英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

adultery [adultery 词源字典]: adultery: [14] Neither adultery nor the related adulterate have any connection with adult. Both come ultimately from the Latin verb adulterāre ‘debauch, corrupt’ (which may have been based on Latin alter ‘other’, with the notion of pollution from some extraneous source). By the regular processes of phonetic change, adulterāre passed into Old French as avoutrer, and this was the form which first reached English, as avouter (used both verbally, ‘commit adultery’, and nominally, ‘adulterer’) and as the nouns avoutery ‘adultery’ and avouterer ‘adulterer’.

Almost from the first they coexisted in English beside adult- forms, deriving either from Law French or directly from Latin, and during the 15th to 17th centuries these gradually ousted the avout- forms. Adulter, the equivalent of avouter, clung on until the end of the 18th century, but the noun was superseded in the end by adulterer and the verb by a new form, adulterate, directly based on the past participle of Latin adulterāre, which continued to mean ‘commit adultery’ until the mid 19th century.
=> alter[adultery etymology, adultery origin, 英语词源]
artery: artery: [14] Artery is a direct borrowing from Latin artēria, which in turn came from Greek artēria. This appears to have been based on the root *ar- ‘lift’. A parallel formation is thus aorta ‘main coronary artery’ [16], which comes from Greek aortē, a derivative of aeírein ‘lift’ – again ultimately from the root *ar-.

The notion underlying aortē seems to be that the heart was thought of by the ancients as in some sense suspended from it, as if from a strap (Greek aortés ‘strap’), so that it was ‘held up’ or ‘raised’ by the aortē (the aorta emerges from the top of the heart). The Greeks, of course, did not know about the circulation of the blood, and since arteries contain no blood after death it was supposed that their function was conveying air.

Hence Hippocrates’ application of the term aorta to branches of the windpipe, and the use of artery for ‘windpipe’ in English up until as late as the mid 17th century: ‘[The lungs] expel the air: which through the artery, throat and mouth, makes the voice’, Francis Bacon, Sylva sylvarum 1626.
=> aorta
artillery: artillery: [14] Originally artillery meant ‘military supplies, munitions’ (Chaucer used it thus); it was not until the late 15th century that it came to be used for ‘weapons for firing missiles’ – originally catapults, bows, etc. The source of the English word was Old French artillerie, a derivative of the verb artiller ‘equip, arm’. This was an alteration of an earlier form atillier, probably influenced by art, but the ultimate provenance of atillier is not clear.

Some etymologists trace it back to a hypothetical Latin verb *apticulāre ‘make fit, adapt’, a derivative of aptus ‘fitting’ (source of English apt and adapt); others regard it as a variant of Old French atirier ‘arrange, equip’ (source of English attire [13]), which was based on tire ‘order, rank’, a noun of Germanic origin, related to Latin deus ‘god’.
battery: battery: [16] The original meaning of battery in English was literally ‘hitting’, as in assault and battery. It came from Old French batterie, a derivative of batre, battre ‘beat’ (from which English also gets batter [14]). The ultimate source of this, and of English battle, was Latin battuere ‘beat’. The development of the word’s modern diversity of senses was via ‘bombardment by artillery’, to ‘unit of artillery’, to ‘electric cell’: it seems that this last meaning was inspired by the notion of ‘discharge of electricity’ rather than ‘connected series of cells’.
=> batter, battle
celery: celery: [17] Celery comes ultimately from Greek sélīnon, which signified ‘parsley’ – like the celery, a plant of the group Umbelliferae (the English word parsley comes from Greek petrōselínon, literally ‘rock parsley’). It came into English via Latin selīnon, Italian dialect selleri, and French céleri. The term celeriac was formed from celery in the early 18th century; it first appears in an advertisement in the London and country brewer 1743.
=> parsley
cemetery: cemetery: [14] Not surprisingly for a word having associations with death, cemetery’s origins are euphemistic. It comes via late Latin coemētērium from Greek koimētérion, which originally meant ‘dormitory’ (it was a derivative of the verb koiman ‘put to sleep’); it was apparently early Greek Christian writers who first applied the word to burial grounds.
colliery: colliery: see coal
effrontery: effrontery: [18] The notion of ‘audacity’ or ‘impudence’ is often expressed in terms of ‘exposing or pushing forward the face’: a ‘barefaced lie’ or ‘putting on a bold front’, for instance. And effrontery is no exception. It comes ultimately from late Latin effrōns ‘barefaced, shameless’, a compound adjective formed from the prefix ex- ‘out of’ and frōns ‘forehead’ (source of English front).

This seems subsequently to have been reformulated along the lines of its original components, giving Vulgar Latin *exfrontātus, source of Old French esfronte. This in turn developed to French effronté, whose derived noun effronterie was acquired by English as effrontery.
=> front
embroidery: embroidery: [14] Embroidery comes from Anglo-Norman enbrouderie, a derivative of the verb enbrouder. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix en- ‘in’ and broisder ‘embroider’ (a borrowing from Frankish *brusdan). English originally borrowed the verb as embroud, but soon extended it to embrouder (the early substitution of -broid- for -broud- may have been due to the influence of broiden, the Middle English past participle of braid).
emery: emery: see smear
erythrocyte: erythrocyte: see red
every: every: [OE] Stripped down into its component parts, every means literally ‘ever each’. It was originally an Old English compound made up of ǣfre ‘ever’ and ǣlc ‘each’, in which basically the ‘ever’ was performing an emphasizing function; in modern English terms it signified something like ‘every single’, or, in colloquial American, ‘every which’. By late Old English times the two elements had fused to form a single word.
=> each, ever
gallery: gallery: [15] The original meaning of gallery in English was ‘long roofed walk way along the wall of a building’; the present sense ‘room or building for the exhibition of paintings, sculpture, etc’ did not develop until the end of the 16th century. English borrowed the word from Old French galerie ‘portico’, which came via Italian galleria from medieval Latin galeria. This may have been an alteration of galilea (source of English galilee [16], as in galilee chapel), thought to have been applied to a porch or chapel at the far or western end of a church in allusion to the position of Galilee as the province of Palestine most distant from Jerusalem.
misery: misery: [14] Latin miser meant ‘miserable, wretched’. From it were derived miseria ‘wretchedness’, source of English misery, and miserābilis ‘pitiable’, source of English miserable [16]. Fitting in with the general semantic pattern, English miser [16] (a direct nominalization of the Latin adjective) originally meant ‘wretched person’. But people who hoarded money were evidently viewed as being basically unhappy, and so right from the beginning miser was used for an ‘avaricious person’.
=> miser
monastery: monastery: see monk
mystery: mystery: [14] Greek múein meant ‘close one’s eyes or mouth’, and hence was used figuratively for ‘keep secret’. Its association with secret initiation ceremonies inspired the formation from it of muein ‘initiate’, whose derivative mústēs meant ‘initiated person’. This in turn formed the basis of mustérion ‘secret ceremony, secret thing’, which passed into English via Latin mystērium. Also derived from mústēs was mustikós, from which ultimately English gets mystic [14] and mystical [15].
=> mystic
pottery: pottery: see pot
scullery: scullery: [15] A scullery is etymologically a place where ‘dishes’ are handled. For it goes back ultimately to Latin scutra ‘wooden dish’. Its diminutive form scutella was used for a sort of square tray or stand for plates, glasses, vases, etc. Association with scūtum ‘shield’ led to this being changed in Vulgar Latin to *scūtella, which passed into Old French as escuele ‘dish’. Its derivative escuelerie ‘place where dishes, plates, and other kitchen utensils are kept, cleaned, etc’ passed into English via Anglo- Norman squillerie as scullery. Also descended from scutella are English scuttle and skillet.
treachery: treachery: [13] Despite the passing resemblance, treachery has no etymological connection with traitor or treason. In fact, its closest English relative is trick. The word was borrowed from Old French trecherie, a derivative of trichier ‘cheat’ (source of English trick).
=> trick
very: very: [13] Latin vērus meant ‘true’ (it came ultimately from Indo-European *wēros, source also of German wahr ‘true’, and it has also given English verdict, verify [14], verisimilitude [17], and veritable [15]). From it was derived Vulgar Latin *vērāius, which passed into English via Old French verai. Very was originally exclusively an adjective, meaning ‘true’. It was not used as an adverb, meaning ‘truly’, until the 14th century, and its modern role as an intensifier did not begin to emerge until the 15th century.
=> verdict, verify
adultery (n.): "voluntary violation of the marriage bed," c. 1300, avoutrie, from Old French avouterie (12c.), noun of condition from avoutre, from Latin adulterare "to corrupt" (see adulteration). Modern spelling, with the re-inserted -d-, is from early 15c. (see ad-).

In Middle English, also "sex between husband and wife for recreational purposes; idolatry, perversion, heresy." Classified as single adultery (with an unmarried person) and double adultery (with a married person). Old English word was æwbryce "breach of law(ful marriage)" (compare German Ehebruch). Adultery Dune in Arizona corresponds to Navajo sei adilehe "adultery sand," where illicit lovers met privately.
archaeopteryx (n.): oldest known fossil bird, 1859, Modern Latin, from archaeo- "ancient, primitive" + Greek pteryx "wing" (see pterodactyl).
archery (n.): c. 1400, from Anglo-French archerye, Old French archerie, from archier "archer" (see archer).
artery (n.): late 14c., from Anglo-French arterie, Old French artaire (13c.; Modern French artère), and directly from Latin arteria, from Greek arteria "windpipe," also "an artery," as distinct from a vein; related to aeirein "to raise" (see aorta).

They were regarded by the ancients as air ducts because the arteries do not contain blood after death; medieval writers took them for the channels of the "vital spirits," and 16c. senses of artery in English include "trachea, windpipe." The word is used in reference to artery-like systems of major rivers from 1805; of railways from 1850.
artillery (n.): late 14c., "warlike munitions," from Anglo-French artillerie, Old French artillerie (14c.), from artillier "to provide with engines of war" (13c.), which probably is from Medieval Latin articulum "art, skill," diminutive of Latin ars (genitive artis) "art." But some would connect it with Latin articulum "joint," and still others with Old French atillier "to equip," altered by influence of arte. Sense of "engines for discharging missiles" (catapults, slings, bows, etc.) is from late 15c.; that of "ordnance, large guns" is from 1530s.
bakery (n.): c. 1820, "place for making bread;" see bake (v.) + -ery. Replaced earlier bakehouse (c. 1400). As "shop where baked goods are sold" it was noted as an Americanism by British travelers from c. 1830.
battery (n.): 1530s, "action of battering," from Middle French batterie, from Old French baterie (12c.) "beating, thrashing, assault," from batre "beat," from Latin battuere "beat" (see batter (v.)).

Meaning shifted in Middle French from "bombardment" ("heavy blows" upon city walls or fortresses) to "unit of artillery" (a sense recorded in English from 1550s). Extension to "electrical cell" (1748, first used by Ben Franklin) is perhaps from the artillery sense via notion of "discharges" of electricity. In Middle English, bateri meant only "forged metal ware." In obsolete baseball jargon battery was the word for "pitcher and catcher" considered as a unit (1867, originally only the pitcher).
beanery (n.): "cheap restaurant," 1884, American English, from bean (n.) + -ery.
beery (adj.): 1848, from beer (n.) + -y (2). Related: Beerily; beeriness.
beryl (n.): hard, lustrous mineral, c. 1300, from Old French beryl (12c., Modern French béryl), from Latin beryllus, from Greek beryllos, perhaps from Prakrit veruliya, from Sanskrit vaidurya-, of Dravidian origin, perhaps from the city of Velur (modern Belur) in southern India.

Medieval Latin berillus also was applied to any precious stone of a pale green color, to fine crystal, and to eyeglasses (the first spectacle lenses may have been made of beryl), hence German Brille "spectacles," from Middle High German berille "beryl," and French besicles (plural) "spectacles," altered 14c. from Old French bericle.
beryllium (n.): metallic element, 1863, so called because it figures in the composition of the pale green precious stone beryl and was identified in emerald (green beryl) in 1797 by French chemist Louis Nicolas Vauquelin (1763-1829) and first isolated in 1828. At first and through 19c. also sometimes called glucinum or glucinium.
bindery (n.): 1810, American English; see bind (v.) + -ery.
blubbery (adj.): 1791, from blubber (n.) + -y (2).
blustery (adj.): 1707, from bluster (n.) + -y (2). Blustering in this sense is recorded from 1510s.
bowery (n.): "farm, plantation," from Dutch bowerij "homestead farm" (from the same source as bower); a Dutch word probably little used in America outside New York, and there soon limited to one road, The Bowery, that ran from the built-up part of the city out to the plantations in middle Manhattan, attested from 1787; the city's growth soon overran it, and it was noted by 1840 as a commercial district notorious for squalor, rowdiness, and low life.
Bowery Boy, the typical New York tough of a generation or two ago, named from the street which he chiefly affected .... He rather prided himself on his uncouthness, his ignorance, and his desperado readiness to fight, but he also loved to have attention called to his courage, his gallantry to women, his patriotic enthusiasm, and his innate tenderness of heart. A fire and a thrilling melodrama called out all his energies and emotions. [Walsh, 1892]
bravery (n.): 1540s, "daring, defiance, boasting," from French braverie, from braver "to brave" (see brave) or else from cognate Italian braveria, from bravare.
No Man is an Atheist, however he pretend it and serve the Company with his Braveries. [Donne, 1631]
As a good quality, attested from 1580s. Meaning "fine clothes" is from 1560s and holds the older sense.
brewery (n.): 1650s (but perhaps from c. 1200 as a surname element), from brew (v.) + -ery. Old English had breawern in this sense (from aern "house;" see barn), and brewhouse was the more common word through 18c.
bribery (n.): late 14c., "theft, robbery, swindling, pilfering;" see bribe (n.) + -ery. Specifically of magistrates taking money for corrupted services from mid-16c.; sense of "offering of a bribe" is from 1560s.
buffoonery (n.): 1620s; see buffoon + -ery.
buggery (n.): mid-14c., "heresy," from Old French bougrerie, from bougre "heretic" (see bugger (n.)). Later "unnatural intercourse" with man or beast, "carnalis copula contra Naturam, & hoc vel per confusionem Specierum;" from bugger (n.) + -y (4).
butchery (n.): "the trade of a butcher," mid-15c., bocherie, from Old French bocherie (13c., Modern French boucherie), from bochier (see butcher (n.)).
buttery (adj.): "resembling butter," late 14c., from butter (n.) + -y (2). Related: Butteriness.
buttery (n.): "place for storing liquor," originally "room where provisions are laid up" (late 14c.), from Old French boterie, from Late Latin botaria, from bota, variant of butta "cask, bottle;" see butt (n.2) + -ery.
cajolery (n.): 1640s, from French cajolerie "persuasion by flattery" (16c.), from cajoler (see cajole).
cannery (n.): 1879, from can (v.2) + -ery.
cautery (n.): 1540s, from Latin cauterium "branding iron," from Greek kauterion (see cauterize).
celery (n.): 1660s, from French céleri (17c., originally sceleri d'Italie), said by French sources to be from Italian (Lombard dialect) seleri (singular selero), from Late Latin selinon, from Greek selinon "parsley," which is of uncertain origin.
[O]ne day, in a weak and hungry moment, my roommate and I succumbed to a bit of larceny. A greengrocer's truck had parked down the street and was left unattended. We grabbed the first crate we could off the back. It turned out to be celery. For two days we ate nothing but celery and used up more calories chewing than we realized in energy. "Damn it," I said to my roommate, "What're we going to do? We can't starve." "That's funny," he replied. "I thought we could." [Chuck Jones, "Chuck Amuck," 1989]
cemetery (n.): late 14c., from Old French cimetiere "graveyard" (12c.), from Late Latin coemeterium, from Greek koimeterion "sleeping place, dormitory," from koiman "to put to sleep," keimai "I lie down," from PIE root *kei- "to lie, rest," also "bed, couch," hence secondary sense of "beloved, dear" (cognates: Greek keisthai "to lie, lie asleep," Old Church Slavonic semija "family, domestic servants," Lithuanian šeima "domestic servants," Lettish sieva "wife," Old English hiwan "members of a household," higid "measure of land," Latin cunae "a cradle," Sanskrit Sivah "propitious, gracious"). Early Christian writers were the first to use it for "burial ground," though the Greek word also had been anciently used in reference to the sleep of death. An Old English word for "cemetery" was licburg.
chancellery (n.): see chancery.
chancery (n.): late 14c., "court of the Lord Chancellor of England," contracted from chancellery (c. 1300), from Old French chancelerie (12c.), from Medieval Latin cancellaria (see chancellor).