v.): c. 1200, talken, probably a diminutive or frequentative form related to Middle English tale "story," and ultimately from the same source as tale, with rare English formative -k (compare hark from hear, stalk from steal, smirk from smile) and replacing that word as a verb. East Frisian has talken "to talk, chatter, whisper." Related: Talked; talking.

To talk (something) up "discuss in order to promote" is from 1722. To talk shop is from 1854. To talk turkey is from 1824, supposedly from an elaborate joke about a swindled Indian. To talk back "answer impudently or rudely" is from 1869. Phrase talking head is by 1966 in the jargon of television production, "an in-tight closeup of a human head talking on television." In reference to a person who habitually appears on television in talking-head shots (usually a news anchor), by 1970. The phrase is used earlier, in reference to the well-known magic trick (such as Señor Wences's talking head-in-the-box "Pedro" on the "Ed Sullivan Show"), and to actual talking heads in mythology around the world (Orpheus, Bran).