quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- dement (v.)
- "to drive mad," 1540s, probably from Middle French démenter, from Late Latin dementare "to drive out of one's mind," from stem of Latin demens "out of one's senses, insane, raving, foolish; distracting, wild, reckless" (a less technical term than insanitas), from phrase de mente, from de + mente, ablative of mens mind" (see mind (n.)).
- distract (v.)
- mid-14c., "to draw asunder or apart, to turn aside" (literal and figurative), from Latin distractus, past participle of distrahere "draw in different directions," from dis- "away" (see dis-) + trahere "to draw" (see tract (n.1)).
Sense of "to throw into a state of mind in which one knows not how to act" is from 1580s. Related: Distracted; distracting; distractedly; distractedness. - Lorelei
- 1843, from German, name of a rock in the River Rhine near Koblenz, Germany. In legend, a lovely woman sat atop it and sang while combing her long blond hair, distracting sailors so their ships foundered on the rock and they drowned. The second element of the name probably is Rhenish dialect lei "cliff, rock;" the first element is perhaps from Middle High German lüren "to lie in wait"
- sideshow (n.)
- also side-show, 1855, "minor exhibition alongside or near a principal one," apparently a coinage of P.T. Barnum's, from side (adj.) + show (n.). Hence, any diversion or distracting event.