quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- command



[command 词源字典] - command: [13] Ultimately, command and commend are the same word. Both come from Latin compound verbs formed from the intensive prefix com- and the verb mandāre ‘entrust, commit to someone’s charge’ (from which we get mandate). In the classical period this combination produced commendāre ‘commit to someone’s charge, commend, recommend’, which passed into English in the 14th century (recommend, a medieval formation, was acquired by English from medieval Latin in the 14th century).
Later on, the compounding process was repeated, giving late Latin commandāre. By this time, mandāre had come to mean ‘order’ as well as ‘entrust’ (a change reflected in English mandatory). Commandāre inherited both these senses, and they coexisted through Old French comander and Anglo- Norman comaunder into Middle English commande.
But ‘entrust’ was gradually taken over from the 14th century by commend, and by the end of the 15th century command meant simply ‘order’. Commandeer and commando are both of Afrikaans origin, and became established in English at the end of the 19th century largely as a result of the Boer War. Commodore [17] is probably a modification of Dutch komandeur, from French commandeur ‘commander’.
=> commend, commodore, demand, mandatory, recommend, remand[command etymology, command origin, 英语词源] - cretin




- cretin: [18] In the Swiss-French dialect of the high Alps the term creitin or crestin (their version of christian) was applied to people suffering from mental handicap and stunted growth – the notion being to emphasize that despite their abnormalities, such people were nevertheless as much human beings as any other ‘Christian’. The word was adopted (via French crétin) as a clinical term for someone suffering from dwarfism and mental retardation as a result of a congenital thyroid deficiency, and was subsequently broadened out, towards the end of the 19th century, as a general disparaging term for a ‘fool’.
=> christian - earn




- earn: [OE] The underlying sense of earn is ‘gain as a result of one’s labour’. It comes from a prehistoric West Germanic verb *aznōjan, which was based on the noun *aznu ‘work, labour’. This seems often to have been used specifically for ‘work in the fields’, for several other related forms in the Germanic languages, such as German ernte and Gothic asans, denote ‘harvest’, which in some cases has been metaphorically extended to apply to ‘autumn’.
- etymology




- etymology: [14] The underlying meaning of etymology is ‘finding the underlying or ‘true’ meaning of words’. Its ultimate source is Greek étumos ‘real, true’. From this was derived étumon ‘true or literal sense of a word’ (acquired by English in the 16th century as etymon). Postclassical grammarians came to use this in the sense ‘root from which a particular word was derived’, as a result of which modern etymology, the study of etymons, deals with their history rather than their meaning.
- score




- score: [11] The etymological notion underlying score is of ‘cutting’ – for it is related to English shear. It was borrowed from Old Norse skor, which went back to the same prehistoric Germanic base – *skur-, *sker- ‘cut’ – that produced shear (not to mention share, shore, and short). It had a range of meanings, from ‘notch’ to ‘record kept by cutting notches’, but it was specifically the ‘number twenty’ (presumably originally ‘twenty recorded by cutting notches’) that English at first took over.
The other senses followed, perhaps as a result of reborrowing, in the 14th century, but the main modern meaning, ‘number of points made in a game’ (originally as recorded by cutting notches), is a purely English development of the 18th century. Roughly contemporary is ‘written music’, which is said to come from the linking together of related staves with a single common bar line or ‘score’ (in the sense ‘mark’).
The verb score ‘mark with lines’ was borrowed in the 14th century from Old Norse skora.
=> share, shear, shirt, short, skirt - accomplished (adj.)




- late 15c., "perfect as a result of training," past participle adjective from accomplish (v.). Meaning "completed" is from late 14c.
- across (adv.)




- early 14c., acros, earlier a-croiz (c. 1300), from Anglo-French an cros "in a crossed position," literally "on cross" (see cross (n.)). Prepositional meaning "from one side to another" is first recorded 1590s; meaning "on the other side (as a result of crossing)" is from 1750. Phrase across the board originally is from horse-racing, in reference to a bet of the same amount of money on a horse to win, place, or show.
- anorexia nervosa (n.)




- "emaciation as a result of severe emotional disturbance," coined 1873 by William W. Gull (1816-1890), who also proposed apepsia hysterica as a name for it. See anorexia.
- art (n.)




- early 13c., "skill as a result of learning or practice," from Old French art (10c.), from Latin artem (nominative ars) "work of art; practical skill; a business, craft," from PIE *ar-ti- (cognates: Sanskrit rtih "manner, mode;" Greek arti "just," artios "complete, suitable," artizein "to prepare;" Latin artus "joint;" Armenian arnam "make;" German art "manner, mode"), from root *ar- "fit together, join" (see arm (n.1)).
In Middle English usually with a sense of "skill in scholarship and learning" (c. 1300), especially in the seven sciences, or liberal arts. This sense remains in Bachelor of Arts, etc. Meaning "human workmanship" (as opposed to nature) is from late 14c. Sense of "cunning and trickery" first attested c. 1600. Meaning "skill in creative arts" is first recorded 1610s; especially of painting, sculpture, etc., from 1660s. Broader sense of the word remains in artless.
Fine arts, "those which appeal to the mind and the imagination" first recorded 1767. Expression art for art's sake (1824) translates French l'art pour l'art. First record of art critic is from 1847. Arts and crafts "decorative design and handcraft" first attested in the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, founded in London, 1888.
Supreme art is a traditional statement of certain heroic and religious truths, passed on from age to age, modified by individual genius, but never abandoned. The revolt of individualism came because the tradition had become degraded, or rather because a spurious copy had been accepted in its stead. [William Butler Yeats]
- basket case (n.)




- 1919, American English, originally a reference to rumors of quadriplegics as a result of catastrophic wounds suffered in World War I (the military vehemently denied there were any such in its hospitals), from basket (n.) + case (n.2). Probably literal, i.e., stuck in a basket, but basket had colloquial connotations of poverty (begging) and helplessness long before this. Figurative sense of "person emotionally unable to cope" is from 1921.
- discipline (n.)




- early 13c., "penitential chastisement; punishment," from Old French descepline (11c.) "discipline, physical punishment; teaching; suffering; martyrdom," and directly from Latin disciplina "instruction given, teaching, learning, knowledge," also "object of instruction, knowledge, science, military discipline," from discipulus (see disciple (n.)).
Sense of "treatment that corrects or punishes" is from notion of "order necessary for instruction." The Latin word is glossed in Old English by þeodscipe.
Meaning "branch of instruction or education" is first recorded late 14c. Meaning "military training" is from late 15c.; that of "orderly conduct as a result of training" is from c. 1500. - effete (adj.)




- 1620s, "functionless as a result of age or exhaustion," from Latin effetus (usually in fem. effeta) "exhausted, unproductive, worn out (with bearing offspring), past bearing," literally "that has given birth," from a lost verb, *efferi, from ex- "out" (see ex-) + fetus "childbearing, offspring" (see fetus). Figurative use is earliest in English; literal use is rare. Sense of "intellectually or morally exhausted" (1790) led to that of "decadent, effeminate" (by 1850s).
- flush (v.1)




- mid-13c., flusshen "move rapidly or violently; rush, dart, spring" (intransitive); late 15c., flush up, transitive, "cause to fly; start or flush (birds)," perhaps imitative of the sound of beating wings.
The sense of "spurt, rush out suddenly, flow with force" (1540s, usually of water) probably is the same word, with the connecting notion being "sudden movement," but its senses seem more to fit the older ones of flash (v.), now all transferred to this word except in flash flood, via its variant flushe. OED considers this probably not connected to Old French flux. Transitive sense "cause to flow" is from 1590s.
Meaning "cleanse (a drain, etc.) with a rush of water" is from 1789. Of the face, "become suffused with warm color," from 1680s (flushed). Sense of "inflame with pride or passion" as a result of success, victory, etc., is from 1630s; perhaps influenced in sense by flesh (v). Related: Flushed; flushing. - global warming (n.)




- by 1983 as the name for a condition of overall rising temperatures on Earth and attendant consequences as a result of human activity. Originally theoretical, popularized as a reality from 1989.
- promethium (n.)




- radioactive element, long one of the "missing elements," 1948, so called by discoverers Jacob Marinsky and Lawrence Glendenin, who detected it in 1945 in the fusion products of uranium while working on the Manhattan Project. From Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and was punished for it, + element name ending -ium. "The name not only symbolizes the dramatic way in which the element may be produced in quantity as a result of man's harnessing of the energy of nuclear fission, but also warns man of the impending danger of punishment by the vulture of war." [Marinsky and Glendenin]
- Raskolnik




- "dissenter from the Russian Church, an Old Believer," 1723, from Russian Raskolnik "separatist," from raskol "schism, separation." The schism was a result of reforms by Patriarch Nikon in 1667.
- reel (v.1)




- "to whirl around," late 14c., also "sway, swing, rock, become unsteady" (late 14c.), "stagger as a result of a blow, etc." (c. 1400), probably from reel (n.1), on notion of "spinning." Of the mind, from 1796. Related: Reeled; reeling.
- rickettsia (n.)




- parasitic organism, 1919, named 1916 in Modern Latin by H. da Rocha-Lima in honor of U.S. pathologist H.T. Ricketts (1871-1910), who first identified it in 1909 and died of typhus as a result of his contact with it, + abstract noun ending -ia. The bacteria causes typhus and Rocky Mountain spotted fever, but is unrelated by pathology or etymology to rickets (q.v.), which is the result of vitamin D deficiency. The surname is a development from Rickard, variant of Richard, or else from the diminutive form Ricot.
- smoke (v.)




- Old English smocian "to produce smoke, emit smoke," especially as a result of burning, from smoke (n.1). Meaning "to drive out or away or into the open by means of smoke" is attested from 1590s. Meaning "to apply smoke to, to cure (bacon, fish, etc.) by exposure to smoke" is first attested 1590s. In connection with tobacco, "draw fumes from burning into the mouth," first recorded 1604 in James I's "Counterblast to Tobacco." Related: Smoked; smoking. Smoking gun in figurative sense of "incontestable evidence" is from 1974.
- synergy (n.)




- 1650s, "cooperation," from Modern Latin synergia, from Greek synergia "joint work, a working together, cooperation; assistance, help," from synergos "working together," related to synergein "work together, help another in work," from syn- "together" (see syn-) + ergon "work" (see organ). Meaning "combined activities of a group" is from 1847; sense of "advanced effectiveness as a result of cooperation" is from 1957.
- nappe




- "A sheet of rock that has moved sideways over neighbouring strata as a result of an overthrust or folding", Late 19th century: from French nappe 'tablecloth'.
- Brownian motion




- "The erratic random movement of microscopic particles in a fluid, as a result of continuous bombardment from molecules of the surrounding medium", Late 19th century: named after Robert Brown (1773–1858), the Scottish botanist who first observed the motion.
- agnosia




- "Inability to interpret sensations and hence to recognize things, typically as a result of brain damage", Early 20th century: coined in German from Greek agnōsia 'ignorance'.
- alexia




- "Inability to recognize or read written words or letters, typically as a result of brain damage", Late 19th century: from a-1 'without' + Greek lexis 'speech', from legein 'speak', which was confused with Latin legere 'read'.
- alalia




- "Inability to speak normally; loss of the ability to speak, especially as a result of damage to certain areas of the brain", Mid 19th cent.; earliest use found in The Eclectic Review. From post-classical Latin alalia from a- + ancient Greek λαλία speech.
- aeroacoustics




- "The branch of physics that deals with the production of noise as a result of aerodynamic forces or turbulent airflow; the properties of something as they relate to this form of noise production", 1970s. From aero- + acoustics. Compare slightly earlier aeroacoustic.
- nivation




- "Erosion of the ground beneath and at the sides of a snow bank, mainly as a result of alternate freezing and thawing", Early 20th century: from Latin nix, niv- 'snow' + -ation.
- alogia




- "Inability, or loss of the ability, to speak, especially as a result of defective intelligence or cerebral disease; (in later use) specifically reduction in the amount of spontaneous speech or in the content of speech (as a symptom of schizophrenia)", Mid 19th century; earliest use found in The British Medical Journal. From French alogie, with remodelling of the ending after formations in -ia.
- pyelonephritis




- "Inflammation of the kidney as a result of bacterial infection", Mid 19th century: from Greek puelos 'trough, basin' + nephritis.
- melaena




- "The production of dark sticky faeces containing partly digested blood, as a result of internal bleeding or the swallowing of blood", Early 19th century: modern Latin, from Greek melaina, feminine of melas 'black'.