英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

down [down 词源字典]: down: Effectively, English now has three distinct words down, but two of them are intimately related: for down ‘to or at a lower place’ [11] originally meant ‘from the hill’ – and the Old English word for hill in this instance was dūn. This may have been borrowed from an unrecorded Celtic word which some have viewed as the ultimate source also of dune [18] (borrowed by English from Middle Dutch dūne) and even of town.

Its usage is now largely restricted to the plural form, used as a geographical term for various ranges of hills (the application to the North and South Downs in southern England dates from at least the 15th century). The Old English phrase of dūne ‘from the hill’ had by the 10th century become merged into a single word, adūne, and broadened out semantically to ‘to a lower place, down’, and in the 11th century it started to lose its first syllable – hence down.

Its use as a preposition dates from the 16th century. (The history of down is closely paralleled in that of French à val, literally ‘to the valley’, which also came to be used for ‘down’; it is the source of French avaler ‘descend, swallow’, which played a part in the development of avalanche.) Down ‘feathers’ [14] was borrowed from Old Norse dúnn.
=> dune[down etymology, down origin, 英语词源]
dowry: dowry: [14] English acquired dowry via Anglo- Norman dowarie from Old French douaire (source of the originally synonymous but now little-used dower [14]). This in turn came from medieval Latin dōtārium, a derivative of Latin dōs ‘dowry’, which was related to dāre ‘give’ (source of English date, donate, etc). Its associated verb, dōtāre ‘endow’, is the ancestor of English endow.
=> date, donate, endow
endow: endow: see dowry
meadow: meadow: [OE] Etymologically, meadow means ‘mowed land’. It goes back ultimately to an Indo-European *mētwá, a derivative of the base *mē- ‘mow’ (source of English mow [OE]). In prehistoric Germanic this became *mǣdwō (whence German matte ‘meadow’), which passed into Old English as mǣd. The modern English descendant of this, mead, now survives only as an archaism, but its inflected form, mǣdwe, has become modern English meadow.
=> mow
widow: widow: [OE] A widow is etymologically a woman who has been ‘separated’, left ‘solitary’. The word goes back ultimately to Indo- European *widhewo, an adjective formed from the base *weidh- ‘separate’ (source also of English divide and Sanskrit vidhu- ‘solitary’). This produced a large number of words for ‘widow’ in the Indo-European languages, including Latin vidua (source of French veuve, Italian vedova, and Spanish viuda), Russian and Czech vdova, and Welsh gweddr. To the Germanic languages it has given German witwe and Dutch weduwe as well as English widow. Widower was coined in the 14th century.
=> divide, individual
window: window: [13] A window is etymologically a ‘wind-eye’ – that is, an ‘eye’-like opening for admitting the air. The word was borrowed from Old Norse vindauga, a compound noun formed from vindr ‘wind’ and auga ‘eye’. Danish vindue is descended from the Old Norse form, which was also taken over by Irish as fuinneog.
=> eye, wind
back down (v.): in figurative sense of "withdraw a charge," 1859, American English, from notion of descending a ladder, etc.; from back (v.) + down (adv.).
black widow (n.): type of poisonous spider (Latrodectus mactans) in U.S. South, 1904, so called from its color and from the female's supposed habit of eating the male after mating (they are cannibalistic, but this particular behavior is rare in the wild). Sometimes also known as shoe-button spider. The name black widow is attested earlier (1830s) as a translation of a name of the "scorpion spider" of Central Asia.
breakdown (n.): "a collapse," 1832, from break (v.) + down (adv.). The verbal phrase is attested from late 14c. The noun, specifically of machinery, is from 1838; meaning "an analysis in detail" is from 1936. Nervous breakdown is from 1905.
clamp-down (n.): also clampdown, 1940 in the figurative sense, from verbal phrase clamp down "use pressure to keep down" (1924). The verbal phrase in the figurative sense is recorded from 1941. See clamp (v.) + down (adv.).
countdown (n.): 1953, American English, in early use especially of launches of rockets or missiles, from count (v.) + down.
crackdown (n.): also crack down; 1935, from the verbal phrase (1915), from crack (v.) + down (adv.); probably from the sense of "to shoot at" (1913).
These scab contractors probably think that they have us whipped, but they are badly mistaken. With the reorganization of the Building Trades Council, which is progressing nicely, we will be in a position to cope with them and when we do crack down on them they will have to come across or get out. ["Journal of Electrical Workers and Operators," September 1915]
Dow Jones: short for Dow Jones Industrial Average, first published 1884 by Charles Henry Dow (1851-1902) and Edward D. Jones (1856-1920), later publishers of "The Wall Street Journal."
dowager (n.): 1520s, from Middle French douagere "widow with a dower" literally "pertaining to a dower," from douage "dower," from douer "endow," from Latin dotare, from dos (genitive dotis) "dowry" (see dowry).
dowdy: 1580s (n.), "an aukward, ill-dressed, inelegant woman" [Johnson]; 1670s (adj.), perhaps a diminutive of doue "poorly dressed woman" (early 14c.), which is of uncertain origin. The modern use of dowd (n.) is most likely a back-formation from dowdy. "If plaine or homely, wee saie she is a doudie or a slut" [Barnabe Riche, "Riche his Farewell to Militarie profession," 1581].
You don't have to be dowdy to be a Christian. [Tammy Faye Bakker, "Newsweek," June 8, 1987]
Related: Dowdily; dowdiness.
dowel (n.): mid-14c., dule "rim or section of a wheel," perhaps akin to Middle Low German dovel "plug, tap" (of a cask). Modern meaning is first attested 1794.
dower (n.): late 13c., from Old French doaire "dower, dowry, gift" (see dowry).
down (adv.): late Old English shortened form of Old English ofdune "downwards," from dune "from the hill," dative of dun "hill" (see down (n.2)). A sense development peculiar to English.

Used as a preposition since c. 1500. Sense of "depressed mentally" is attested from c. 1600. Slang sense of "aware, wide awake" is attested from 1812. Computer crash sense is from 1965. As a preposition from late 14c.; as an adjective from 1560s. Down-and-out is from 1889, American English, from situation of a beaten prizefighter. Down home (adj.) is 1931, American English; down the hatch as a toast is from 1931; down to the wire is 1901, from horse-racing. Down time is from 1952. Down under "Australia and New Zealand" attested from 1886; Down East "Maine" is from 1825; Down South "in the Southern states of the U.S." is attested by 1834.
down (n.1): "soft feathers," late 14c., from Old Norse dunn, perhaps ultimately from PIE root *dheu- (1) "to fly about (like dust), to rise in a cloud."
down (n.2): Old English dun "down, moor; height, hill, mountain," from Proto-Germanic *dunaz- (cognates: Middle Dutch dunen "sandy hill," Dutch duin), "probably a pre-insular loan-word from Celtic" [Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names], in other words, borrowed at a very early period, before the Anglo-Saxon migration, from PIE root *dheue- "to close, finish, come full circle." Meaning "elevated rolling grassland" is from c. 1300.

The non-English Germanic words tend to mean "dune, sand bank" (see dune), while the Celtic cognates tend to mean "hill, citadel" (compare Old Irish dun "hill, hill fort;" Welsh din "fortress, hill fort;" and second element in place names London, Verdun, etc.). German Düne, French dune, Italian, Spanish duna are said to be loan-words from Dutch.
down (v.): 1560s, from down (adv.). Meaning "swallow hastily" is by 1860; football sense of "bring down (an opposing player) by tackling" is attested by 1887. Related: Downed; downing.
Down's Syndrome: 1961, from J.L.H. Down (1828-1896), English physician; chosen as a less racist name for the condition than earlier mongolism.
down-hearted (adj.): also downhearted, 1774 (downheartedly is attested from 1650s), a figurative image from down (adv.) + hearted.
down-to-earth (adj.): also down to earth, as an adjectival phrase, attested from 1932.
downbeat: 1876 (n.), in reference to downward stroke of a conductor's baton; 1952 (adj.) in figurative sense of "pessimistic," but that is probably via associations of the word down (adv.), because the beat itself is no more pessimistic than the upbeat is optimistic.
downcast (adj.): c. 1600, from past participle of obsolete verb downcast (c. 1300), from down (adv.) + cast (v.). Literal at first; figurative sense is 1630s.
downer (n.): 1966 in sense of "barbiturate;" 1970 in sense of "depressing person;" agent noun from down (v.).
downfall (n.): "ruin, fall from high condition," c. 1300, from down (adv.) + fall (v.).
downgrade (v.): 1930, from down (adv.) + grade (v.). Related: Downgraded; downgrading. As a noun, "a downward slope," from 1858.
downhill: 1590s (n.); 1650s (adv.), 1727 (adj.), from down (adv.) + hill. Meaning âa downhill skiing raceâ is from 1960.
Downing Street: short street in London, named for British diplomat Sir George Downing (c. 1624-1684). It contains the residence of the prime minister (at Number 10), hence its metonymic use for "the British government," attested from 1781.
download: 1977 (n.), 1980 (v.), from down (adv.) + load (v.). Related: Downloaded; downloading.
downplay (v.): "de-emphasize," 1968, from down (adv.) + play (v.). Related: Downplayed; downplaying.
downpour (n.): 1811, from verbal phrase, down (adv.) + pour (v.).
downright (adv.): c. 1200, "straight down," from down (adv.) + right (adj.1). Meaning "thoroughly" attested from c. 1300. Old English had dunrihte "downwards," and inverted form right-down is attested 17c.
downscale (v.): 1945, American English, from down (adv.) + scale (v.). From 1966 as an adjective.
downside (n.): 1680s, "underside," from down (adv.) + side. Meaning "drawback, negative aspect" is attested by 1995.
downsize (v.): 1986 in reference to companies shedding jobs; earlier (1975) in reference to U.S. automakers building smaller cars and trucks (supposedly a coinage at General Motors), from down (adv.) + size (v.). Related: Downsized; downsizing.
downspout (n.): 1896, from down (adv.) + spout (n.).
downstairs (adv., adj.): 1590s, from down (adv.) + stairs (see stair).
downstream (adv., adj.): 1706, from down (prep.) + stream (n.).
downtime (n.): 1952, from down (adv.) + time (n.).
downtown (n.): 1835, from down (adv.) + town. The notion is of suburbs built on heights around a city.
downtrodden (adj.): 1560s, "stepped on," from down (adv.) + trodden. Figurative use, "oppressed," is from 1590s.
downturn (n.): 1926 in the economic sense, from down (adv.) + turn (n.).
downward (adv.): c. 1200, from down (adv.) + -ward. Old English had aduneweard in this sense. Downwards, with adverbial genitive, had a parallel in Old English ofduneweardes.
downy (adj.): 1570s, from down (n.1) + -y (2).
dowry (n.): early 14c., from Anglo-French dowarie, Old French doaire (late 13c.) "dower, dowry, gift," from Medieval Latin dotarium, from Latin dotare "to endow, portion," from dos (genitive dotis) "marriage portion," from PIE *do-ti (cognates: Sanskrit dadati, Greek didonai, Old Church Slavonic dati, Lithuanian duoti, Armenian tam, all meaning "to give"), from root *do- "to give" (see date (n.1)).
dowse (v.): 1690s, a south England dialect word, of uncertain origin, said to have been introduced to Devon by German miners in Elizabethan times. Related: Dowsed; dowsing.
drawdown (n.): of troops, by 1991, in reference to the end of the Cold War; from draw (v.) + down (adv.). Earlier of wells (c. 1900).