英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

beneath [beneath 词源字典]: beneath: [OE] Beneath is a compound adverb and preposition, formed in Old English from bi ‘by’ and nithan or neothan ‘below’. This came originally from Germanic *nith- (also the source of nether [OE]), a derivative of the base *ni- ‘down’.
=> nether[beneath etymology, beneath origin, 英语词源]
bequeath: bequeath: [OE] Etymologically, what you bequeath is what you ‘say’ you will leave someone in your will. The word comes from Old English becwethan, a derivative of cwethan ‘say’, whose past tense cwæth gives us quoth (it is no relation to quote, by the way). The original sense ‘say, utter’ died out in the 13th century, leaving the legal sense of ‘transferring by will’ (first recorded in 1066).

The noun derivative of Old English cwethan in compounds was -cwiss. Hence we can assume there was an Old English noun *becwiss, although none is recorded. The first we hear of it is at the beginning of the 14th century, when it had unaccountably had a t added to it, producing what we now know as bequest.
=> bequest, quoth
breath: breath: [OE] Breath comes ultimately from the Indo-European base *bhrē- ‘burn, heat’ (source also of braise, breed, brood, and probably brawn), and in its original Indo-European form *bhrētos appears to have meant something like the ‘steam, vapour, etc given off by something burning or cooking’. When it reached Old English, via Germanic *brǣthaz, it still meant ‘smell’ or ‘exhalation’, and it was not in fact until as late as the 14th century that this notion of ‘exhalation’ came to be applied to human or animal respiration (the main Old English word for ‘breath’ had been ǣthm, which German still has in the form atem).

The verb breathe is 13thcentury.
=> braise, brawn, breed, brood
death: death: [OE] Like dead, death comes from a Germanic verb base *dau-, which also produced English die. To it was added the abstract noun suffix *-tus, later *-thuz, meaning ‘act, process, condition’. This produced prehistoric Germanic *dauthuz, source of Gothic dauthus, Old Norse dauthr, and Old English dēath. Its modern English descendant, death, thus means literally ‘act or process of dying’, in the same way as birth means ‘act or process of bearing’ and strength means ‘condition of being strong’.
=> dead, die
feather: feather: [OE] The concept of ‘feathers’ is closely bound up with those of ‘wings’ and ‘flying’, and not surprisingly feather belongs to a word family in which all three of these meanings are represented. Its ultimate source is the prehistoric Indo-European base *pet-, which also produced Greek ptéron ‘wing’ (as in English pterodactyl), Latin penna ‘feather, wing’ (source of English pen), and Sanskrit pátati ‘fly’. Its Germanic descendant was *fethrō, from which came German feder, Dutch veer, Swedish fjäder and English feather (itself used in the plural for ‘wings’ in Anglo-Saxon times).
=> pen, pterodactyl
heath: heath: [OE] Heath goes back to Indo-European *kait-, denoting ‘open, unploughed country’. Its Germanic descendant *khaithiz produced German and Dutch heide and English heath. One of the commonest plants of such habitats is the heather, and this was accordingly named in prehistoric Germanic *khaithjō, a derivative of the same base as produced *khaithiz, which in modern English has become heath ‘plant of the heather family’. (The word heather [14] itself, incidentally, does not appear to be related. It comes from a Scottish or Northern Middle English hadder or hathir, and its modern English form is due to association with heath.)
heathen: heathen: [OE] Etymologically, a heathen is ‘someone who lives on the heath’ – that is, someone who lives in a wild upcountry area, and is uncivilized and savage (the word was derived in prehistoric Germanic times from *khaithiz ‘heath’, and is also represented in German heide, Dutch heiden, and Swedish and Danish heden). Its specific use for ‘person who is not a Christian’ seems to have been directly inspired by Latin pāgānus (source of English pagan), which likewise originally meant ‘countrydweller’. (Etymologically, savages too were to begin with dwellers in ‘wild woodland’ areas, while civilized or urbane people lived in cities or towns.) The now archaic hoyden ‘high-spirited girl’ [16] was borrowed from Dutch heiden ‘heathen’.
=> heath, hoyden
heather: heather: see heath
leather: leather: [OE] The Indo-European ancestor of leather was *letrom. It has descendants in two branches of the Indo-European language family: in Celtic, Welsh lledr, Irish leathar, and Breton ler; and in Germanic, German leder, Dutch leer, Swedish läder, Danish læder, and English leather.
sheath: sheath: [OE] A sheath is probably etymologically a ‘split stick’. The word comes from a prehistoric Germanic *skaithiz, which also produced German scheide, Dutch schede, and Danish skede. This seems to have been derived from the base *skaith ‘divide, split’ (source also of English shed ‘give off, drop’ and ski), in which case the notion underlying it would have been of a stick split open so that a sword blade could be inserted into it.
=> shed, ski
weather: weather: [OE] Weather goes back ultimately to the Indo-European base *we- ‘blow’, which also produced English ventilate and wind. From it were formed two nouns, *wedhrom (source of Russian vedro ‘good weather’) and *wetróm (source of Lithuanian vétra ‘storm’). One or other of these became prehistoric Germanic *wethram, which evolved into German wetter, Dutch weer, Swedish väder, Danish vejr, and English weather. Wither [14] may have originated as a variant of weather, in the sense ‘show the effects of being exposed to the elements’.
=> ventilate, wind
wreath: wreath: see wrist
bated breath (n.): see bate (v.1).
beneath (adv., adj.): Old English beneoðan "beneath, under, below," from be- "by" + neoðan "below," originally "from below," from Proto-Germanic *niþar "lower, farther down, down" (see nether). Meaning "unworthy of" is attested from 1849 (purists prefer below in this sense). "The be- gave or emphasized the notion of 'where,' excluding that of 'whence' pertaining to the simple niðan" [OED].
bequeath (v.): Old English becweðan "to say, speak to, exhort, blame," also "leave by will;" from be- + cweðan "to say," from Proto-Germanic *kwethan, from PIE *gwet- "to say, speak."

Original sense of "say, utter" died out 13c., leaving legal sense of "transfer by will." Closely related to bequest. "An old word kept alive in wills" [OED 1st ed.]. Old English bequeðere meant "interpreter, translator." Related: Bequeathed; bequeathing.
Black Death (n.): "bubonic/pneumonic plague epidemic of 1347-51 in Europe," a modern name, introduced in English 1823 by Elizabeth Penrose's history of England. The contemporary name for it in most languages was something like "the great dying" or simply "the plague" (or, looking back after its return, "the first pestilence"). The term "Black Death" first turns up in 16c. Swedish and Danish chronicles, but in reference to a visitation of plague in Iceland in 1402-3 that carried off much of the population there (which had been spared in the earlier outbreak). The exact sense of "black" is not clear. The term appears in English translations of the Scandinavian works from 1750s. It was picked up in German c. 1770 and applied to the earlier outbreak, and taken from there into English in that sense.
breath (n.): Old English bræð "odor, scent, stink, exhalation, vapor" (Old English word for "air exhaled from the lungs" was æðm), from Proto-Germanic *bræthaz "smell, exhalation" (cognates: Old High German bradam, German Brodem "breath, steam"), from PIE root *gwhre- "to breathe, smell."
breathalyzer (n.): 1960, from breath + (an)alyzer; an earlier name for it was drunkometer (1934).
breathe (v.): c. 1300, not in Old English, but it retains the original Old English vowel of its source word, breath. Related: Breathed; breathing.
breather (n.): c. 1600, "a living creature, one who breathes," agent noun from breathe. Meaning "spell of exercise to stimulate breathing" is from 1836; that of "a rest to recover breath" is from 1901.
breathless (adj.): late 14c., "unable to breathe," from breath + -less. Meaning "out of breath, panting" is from mid-15c. Used from 1590s in the sense "dead." Meaning "forgetting to breathe due to excitement, awe, anticipation, etc." is recorded from 1802. Related: Breathlessly; breathlessness.
breathtaking (adj.): 1867, from breath + present participle of take (v.). Phrase to take (one's) breath away with astonishment or delight is from 1864. Breathtaking (n.) "act of taking breaths or a breath" is from 1620s. Related: Breathtakingly.
breathy (adj.): 1520s, "pertaining to breath," from breath + -y (2). Of voices, "full of breath," from 1883. Related: Breathily; breathiness.
death (n.): Old English deað "death, dying, cause of death," in plura, "ghosts," from Proto-Germanic *dauthuz (cognates: Old Saxon doth, Old Frisian dath, Dutch dood, Old High German tod, German Tod, Old Norse dauði, Danish død, Swedish död, Gothic dauþus "death"), from verbal stem *dheu- (3) "to die" (see die (v.)) + *-thuz suffix indicating "act, process, condition."
I would not that death should take me asleep. I would not have him meerly seise me, and onely declare me to be dead, but win me, and overcome me. When I must shipwrack, I would do it in a sea, where mine impotencie might have some excuse; not in a sullen weedy lake, where I could not have so much as exercise for my swimming. [John Donne, letter to Sir Henry Goodere, Sept. 1608]
Death's-head, a symbol of mortality, is from 1590s. Death row first recorded 1940s. Death knell is attested from 1814; death penalty from 1875; death rate from 1859. Slang be death on "be very good at" is from 1839. Death wish first recorded 1896. The death-watch beetle (1660s) inhabits houses, makes a ticking noise like a watch, and was superstitiously supposed to portend death.
FEW ears have escaped the noise of the death-watch, that is, the little clickling sound heard often in many rooms, somewhat resembling that of a watch; and this is conceived to be of an evil omen or prediction of some person's death: wherein notwithstanding there is nothing of rational presage or just cause of terror unto melancholy and meticulous heads. For this noise is made by a little sheathwinged grey insect, found often in wainscot benches and wood-work in the summer. [Browne, "Vulgar Errors"]
death camp (n.): 1944, in reference to the Nazis, probably translating German Todeslager; they also were known as extermination camps (German Vernichtungslager); historians usually count six of them: Auschwitz-Birkenau, Chełmno, Bełżec, Majdanek, Sobibór, Treblinka.
deathbed (n.): Old English, "the grave," from death (n.) + bed (n.). Meaning "bed on which someone dies" is from c. 1300.
deathless (adj.): 1580s, from death + -less. Related: Deathlessly; deathlessness.
deathly (adj.): Old English deaþlic "mortal" (see death). Meaning "deadly" is from late 12c.; that of "death-like" is from 1560s.
feather (n.): Old English feðer "a feather; a pen," in plural, "wings," from Proto-Germanic *fethro (cognates: Old Saxon fethara, Old Norse fioþr, Swedish fjäder, Middle Dutch vedere, Dutch veder, Old High German fedara, German Feder), from PIE *pet-ra-, from root *pet- "to rush, to fly" (see petition (n.)). Feather-headed "silly" is from 1640s. Feather-duster attested by 1835. Figurative use of feather in (one's) cap attested by 1734. Birds of a feather "creatures of the same kind" is from 1580s.
feather (v.): Old English fiðerian "to furnish with feathers or wings," from feðer (see feather (n.)). Meaning "to fit (an arrow) with feathers" is from early 13c.; that of "to deck, adorn, or provide with plumage" is from late 15c. In reference to oars (later paddles, propellers, etc.) from 1740, perhaps from the notion of the blade turned edgewise, or from the spray of the water as it falls off (compare nautical feather-spray, that produced by the cutwater of a fast vessel). The noun in reference to this is from the verb. Meaning "cut down to a thin edge" is from 1782, originally in woodworking. Phrase feather one's nest "enrich oneself" is from 1580s. Related: Feathered; feathering.
feather-bed (n.): Old English feþerbedd; see feather (n.) + bed (n.).
feather-weight (n.): also featherweight, "lightest weight allowable by rules," 1812 (earlier as simply feather, 1760), from feather (n.) + weight (n.). Originally in horse-racing; boxing use as a specific weight class dates from 1889.
heath (n.): Old English hæð "untilled land, tract of wasteland," especially flat, shrubby, desolate land;" earlier "heather, plants and shrubs found on heaths," influenced by cognate Old Norse heiðr "heath, moor," both from Proto-Germanic *haithiz (cognates: Old Saxon hetha, Old High German heida "heather," Dutch heide "heath," Gothic haiþi "field"), from PIE *kaito "forest, uncultivated land" (cognates: Old Irish ciad, Welsh coed, Breton coet "wood, forest").
heathen: Old English hæðen "not Christian or Jewish," also as a noun, "heathen man, one of a race or nation which does not acknowledge the God of the Bible" (especially of the Danes), merged with Old Norse heiðinn (adj.) "heathen, pagan," of uncertain origin. Cognate with Old Saxon hedhin, Old Frisian hethen, Dutch heiden, Old High German heidan, German Heiden.

Perhaps literally "dweller on the heath, one inhabiting uncultivated land;" see heath + -en (2). Historically assumed to be ultimately from Gothic haiþno "gentile, heathen woman," used by Ulfilas in the first translation of the Bible into a Germanic language (as in Mark vii:26, for "Greek"); like other basic words for exclusively Christian ideas (such as church) it likely would have come first into Gothic and then spread to other Germanic languages. If so it could be a noun use of an unrelated Gothic adjective (compare Gothic haiþi "dwelling on the heath," but a religious sense is not recorded for this). Whether native or Gothic, it may have been chosen on model of Latin paganus, with its root sense of "rural" (see pagan), or for resemblance to Greek ethne (see gentile), or it may be a literal borrowing of that Greek word, perhaps via Armenian hethanos [Sophus Bugge].
heathenish (adj.): Old English hæðenisc; see heathen + -ish. Related: Heathenishly; heathenishness. Similar formation in Dutch heidensch, Old High German hiedanisc, German heidenisch.
heathenism (n.): c. 1600, from heathen + -ism. Old English words for it included hæðennes, hæðendom, and a later ones were heathenship (late Old English), heathenhood (late 13c.), heathenry (1560s).
heather (n.): early 14c., hathir, from Old English *hæddre, Scottish or northern England dialect name for Calluna vulgaris, probably altered by heath, but real connection to that word is unlikely [Liberman, OED]. Perhaps originally Celtic. As a fem. proper name little used in U.S. before 1935, but a top-15 name for girls born there 1971-1989.
horsefeathers (n.): "nonsense," 1928, said to have been coined by U.S. cartoonist Billy De Beck; perhaps a variant of horseshit "nonsense," though the latter is attested only from 1940s.
leather (n.): Old English leðer (in compounds only) "hide, skin, leather," from Proto-Germanic *lethran (cognates: Old Norse leðr, Old Frisian lether, Old Saxon lethar, Middle Dutch, Dutch leder, Old High German ledar, German leder), from PIE *letro- "leather" (cognates: Old Irish lethar, Welsh lledr, Breton lezr). As an adjective from early 14c.; it acquired a secondary sense of "sado-masochistic" 1980s, having achieved that status in homosexual jargon in the 1970s.
leathern (adj.): Old English leðren; see leather + -en (2).
leatherneck (n.): "U.S. Marine," 1914, Navy slang, from leather + neck (n.). So called for the leather collars of their early uniforms; earlier in British use (1890) as a sailor's term for a soldier.
leathery (adj.): 1550s, from leather + -y (2). Related: Leatheriness.
Meath: county in Ireland, from Irish An Mhi, literally "the middle."
meathead (n.): "stupid person," 1945, from meat + head (n.).
megadeath (n.): 1953, from mega- in scientific sense (one million) + death (n.). The death of one million persons, as a measure of the effectiveness of nuclear weapons. The resulting pile of dead bodies would be a megacorpse, according to writings on the topic.
neath: 1787, poetic shortening of beneath (q.v.).
pin-feather (n.): 1775, from pin (n.) + feather (n.).
pleather (n.): by 1991, from plastic + leather.
sheath (n.): Old English sceað, scæð, from Proto-Germanic *skaithiz (cognates: Old Saxon scethia, Old Norse skeiðir (plural), Old Frisian skethe, Middle Dutch schede, Dutch schede, Old High German skaida, German scheide "a sheath, scabbard"), according to OED, possibly from root *skei- "divide, split" (see shed (v.)) on notion of a split stick with the sword blade inserted. Meaning "condom" is recorded from 1861; sense of "close-fitting dress or skirt" is attested from 1904.
sheathe (v.): c. 1400, "to furnish (a sword, etc.) with a sheath," from sheath; meaning "to put (a sword, etc.) in a sheath" is attested from early 15c. Related: Sheathed; sheathing.