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case [case 词源字典]: case: [13] There are two distinct words case in English, both acquired via Old French from Latin and both members of very large families. Case ‘circumstance’ was borrowed from Old French cas, which in turn came from Latin cāsus ‘fall, chance’. This was formed from the base of the verb cadere ‘fall’. The progression of senses is from the concrete ‘that which falls’ to the metaphorical ‘that which befalls, that which happens (by chance)’ (and English chance is also derived ultimately from Latin cadere).

Other related words in English include accident, cadence, cadaver, cheat, chute, coincide, decadent, decay, deciduous, and occasion. Case ‘container’ comes via Old French casse from Latin capsa ‘box’, a derivative of the verb capere ‘hold’ (which is related to English heave).

At various points during its history it has produced offshoots which in English have become capsule [17], a diminutive form, cash, chassis, and perhaps capsicum [18] and chase ‘engrave’.
=> accident, cadaver, cheat, chute, decay, deciduous, occasion, occident; capsicum, capsule, cash, chassis[case etymology, case origin, 英语词源]
cataract: cataract: [15] Greek kataráktēs meant literally ‘swooping down, rushing down’; it was a derivative of the verb katarássein, a compound formed from the prefix katá- ‘down’ (which appears in a wide range of English words, including cataclysm, catalepsy, catalogue, catapult – literally ‘hurl down’ – and catastrophe) and the verb rássein ‘strike’.

Hence it was applied metaphorically to various things that ‘rush down’, including waterfalls and portcullises. The word passed into English via Latin cataracta, and the sense ‘opacity of the eye’s lens’ developed in the 16th century, probably as a metaphorical extension of the now obsolete ‘portcullis’.
chance: chance: [13] Like the related case, chance originally meant ‘that which befalls (by accident, also a relative)’. It comes ultimately from Vulgar Latin *cadēre, a descendant of Latin cadere ‘fall’ (source of English cadence and cadenza). This passed into Old French as cheoir, whose noun derivatives included cheoite (source of English chute) and cheance, acquired by English via Anglo-Norman chaunce.
=> accident, cadence, case, chute
eaves: eaves: [OE] The etymological meaning of eaves appears to be ‘going over the edge, projecting’. It comes from a prehistoric Germanic *obaswa, which was probably formed on *ob-, the base from which English over ultimately derives. The eavesdrip or eavesdrop is, or was, the area of ground on which rainwater thrown off by the eaves falls, so that somebody who stood within this area, with his or her ear to the door or window trying to listen in on private conversations, became known as an eavesdropper [15].
=> over
ellipse: ellipse: [18] Greek élleipsis meant literally ‘defect, failure’. It was a derivative of elleípein, literally ‘leave in’, hence ‘leave behind, leave out, fall short, fail’, a compound verb formed from the prefix en- ‘in’ and leípein ‘leave’ (which is related to English loan and relinquish). It was borrowed into English in the 17th century as ellipsis in the grammatical sense ‘omission of a word or words’, but its mathematical use for an ‘oval’ (enshrined in the form ellipse, borrowed via French ellipse and Latin ellīpsis) comes from the notion that a square drawn on lines passing vertically and laterally through the centre of an ellipse ‘falls short’ of the entire length of the lateral line.
=> loan, relinquish
filbert: filbert: [14] Hazelnuts begin to ripen around the end of August, and so in medieval times they were named after Saint Philibert, a 7th-century Frankish abbot whose feast day falls on the 22nd of that month. Thus in Anglo-Norman they were *noix de Philibert or noix de filbert – whence English filbert.
incident: incident: [15] An incident is literally that which ‘befalls’. In common with accident and occident, and a wide range of other English words, from cadaver to occasion, it comes ultimately from Latin cadere ‘fall’. This was combined with the prefix in- ‘on’ to produce incidere ‘fall on’, hence ‘befall, happen to’. Its present participial stem incident- passed into English either directly or via French.

The use of a word that literally means ‘fall’ to denote the concept of ‘happening’ is quite a common phenomenon. It occurs also in befall and chance, and operates in other languages than English; Welsh digwydd ‘happen’, for instance, is derived from cwyddo ‘fall’.
=> accident, cadence, case, occasion
leap year: leap year: [14] The inspiration for the term leap year is probably simply that in such a year the day on which any given date falls ‘jumps’ one day ahead of where it would have been in an ordinary year. The metaphorical application of the notion of ‘jumping’ to this phenomenon predates the first record of the term leap year: medieval Latin, for instance, used the term saltus lunae ‘moon’s jump’ for the nineteen-yearly omission of a day from the lunar calendar, and this was translated into Old English as mōnan hlyp ‘moon’s leap’.
recidivist: recidivist: [19] A recidivist – a ‘persistent offender’ – is etymologically someone who ‘falls back’. The word was borrowed from French récidiviste, a descendant of medieval Latin recidīvāre. This in turn was based on the noun recidīvus ‘falling back’, a derivative of Latin recidere ‘fall back’, which was a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back, again’ and cadere ‘fall’ (source of English cadence, case, decadent, etc).
=> cadaver, cadence, case, decadent
bronze (n.): 1721, "alloy of copper and tin," from French bronze, from Italian bronzo, from Medieval Latin bronzium. Perhaps cognate (via notion of color) with Venetian bronza "glowing coals," or German brunst "fire." Perhaps influenced by Latin Brundisium the Italian town of Brindisi (Pliny writes of aes Brundusinum). Perhaps ultimately from Persian birinj "copper."

In Middle English, the distinction between bronze (copper-tin alloy) and brass (copper-zinc alloy) was not clear, and both were called bras. A bronze medal was given to a third-place finisher since at least 1852. The archaeological Bronze Age (1865) falls between the Stone and Iron ages, and is a reference to the principal material for making weapons and ornaments.
case (n.1): early 13c., "what befalls one; state of affairs," from Old French cas "an event, happening, situation, quarrel, trial," from Latin casus "a chance, occasion, opportunity; accident, mishap," literally "a falling," from cas-, past participle stem of cadere "to fall, sink, settle down, decline, perish" (used widely: of the setting of heavenly bodies, the fall of Troy, suicides), from PIE root *kad- "to lay out, fall or make fall, yield, break up" (cognates: Sanskrit sad- "to fall down," Armenian chacnum "to fall, become low," perhaps also Middle Irish casar "hail, lightning"). The notion being "that which falls" as "that which happens" (compare befall).

Meaning "instance, example" is from c. 1300. Meaning "actual state of affairs" is from c. 1400. Given widespread extended and transferred senses in English in law (16c.), medicine (18c.), etc.; the grammatical sense (late 14c.) was in Latin. U.S. slang meaning "person" is from 1848. In case "in the event" is recorded from mid-14c. Case history is from 1879, originally medical; case study "study of a particular case" is from 1879, originally legal.
chance (n.): c. 1300, "something that takes place, what happens, an occurrence" (good or bad, but more often bad), from Old French cheance "accident, chance, fortune, luck, situation, the falling of dice" (12c., Modern French chance), from Vulgar Latin *cadentia "that which falls out," a term used in dice, from neuter plural of Latin cadens, present participle of cadere "to fall" (see case (n.1)).

In English frequently in plural, chances. The word's notions of "opportunity" and "randomness" are as old as the record of it in English and now all but crowd out the word's original notion of "mere occurrence." Main chance "thing of most importance" is from 1570s, bearing the older sense. The mathematical (and hence odds-making) sense is attested from 1778. To stand a chance (or not) is from 1796.

To take (one's) chances "accept what happens" (early 14c.) is from the old, neutral sense; to take a chance/take chances is originally (by 1814) "participate in a raffle or lottery or game;" extended sense of "take a risk" is by 1826.
cheat (v.): mid-15c., "to escheat," a shortening of Old French escheat, legal term for revision of property to the state when the owner dies without heirs, literally "that which falls to one," past participle of escheoir "happen, befall, occur, take place; fall due; lapse (legally)," from Late Latin *excadere "fall away, fall out," from Latin ex- "out" (see ex-) + cadere "to fall" (see case (n.1)). Also compare escheat. The royal officers evidently had a low reputation. Meaning evolved through "confiscate" (mid-15c.) to "deprive unfairly" (1580s). To cheat on (someone) "be sexually unfaithful" first recorded 1934. Related: Cheated; cheating.
coupon (n.): 1822, "certificate of interest due on a bond" (which could be cut from the bond and presented for payment), from French coupon, literally "piece cut off," from couper "to cut," from coup "a blow" (see coup). Meaning widened to "discount ticket" 1860s by British travel agent Thomas Cook. The specific advertising sense is from 1906.
COUPON. A financial term, which, together with the practice, is borrowed from France. In the United States, the certificates of State stocks drawing interest are accompanied by coupons, which are small tickets attached to the certificates. At each term when the interest falls due, one of these coupons is cut off (whence the name); and this being presented to the State treasurer or to a bank designated by him, entitles the holder to receive the interest. [Bartlett]
curare (n.): 1777, from Portuguese or Spanish curare, a corruption of the name in the Carib language of the Macusi Indians of Guyana, wurali or wurari, which had a sort of click sound at the beginning, and is said to mean "he to whom it comes falls."
deciduous (adj.): 1680s, from Latin deciduus "that which falls off," from decidere "to fall off," from de- "down" (see de-) + cadere "to fall" (see case (n.1)). Originally with reference to leaves, petals, teeth, etc.; specific sense of "trees whose leaves fall off" (opposed to evergreen) is from 1778.
escheat (n.): the reverting of land to a king or lord in certain cases, early 14c., from Anglo-French eschete (late 13c.), Old French eschete "succession, inheritance," literally "that which falls to one," noun use of fem. past participle of escheoir "happen, befall, occur, take place; fall due; lapse (legally)," from Late Latin *excadere "to fall out," from Latin ex- "out, away" (see ex-) + cadere "to fall" (see case (n.1)). As a verb, from late 14c. Related: Escheated; escheating. Late Latin *excadere represents a restored form of excidere, which yielded excise.
fall (v.): Old English feallan (class VII strong verb; past tense feoll, past participle feallen) "to drop from a height; fail, decay, die," from Proto-Germanic *fallan (cognates: Old Frisian falla, Old Saxon fallan, Dutch vallen, Old Norse falla, Old High German fallan, German fallen, absent in Gothic).

These are from PIE root *pol- "to fall" (cognates: Armenian p'ul "downfall," Lithuanian puola "to fall," Old Prussian aupallai "finds," literally "falls upon").

Meaning "come suddenly to the ground" is from late Old English. Of darkness, night, from c. 1600; of land sloping from 1570s; of prices from 1570s. Of empires, governments, etc., from c. 1200. Of the face or countenance from late 14c. Meaning "to be reduced" (as temperature) is from 1650s. Meaning "die in battle" is from 1570s. Meaning "to pass casually (into some condition)" is from early 13c.

To fall in "take place or position" is from 1751. To fall in love is attested from 1520s; to fall asleep is late 14c. To fall down is early 13c. (a-dun follon); to fall behind is from 1856. Fall through "fail, come to nothing" is from 1781. To fall for something is from 1903.

To fall out is by mid-13c. in a literal sense; military use is from 1832. Meaning "have a disagreement, begin to quarrel" is attested from 1560s (to fall out with "quarrel with" is from late 15c.).
fall (n.): c. 1200, "a falling to the ground; a dropping from a height, a descent from a higher to a lower position (as by gravity); a collapsing of a building," from the source of fall (n.). (Old English noun fealle meant "snare, trap.") Meaning "a sinking down, subsidence" Of the coming of night from 1650s. Meaning "downward direction of a surface" is from 1560s, of a value from 1550s. Theological sense, "a succumbing to sin or temptation" (especially of Adam and Eve) is from early 13c.

Sense of "autumn" (now only in U.S. but formerly common in England) is by 1660s, short for fall of the leaf (1540s). Meaning "cascade, waterfall" is from 1570s (often plural, falls, when the descent is in stages; fall of water is attested from mid-15c.). Wrestling sense is from 1550s. Of a city under siege, etc., 1580s. Fall guy is from 1906.
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.
gasket (n.): 1620s, caskette, originally nautical, "small rope or plaited coil" used to secure a furled sail, of uncertain origin, perhaps from French garcette "a gasket," literally "little girl, maidservant," diminutive of Old French garce "young woman, young girl; whore, harlot, concubine" (13c.), fem. of garçon (see garcon). Century Dictionary notes Spanish garcette "a gasket," also "hair which falls in locks." Machinery sense of "packing (originally of braided hemp) to seal metal joints and pistons" first recorded 1829.
lie (v.2): "rest horizontally," early 12c., from Old English licgan (class V strong verb; past tense læg, past participle legen) "be situated, reamin; be at rest, lie down," from Proto-Germanic *legjan (cognates: Old Norse liggja, Old Frisian lidzia, Middle Dutch ligghen, Dutch liggen, Old High German ligen, German liegen, Gothic ligan), from PIE *legh- "to lie, lay" (cognates: Hittite laggari "falls, lies," Greek lekhesthai "to lie down," Latin lectus "bed," Old Church Slavonic lego "to lie down," Lithuanian at-lagai "fallow land," Old Irish laigim "I lie down," Irish luighe "couch, grave"). To lie with "have sexual intercourse" is from c. 1300, and compare Old English licgan mid "cohabit with." To take (something) lying down "passively, submissively" is from 1854.
lot (n.): Old English hlot "object (anything from dice to straw, but often a chip of wood with a name inscribed on it) used to determine someone's share," also "what falls to a person by lot," from Proto-Germanic *khlutom (cognates: Old Norse hlutr "lot, share," Old Frisian hlot "lot," Old Saxon hlot, Middle Dutch, Dutch lot, Old High German hluz "share of land," German Los; Old English hleotan "to cast lots, to foretell"), of unknown origin. The object was placed with others in a receptacle, which was shaken, the winner being the one that fell out first. Hence, to cast lots. In some cases the lots were drawn by hand. The word was adopted from Germanic into the Romanic languages (compare lottery, lotto). Meaning "choice resulting from the casting of lots" first attested c. 1200.

Sense of "plot of land" is first recorded 1630s (distribution of the best property in new settlements often determined by casting lots), that of "group, collection" is 1725, from notion of auction lots. The generalized sense of "great many" is first attested in 1812. To cast (one's) lot with another is to agree to share winnings.
meteorite (n.): "rock that falls to earth, after streaking across the sky as a meteor," 1818, from meteor + -ite.
nightjar (n.): nocturnal bird, goatsucker, 1620s, from night + jar (v.). So called for the "jarring" sounds made by the male when the female is brooding, which have been described as a "churring trill that seems to change direction as it rises and falls." An Old English word for it was nihthræfn "night raven."
odds (n.): in wagering sense, found first in Shakespeare ("2 Henry IV," 1597), probably from earlier sense of "amount by which one thing exceeds or falls short of another" (1540s), from odd (q.v.), though the sense evolution is uncertain. Until 19c. treated as a singular, though obviously a plural (compare news).
offal (n.): late 14c., "waste parts, refuse," from off + fall (v.); the notion being that which "falls off" the butcher's block; perhaps a translation of Middle Dutch afval.
pathos (n.): "quality that arouses pity or sorrow," 1660s, from Greek pathos "suffering, feeling, emotion, calamity," literally "what befalls one," related to paskhein "to suffer," and penthos "grief, sorrow;" from PIE root *kwent(h)- "to suffer, endure" (cognates: Old Irish cessaim "I suffer," Lithuanian kenčiu "to suffer," pakanta "patience").
rainfall (n.): also rain-fall, "amount of precipitation that falls as rain," 1839, from rain (n.) + fall (n.).
scale (n.1): "skin plates on fish or snakes," c. 1300, from Old French escale "cup, scale, shell pod, husk" (12c., Modern French écale) "scale, husk," from Frankish *skala or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *skælo "split, divide" (cognates: Dutch schaal "a scale, husk," Old High German scala "shell," Gothic skalja "tile," Old English scealu "shell, husk"), from PIE root *(s)kel- (1) "to cut, cleave, split" (cognates: Latin culter "knife," scalpere "to cut, scrape;" Old Church Slavonic skolika "mussel, shell," Russian skala "rind, bark," Lithuanian skelti "split," Old English scell "shell," scalu "drinking cup, bowl, scale of a balance").

In reference to humans, as a condition of certain skin diseases, it is attested from c. 1400. As what falls from one's eye when blindness ends (usually figurative), it echoes Acts ix:18 (Latin tanquam squamæ, Greek hosei lepides).
schlemazel (n.): also schlimazel, "born loser," 1948, from Yiddish shlim mazel "rotten luck," from Middle High German slim "crooked" + Hebrew mazzal "luck." British slang shemozzle "an unhappy plight" (1889) is probably from the same source.
A shlemiel is the fellow who climbs to the top of a ladder with a bucket of paint and then drops it. A shimazl is the fellow on whose head the bucket falls. [Rep. Stephen J. Solarz (D.-N.Y.), 1986]
snow (n.): Old English snaw "snow, that which falls as snow; a fall of snow; a snowstorm," from Proto-Germanic *snaiwaz (cognates: Old Saxon and Old High German sneo, Old Frisian and Middle Low German sne, Middle Dutch snee, Dutch sneeuw, German Schnee, Old Norse snjor, Gothic snaiws "snow"), from PIE root *sniegwh- "snow; to snow" (cognates: Greek nipha, Latin nix (genitive nivis), Old Irish snechta, Irish sneachd, Welsh nyf, Lithuanian sniegas, Old Prussian snaygis, Old Church Slavonic snegu, Russian snieg', Slovak sneh "snow"). The cognate in Sanskrit, snihyati, came to mean "he gets wet." As slang for "cocaine" it is attested from 1914.
snowfall (n.): 1821, "fall of snow," especially a quiet one (as distinguished from a snowstorm), from snow (n.) + storm (n.). From 1875 as "amount that falls at a place in a given time."
stand-up (adj.): 1811, "courageous," originally of fist fights, denoting a manful contest without fake falls, from the verbal phrase (early 12c. in sense "rise to one's feet"), from stand (v.) + up (adv.). To stand up "hold oneself against an opponent" is from c. 1600; as stand up to in the same sense from 1620s. To stand up for "defend the cause of" is from c. 1600. To stand (someone) up "fail to keep an appointment" is attested from 1902. Stand-up comic first attested 1966. Catch-phrase will the real _______ please stand up? is from the popular CBS game show "To Tell the Truth," which debuted in 1956.
supine (adj.): c. 1500, "lying on the back," from Latin supinus "bent backwards, thrown backwards, lying on the back," figuratively "inactive, indolent," from PIE *(s)up- (see sub-). The grammatical use for "Latin verbal noun formed from the past participle stem" (mid-15c.) is from Late Latin supinum verbum "supine verb," perhaps so called because, though furnished with a noun case ending, it "falls back" on the verb. Related: Supinely.
Susquehanna: river through Pennsylvania, named for a native people who lived along the southern reaches of it at the time of European contact, "An Algonquian name for an Iroquoian people; it has been translated as 'people at the falls' or 'roily water people'" [Bright].
ullage (n.): "amount by which a cask or bottle falls short of being full," late 15c., from Anglo-French ulliage (early 14c.), Anglo-Latin oliagium (late 13c.), Old French ouillage, from ouiller "to fill up (a barrel) to the bung," literally "to fill to the eye," from ueil "eye" (perhaps used colloquially for "bung"), from Latin oculus (see eye (n.)).
versus (prep.): mid-15c., in legal case names, denoting action of one party against another, from Latin versus "turned toward or against," from past participle of vertere (frequentative versare) "to turn, turn back, be turned, convert, transform, translate, be changed," from PIE *wert- "to turn, wind," from root *wer- (3) "to turn, bend" (cognates: Old English -weard "toward," originally "turned toward," weorthan "to befall," wyrd "fate, destiny," literally "what befalls one;" Sanskrit vartate "turns round, rolls;" Avestan varet- "to turn;" Old Church Slavonic vrŭteti "to turn, roll," Russian vreteno "spindle, distaff;" Lithuanian ver čiu "to turn;" Greek rhatane "stirrer, ladle;" German werden, Old English weorðan "to become" (for sense, compare turn into); Welsh gwerthyd "spindle, distaff;" Old Irish frith "against").