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butt [butt 词源字典]: butt: There are no fewer than four distinct words butt in English. The oldest, ‘hit with the head’ [12], comes via Anglo-Norman buter from Old French boter. This can be traced back through Vulgar Latin *bottāre ‘thrust’ (source of English button) to a prehistoric Germanic *buttan. Old French boter produced a derivative boteret ‘thrusting’, whose use in the phrase ars boterez ‘thrusting arch’ was the basis of English buttress [13]. Butt ‘barrel’ [14] comes via Anglo-Norman but and Old French bot or bout from late Latin buttis ‘cask’ (a diminutive form of which was the basis of English bottle).

A derivative of the Anglo-Norman form was buterie ‘storeroom for casks of alcohol’, from which English gets buttery ‘food shop in a college’ [14]. Butt ‘target’ [14] probably comes from Old French but ‘goal, shooting target’, but the early English sense ‘mound on which a target is set up’ suggests association also with French butte ‘mound, knoll’ (which was independently borrowed into English in the 19th century as a term for the isolated steep-sided hills found in the Western states of the USA). Butt ‘thick end’ [15], as in ‘rifle butt’ and ‘cigarette butt’, appears to be related to other Germanic words in the same general semantic area, such as Low German butt ‘blunt’ and Middle Dutch bot ‘stumpy’, and may well come ultimately from the same base as produced buttock [13]. (The colloquial American sense of butt, ‘buttocks’, originated in the 15th century.) The verb abut [15] comes partly from Anglo- Latin abuttāre, a derivative of hutta ‘ridge or strip of land’, which may be related to English butt ‘thick end’, and partly from Old French aboter, a derivative of boter, from which English gets butt ‘hit with the head’.
=> button, buttress; bottle, butler, butte, début; buttock, abut[butt etymology, butt origin, 英语词源]
fag: fag: English has three distinct words fag, none of whose origins is altogether clear. The oldest is the one which denotes ‘drudgery’. It is first recorded as a verb in the 16th century, meaning ‘droop, decline’; its more common noun uses, ‘hard boring work’ and ‘boy who does tasks for an older boy in a British public school’, appear to have developed in the late 18th century.

It is generally taken to have been originally an alteration of flag ‘lose vigour, droop’, although there is no conclusive proof of this. Fag ‘cigarette’ [19] is an abbreviation of fag-end [17], which originally meant generally ‘extreme end’. It was a compound formed from an earlier fag [15], whose underlying meaning seems to have been something like ‘piece hanging down loosely, flap’ (and which conceivably could be related to fag ‘drudgery’). Fag ‘homosexual’ [20] is short for faggot [13], a derogatory term applied to male homosexuals in American English since the early 20th century; the usage is probably based on the slightly earlier uncomplimentary use of the word for ‘woman’. Faggot means literally ‘bundle of sticks’, and comes via Old French fagot from Italian faggotto (which is used also for ‘bassoon’).

This in turn is a diminutive form of Vulgar Latin *facus, which was based ultimately on Greek phákelos ‘bundle’. The notion of applying a term for ‘bundle’ abusively to ‘women’ is perhaps echoed in baggage.
robot: robot: [20] Robot is a Czech contribution to English. It comes from robota ‘forced labour, drudgery’, a word related to German arbeit ‘work’. It was used by the Czech dramatist Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) 1920 for ‘mechanical people constructed to do menial tasks’. English acquired it via German robot, and the first record of it in an English text comes from 1923.
aggie (n.2): type of toy marble, by 1905, American English, colloquial shortening of agate (q.v.).
Excited groups gather about rude circles scratched in the mud, and there is talk of "pureys," and "reals," and "aggies," and "commies," and "fen dubs!" There is a rich click about the bulging pockets of the boys, and every so often in school time something drops on the floor and rolls noisily across the room. When Miss Daniels asks: "Who did that?" the boys all look so astonished. Who did what pray tell? ["McClure's Magazine," May 1905]
Catch-22 (n.): from the title of Joseph Heller's 1961 novel. In widespread use only after release of the movie based on the book in 1970. The "catch" is that a bomber pilot is insane if he flies combat missions without asking to be relieved from duty, and is thus eligible to be relieved from duty. But if he asks to be relieved from duty, that means he's sane and has to keep flying.
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.

"That's some catch, that Catch-22," he observed.

"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.
See catch (n.).
cooper (n.): "craftsman who makes wooden vessels," attested from late 12c. as a surname, either from Old English (unattested) or from a Low German source akin to Middle Dutch cuper, East Frisian kuper, from Low German kupe (German Kufe) "cask," cognate with Medieval Latin cupa (see coop (n.)).
A dry cooper makes casks, etc., to hold dry goods, a wet cooper those to contain liquids, a white cooper pails, tubs, and the like for domestic or dairy use. [OED]
The surname Cowper (pronounced "cooper") preserves a 15c. spelling.
fiasco (n.): 1855, theater slang for "a failure in performance;" by 1862 it had acquired the general sense of "any ignominious failure or dismal flop," on or off the stage. It comes via the French phrase fiare fiasco "turn out a failure" (19c.), from Italian far fiasco "suffer a complete breakdown in performance," literally "make a bottle," from fiasco "bottle," from Late Latin flasco "bottle" (see flask).

The literal sense of the image (if it is one) is obscure today, but "the usual range of fanciful theories has been advanced" [Ayto]. Century Dictionary says "perhaps in allusion to the bursting of a bottle," Weekley pronounces it impenetrable and compares French ramasser un pelle "to come a cropper (in bicycling), literally to pick up a shovel." OED keeps its distance and lets nameless "Italian etymologists" make nebulous reference to "alleged incidents in Italian theatrical history." Klein suggests Venetian glass-crafters tossing aside imperfect pieces to be made later into common flasks. But according to an Italian dictionary, fare il fiasco used to mean "to play a game so that the one that loses will pay the fiasco," in other words, he will buy the next bottle (of wine). If the dates are not objectionable, that plausibly connects the literal sense of the word with the notion of "a costly mistake."
Indian: "inhabit of India or South Asia," c. 1300 (noun and adjective); applied to the native inhabitants of the Americas from at least 1553, on the mistaken notion that America was the eastern end of Asia. Red Indian, to distinguish them from inhabitants of India, is first attested 1831 (Carlyle) but was not commonly used in North America. More than 500 modern phrases include Indian, most of them U.S. and most impugning honesty or intelligence, such as Indian giver, first attested 1765 in Indian gift:
An Indian gift is a proverbial expression, signifying a present for which an equivalent return is expected. [Thomas Hutchinson, "History of Massachusetts Bay," 1765]
Meaning "one who gives a gift and then asks for it back" first attested 1892.
larva (n.): 1650s, "a ghost, specter," from Latin larva (plural larvae), earlier larua "ghost," also "mask;" applied in biological sense 1768 by Linnaeus because immature forms of insects "mask" the adult forms. On the double sense of the Latin word, Carlo Ginzburg, among other students of mythology and folklore, has commented on "the well-nigh universal association between masks and the spirits of the dead."
masque (n.): "masquerade, masked ball," 1510s, from Middle French masque; see mask (n.), with which it was originally identical. It developed a special sense of "amateur theatrical performance" (1560s) in Elizabethan times, when such entertainments (originally performed in masks) were popular among the nobility.
masquerade (n.): 1590s, "assembly of people wearing masks and disguises," from French mascarade or Spanish mascarada "masked party or dance," from Italian mascarata "a ball at which masks are worn," variant of mascherata "masquerade," from maschera (see mask (n.)). Figurative sense of "false outward show" is from 1670s.
poser (n.): "one who practices an affected attitude," 1881, agent noun from pose (v.1); revived in teen-ager slang by 1983. Meaning "question that puzzles" is from 1793 from pose (v.2); earlier it meant "one who asks testing questions" (1580s).
postulant (n.): 1759, from French postulant "applicant, candidate," literally "one who asks," from Latin postulantem (nominative postulans), present participle of postulare "to ask, demand" (see postulate (v.)).
pushover (n.): also push-over, 1900 of jobs or tasks; 1922 of persons (bad boxers and easy women), from push (v.) + over (adv.).
Rube Goldberg (adj.): 1940, from the U.S. cartoonist Reuben Lucius Goldberg (1883-1970) who devised fantastically complex gadgetry to accomplish simple tasks. His British counterpart was Heath Robinson (1872-1944).
scrod (n.): 1841, "young cod, split and fried or boiled," possibly from Dutch schrood "piece cut off," from Middle Dutch scrode "shred" (cognate with Old English screade "piece cut off;" see shred (n.)). If this is the origin, the notion is probably of fish cut into pieces for drying or cooking.
A Boston brahmin is on a business trip to Philadelphia. In search of dinner, and hungry for that Boston favorite, broiled scrod, he hops into a cab and asks the driver, "My good man, take me someplace where I can get scrod." The cabbie replies, "Pal, that's the first time I've ever been asked that in the passive pluperfect subjunctive." [an old joke in Philadelphia, this version of it from "Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch," Constance Hale, 2012]
scullion (n.): "low-ranking domestic servant who performs menial kitchen tasks," late 15c., perhaps from Middle French escouillon "a swab, cloth," diminutive of escouve "broom, twig," from Latin scopa (plural scopæ) "broom," related to scapus "shaft, stem" (see scape (n.2)). Or an alteration of Old French souillon "scullion," by influence of scullery.
service (n.1): c. 1100, "celebration of public worship," from Old French servise "act of homage; servitude; service at table; Mass, church ceremony," from Latin servitium "slavery, condition of a slave, servitude," also "slaves collectively," from servus "slave" (see serve (v.)).

Meaning "act of serving, occupation of an attendant servant" is attested from c. 1200, as is that of "assistance, help; a helpful act." From c. 1300 as "provision of food; sequence of dishes served in a meal;" from late 14c. as "service at table, attendance during a meal." Meaning "the furniture of the table" (tea service, etc.) is from mid-15c.

Meanings "state of being bound to undertake tasks for someone or at someone's direction; labor performed or undertaken for another" are mid-13c. Sense of "service or employment in a court or administration" is from c. 1300, as is that of "military service (especially by a knight); employment as a soldier;" hence "the military as an occupation" (1706).

Also in Middle English "sexual intercourse, conjugal relations" (mid-15c.; service of Venus, or flesh's service). Service industry (as distinct from production) attested from 1938. A service station originally was a gas stop that also repaired cars.
sutler (n.): formerly also suttler, "person who follows an army to sell food to soldiers," 1580s, from Middle Dutch soeteler "small tradesman, peddler, victualer, camp cook" (Dutch zoetelaar), cognate with Middle Low German suteler, sudeler "person who performs dirty tasks," Middle High German sudelen "to cook badly," Middle Dutch soetelen "to cook badly." Probably also related to Dutch zieder, German sieden "to seethe," from Proto-Germanic *suth-, from PIE root *seut- "to seethe, boil" (see seethe).
tartar (n.): "bitartrate of potash" (a deposit left during fermentation), late 14c., from Old French tartre, from Medieval Latin tartarum, from late Greek tartaron "tartar encrusting the sides of wine casks," perhaps of Semitic origin, but if so the exact source has not been identified. The purified substance is cream of tartar. Used generally in 17c. of encrustations from liquid contact; specific meaning "encrustation on teeth" (calcium phosphate) is first recorded 1806.
tattoo (n.1): "signal calling soldiers or sailors to quarters at night," 1680s, earlier tap-to (1640s), from Dutch taptoe, from tap "faucet of a cask" (see tap (n.1)) + toe "shut, to," from Proto-Germanic *to (see to (prep.)). "So called because police formerly visited taverns in the evening to shut off the taps of casks" [Barnhart]. In 17c. Dutch the phrase apparently was used with a transferred or figurative sense "say no more." In English, transferred sense of "drumbeat" is recorded from 1755. Hence, Devil's tattoo "action of idly drumming fingers in irritation or impatience" (1803).
tonnage (n.): early 15c., "tax or duty on wine imported in tuns," from ton (n.1) + -age, and from Old French tonnage "duty levied on wine in casks" (c. 1300). Meaning "carrying capacity of a ship" is from 1718.
versatile (adj.): c. 1600, "inconstant," from Latin versatilis "turning, revolving, moving, capable of turning with ease to varied subjects or tasks," from past participle stem of versare "keep turning, be engaged in something, turn over in the mind," frequentative of vertere "to turn" (see versus). Meaning "able to do many things well" is from 1762 in English.
vizard (n.): "mask," 1550s, altered form of vysar, viser (see visor), by influence of words in -ard. Figurative use from 1570s; common 17c. Also applied to the person with the masks, and used as a verb meaning "to conceal." Related: Vizarded; vizarding.
hatchet man: "A person employed to carry out controversial or disagreeable tasks, such as the dismissal of a number of people from employment", Late 19th century (originally US): figuratively, from an early use denoting a hired Chinese assassin.