英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

afford: afford: [OE] This verb originally meant ‘accomplish, fulfil’. In Old English times it was geforthian, formed from the prefix ge-, denoting completion of an action, and forthian ‘advance towards completion’ or literally ‘further’ (from the adverb forth). The notion of accomplishing something or managing something gradually led, by the 15th century, to the idea of being able to do something because one has enough money.

Meanwhile, the original ge- prefix, which by Middle English times had become i- (iforthien), had been transformed into af- under the influence of the many Latin-based words beginning in aff-, and in the 16th century spellings with final d in place of th start to appear.
=> forth
symbol: symbol: [15] Etymologically, a symbol is something ‘thrown together’. The word’s ultimate source is Greek sumbállein, a compound verb formed from the prefix sun- ‘together’ and bállein ‘throw’ (source of English ballistic, problem, etc). The notion of ‘throwing or putting things together’ led on to the notion of ‘contrast’, and so sumbállein came to be used for ‘compare’. From it was derived súmbolon, which denoted an ‘identifying token’ – because such tokens were ‘compared’ with a counterpart to make sure they were genuine – and hence an ‘outward sign’ of something.
=> ballistic, parable, parole, problem
accord (v.): early 12c., from Old French acorder (12c.) "reconcile, agree, be in harmony," from Vulgar Latin *accordare "make agree," literally "be of one heart, bring heart to heart," from Latin ad- "to" (see ad-) + cor (genitive cordis) "heart," from PIE root *kerd- (1) "heart" (see heart (n.)). Related: Accorded; according.
alchemy (n.): mid-14c., from Old French alchimie (14c.), alquemie (13c.), from Medieval Latin alkimia, from Arabic al-kimiya, from Greek khemeioa (found c.300 C.E. in a decree of Diocletian against "the old writings of the Egyptians"), all meaning "alchemy." Perhaps from an old name for Egypt (Khemia, literally "land of black earth," found in Plutarch), or from Greek khymatos "that which is poured out," from khein "to pour," related to khymos "juice, sap" [Klein, citing W. Muss-Arnolt, calls this folk etymology]. The word seems to have elements of both origins.
Mahn ... concludes, after an elaborate investigation, that Gr. khymeia was probably the original, being first applied to pharmaceutical chemistry, which was chiefly concerned with juices or infusions of plants; that the pursuits of the Alexandrian alchemists were a subsequent development of chemical study, and that the notoriety of these may have caused the name of the art to be popularly associated with the ancient name of Egypt. [OED]
The al- is the Arabic definite article, "the." The art and the name were adopted by the Arabs from Alexandrians and thence returned to Europe via Spain. Alchemy was the "chemistry" of the Middle Ages and early modern times; since c. 1600 the word has been applied distinctively to the pursuit of the transmutation of baser metals into gold, which, along with the search for the universal solvent and the panacea, were the chief occupations of early chemistry.
billion (n.): 1680s, from French billion (originally byllion in Chuquet's unpublished "Le Triparty en la Science des Nombres," 1484; copied by De la Roche, 1520); see bi- "two" + million. A million million in Britain and Germany (numeration by groups of sixes), which was the original sense; subsequently altered in French to "a thousand million" (numeration by groups of threes) and picked up in that form in U.S., "due in part to French influence after the Revolutionary War" [David E. Smith, "History of Mathematics," 1925]. France then reverted to the original meaning in 1948. British usage is truer to the etymology, but U.S. sense is said to be increasingly common there in technical writing.
In Italian arithmetics from the last quarter of the fifteenth century the words bilione or duilione, trilione, quadrilione or quattrilione, quintilione, cinquilione, or quinquilione, sestione or sestilione, settilione, ottilione, noeilione and decilione occur as common abbreviations of due volte millioni, tre volte millione, etc. In other countries these words came into use much later, although one French writer, Nicolas Chuquet, mentions them as early as 1484, in a book not printed until 1881. The Italians had, besides, another system of numeration, proceeding by powers of a thousand. The French, who like other northern peoples, took most if not all their knowledge of modern or Arabic arithmetic from the Italians, early confounded the two systems of Italian numeration, counting in powers of a thousand, but adopting the names which properly belong to powers of a million.
For a time in Britain gillion (1961), based on giga-, was tried as "a thousand million" to avoid ambiguity.
bondsman (n.): "one who stands surety by bond," 1754, from bond (n.) + man (n.), with genitive -s- added probably in part to avoid confusion with bondman.
boo: expression meant to startle, early 15c., boh, "A combination of consonant and vowel especially fitted to produce a loud and startling sound" [OED, which compares Latin boare, Greek boaein "to cry aloud, roar, shout."]; as an expression of disapproval, 1801 (n.), 1816 (v.); hence, the verb meaning "shower someone with boos" (1893).

Booing was common late 19c. among London theater audiences and at British political events; In Italy, Parma opera-goers were notorious boo-birds, but the custom seems to have been little-known in America till c. 1910.

To say boo "open one's mouth, speak," originally was to say boo to a goose.
To be able to say Bo! to a goose is to be not quite destitute of courage, to have an inkling of spirit, and was probably in the first instance used of children. A little boy who comes across some geese suddenly will find himself hissed at immediately, and a great demonstration of defiance made by them, but if he can pluck up heart to cry 'bo!' loudly and advance upon them, they will retire defeated. The word 'bo' is clearly selected for the sake of the explosiveness of its first letter and the openness and loudness of its vowel. [Walter W. Skeat, "Cry Bo to a Goose, "Notes and Queries," 4th series vi Sept. 10, 1870]
enormity (n.): late 15c., "transgression, crime; irregularity," from Old French enormité "extravagance, atrocity, heinous sin," from Latin enormitatem (nominative enormitas) "hugeness, vastness; irregularity," from enormis "irregular, huge" (see enormous). Meaning "extreme wickedness" in English attested from 1560s. The notion is of that which surpasses the endurable limits of order, right, decency. Sense of "hugeness" (1765 in English) is etymological but to prevent misunderstanding probably best avoided in favor of enormousness, though this, too, originally meant "immeasurable wickedness" (1718) and didn't start to mean "hugeness" until c. 1800.
heart (v.): Old English hiertan "give heart to," from heart (n.). Shakespeare used it as "take to heart" (c. 1600); 1866 of cabbages, "to form a heart." Meaning "to love" is by 1993, from the popular New York state tourism campaign that used the heart symbol in place of the word "love."
mannequin (n.): 1902, "model to display clothes," from French mannequin (15c.), from Dutch manneken (see manikin). A French form of the same word that yielded manikin, and sometimes mannequin was used in English in a sense "artificial man" (especially in translations of Hugo). Originally of persons, in a sense where we might use "model."
A mannequin is a good-looking, admirably formed young lady, whose mission is to dress herself in her employer's latest "creations," and to impart to them the grace which only perfect forms can give. Her grammar may be bad, and her temper worse, but she must have the chic the Parisienne possesses, no matter whether she hails from the aristocratic Faubourg St. Germain or from the Faubourg Montmartre. ["The Bystander," Aug. 15, 1906]
Later (by 1939) of artificial model figures to display clothing.
niche (n.): 1610s, "shallow recess in a wall," from French niche "recess (for a dog), kennel" (14c.), perhaps from Italian nicchia "niche, nook," from nicchio "seashell," said by Klein and Barnhart to be probably from Latin mitulus "mussel," but the change of -m- to -n- is not explained. Watkins suggests that the word is from an Old French noun derived from nichier "to nestle, nest, build a nest," via Gallo-Roman *nidicare from Latin nidus "nest;" but that has difficulties, too. Figurative sense is first recorded 1725. Biological use dates from 1927.
Oneida: Iroquois tribe of upper N.Y. state, who later moved in part to Wisconsin, 1666, named for its principal settlement, from Oneida onenyote', literally "erected stone," containing -neny- "stone" and -ot- "to stand."
pork (n.): c. 1300 (early 13c. in surname Porkuiller), "flesh of a pig as food," from Old French porc "pig, swine, boar," and directly from Latin porcus "pig, tame swine," from PIE *porko- "young swine" (cognates: Umbrian purka; Old Church Slavonic prase "young pig;" Lithuanian parsas "pig;" and Old English fearh, Middle Dutch varken, both from Proto-Germanic *farhaz).

Pork barrel in the literal sense is from 1801, American English; meaning "state's financial resources (available for distribution)" is attested from 1907 (in full, national pork barrel); it was noted as an expression of U.S. President President William Howard Taft:
"Now there is a proposition that we issue $500,000,000 or $1,000,000,000 of bonds for a waterway, and then that we just apportion part to the Mississippi and part to the Atlantic, a part to the Missouri and a part to the Ohio. I am opposed to it. I am opposed to it because it not only smells of the pork barrel, but it will be the pork barrel itself. Let every project stand on its bottom." ["The Outlook," Nov. 6, 1909, quoting Taft]
The magazine article that includes the quote opens with:
We doubt whether any one knows how or when, or from what application of what story, the phrase "the National pork barrel" has come into use. If not a very elegant simile, it is at least an expressive one, and suggests a graphic picture of Congressmen eager for local advantage going, one after another, to the National pork barrel to take away their slices for home consumption.
Pork in this sense is attested from 1862 (compare figurative use of bacon). Pork chop is attested from 1858. Pork pie is from 1732; pork-pie hat (1855) originally described a woman's style popular c. 1855-65, so called for its shape.
proportion (n.): late 14c., "due relation of one part to another," also "size, extent; compartative relation in size, degree, number, etc.," from Old French proporcion "measure, proportion" (13c.), from Latin proportionem (nominative proportio) "comparative relation, analogy," from phrase pro portione "according to the relation" (of parts to each other), from pro "for" (see pro-) + ablative of *partio "division," related to pars (see part (n.)). Phrase out of proportion attested by 1670s.
My fortunes [are] as ill proportioned as your legs. [John Marston, "Antonio and Mellida," 1602]
rotate (v.): 1794, intransitive, back-formation from rotation. Transitive sense from 1823. Related: Rotated; rotating. Rotator "muscle which allows a part to be moved circularly" is recorded from 1670s.
share (v.): 1580s, "to apportion to someone as his share; to apportion out to others; to enjoy or suffer (something) with others," from share (n.1). Meaning "to divide one's own and give part to others" is recorded from 1590s. Meaning "confess one's sins openly" (1932, implied in sharing) is from "the language of Moral Rearmament" [OED]. Related: Shared; sharer; sharing.
tone (v.): "to impart tone to," 1811, from tone (n.). Related: Toned; toning. To tone (something) down originally was in painting (1831); general sense of "reduce, moderate" is by 1847.
frenulum: "A small fold or ridge of tissue which supports or checks the motion of the part to which it is attached, in particular a fold of skin beneath the tongue, or between the lip and the gum", Early 18th century: modern Latin, diminutive of Latin frenum 'bridle'.
adnation: "Attachment of the surface of one part to that of another part; the condition of being adnate; especially the union of one whorl of floral organs to another dissimilar whorl, as stamens to petals", Mid 19th cent.; earliest use found in Asa Gray (1810–1888), botanist. From adnate + -ion; compare -ation.