英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

Adelphia [Adelphia 词源字典]: district of London, so called because it was laid out by four brothers of a family named Adam, from Greek adelphos "brother," literally "from the same womb," from copulative prefix a- "together with" + delphys "womb," perhaps related to dolphin. The district was the site of a popular theater c. 1882-1900, which gave its name to a style of performance.[Adelphia etymology, Adelphia origin, 英语词源]
Boeing: U.S. aerospace corporation, founded 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington, as an airplane manufacturer. The family name is German.
boycott: 1880, noun and verb, from Irish Land League ostracism of Capt. Charles C. Boycott (1832-1897), land agent of Lough-Mask in County Mayo, who refused to lower rents for his tenant farmers. Quickly adopted by newspapers in languages as far afield as Japanese (boikotto). The family name is from a place in England.
Boyd: in many cases, the family name represents Gaelic or Irish buidhe "yellow," suggesting blond hair, compare Manx name Mac Giolla Buidhe (c. 1100).
bromeliad (n.): from Modern Latin Bromeliaceæ, family name given by Linnæus, for Olaus Bromel (1639-1705), Swedish botanist. Related: Bromeliads.
brougham (n.): 1851, one-horse closed carriage with two or four wheels, for two or four persons, from first Lord Brougham (1778-1868). The family name is from a place in Westmoreland.
Burke (v.): family name (first recorded 1066), from Anglo-Norman pronunciation of Old English burgh. Not common in England itself, but it took root in Ireland, where William de Burgo went in 1171 with Henry II and later became Earl of Ulster. As shorthand for a royalty reference book, it represents "A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the United Kingdom," first issued 1826, compiled by John Burke (1787-1848). As a verb meaning "murder by smothering," it is abstracted from William Burk, executed in Edinburgh 1829 for murdering several persons to sell their bodies for dissection.
Campbell: family name, from Gaelic caimbeul "wry or crooked mouth," from cam "crooked, deformed, one-eyed, cross-eyed." Also in surname Cameron, from Gaelic camshron "wry or hooked nose" (in the Highland clan; the Lowland name is for a locality in Fife). The Campbell Soup Company was started in 1869 by Joseph A. Campbell; Warhol began painting their cans in 1962.
Chaucer: family name, from Old French chaucier "maker of chausses," from chauces "clothing for the legs, breeches, pantaloons, hose" (related to case (n.2)). Middle English chawce was a general term for anything worn on the feet. Related: Chaucerian.
Chippendale: "piece of furniture by, or in the style of, Chippendale," by 1871, from Thomas Chippendale (c. 1718-1779), English cabinetmaker. The family name (13c.) is from Chippingdale, Lancashire (probably from Old English ceaping "a market, marketplace," related to cheap). Chippendales beefcake dance revue, began late 1970s in a Los Angeles nightclub, the name said to have been chosen for its suggestion of elegance and class.
Cleveland: city in Ohio, U.S., laid out 1796 by Gen. Moses Cleaveland (1754-1806) and later named for him. His descendants included U.S. President Grover Cleveland (1837-1908). The family name is from place names in England based on Middle English cleove, a variant of cliff.
Clyde: masc. proper name, from the family name, from the region of the Clyde River in Scotland (see Clydesdale). Most popular in U.S. for boys c. 1890-1910, falling off rapidly thereafter, hence probably its use in 1940s teenager slang for "a square, one not versed in popular music or culture."
cognomen (n.): 1809, from Latin com- "with" (see co-) + (g)nomen "name" (see name (n.)). Third or family name of a Roman citizen (Caius Julius Cæsar).
Dallas: city in Texas, U.S., settled 1841, named 1846 for George M. Dallas (1792-1864), U.S. vice president under Polk (1845-49); the family name (13c.) is from the barony of Dallas (Moray) or means "dweller at the house in the dale."
Delaware: U.S. state, river, Indian tribe, named for the bay, which was named for Baron (commonly "Lord") De la Warr (Thomas West, 1577-1618), first English colonial governor of Virginia. The family name is attested from 1201, from Delaware in Brasted, Kent, probably ultimately from de la werre "of the war" (a warrior), from Old French werre/guerre "war."
Denver: city in Colorado, U.S., founded 1858 as Auraria ("golden"), renamed 1859 for Gen. James W. Denver (1817-1892), governor of the territory. The family name is from the place of that name in Norfolk, literally "ford or passage used by the Danes," from Old English Dena (genitive plural) + fær.

The Denver boot or shoe as the name for a wheel clamp for illegally parked vehicles, supposedly was invented 1953 by Frank Marugg, pattern-maker and violinist with the Denver Symphony Orchestra. He was a friend of politicians and police department officials, and the city sheriff's department came to him for help in making a device to immobilize vehicles whose owners didn't pay parking tickets.
Douglas: family name (late 12c.), later masc. personal name, from Gaelic Dubh glas "the dark water," name of a place in Lanarkshire. As a given name, in the top 40 for boys born in U.S. from 1942 to 1971. Douglas fir named for David Douglas (1798-1834), Scottish botanist who first recorded it in Pacific Northwest, 1825. Douglas scheme, Douglas plan, Douglassite, etc. refer to "social credit" economic model put forth by British engineer Maj. Clifford Hugh Douglas (1879-1952).
Edsel: notoriously unsuccessful make of car, introduced 1956 and named for Henry and Clara Ford's only child; figurative sense of "something useless and unwanted" is almost as old. Edsel is a family name, attested since 14c. (William de Egeshawe), from High Edser in Ewhurst, Surrey.
Fauntleroy: in various usages, from the gentle boy hero of Frances Hodgson Burnett's popular novel "Little Lord Fauntleroy" (1885). The family name is recorded from mid-13c., literally "son of the king" (Anglo-French Le Enfant le Roy), from faunt, a Middle English variant of enfaunt (see infant). Middle English also had fauntekin "a little child" (late 14c.).
forsythia (n.): 1814, coined 1805 in Modern Latin as a genus name in honor of William Forsyth (1737-1804), Scottish horticulturalist who brought the shrub from China. The family name is from Gaelic Fearsithe "man of peace."
Fort Sumter: military installation in South Carolina, U.S., begun in 1827, named for U.S. Revolutionary War officer and Congressman Thomas Sumter (1734-1832), "The Carolina Gamecock." The family name is attested from 1206, from Old French sommetier "driver of a pack horse" (see sumpter). The U.S. Civil War is held to have begun with the firing of rebel batteries on the government-held fort on April 12, 1861.
frangipani (n.): common name of a type of flowering shrub from the West Indies, also fdrangipane, 1670s, for a perfume that had its odor, from French frangipane (16c.), said to be from Frangipani, the family name of the Italian inventor.
FRANGIPANI, an illustrious and powerful Roman House, which traces its origin to the 7th c., and attained the summit of its glory in the 11th and 12th centuries. ... The origin of the name Frangipani is attributed to the family's benevolent distribution of bread in time of famine. ["Chambers's Encyclopædia," 1868]
Frangipane as a type of pastry is from 1858.
Frisbee (n.): 1957, trademark registered 1959 by Wham-O Company; the prototype was modeled on pie tins from Mrs. Frisbie's Pies, made by the Frisbie Bakery of Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S. Middlebury College students began tossing them around in the 1930s (though Yale and Princeton also claim to have discovered their aerodynamic qualities).
Thirteen years ago the Wham-O Manufacturing Company of San Gabriel, Calif., ... brought out the first Frisbee. Wham-O purchased the rights from a Los Angeles building inspector named Fred Morrison, who in turn had been inspired by the airworthy pie tins of the Frisbie Bakery in Bridgeport, Conn. (which went out of business in March of 1958). He changed the spelling to avoid legal problems. ["Sports Illustrated," Aug. 3, 1970]
The family name is attested in English records from 1226, from a place name in Leicestershire (Frisby on the Wreak), attested from 1086, from Old Danish, meaning "farmstead or village of the Frisians" (Old Norse Frisa, genitive plural of Frisr; see Frisian). Also see by (prep.).
Galilee: "northernmost province of Palestine," late 12c., from Latin Galilaea, Greek Galilaia, with place-name element + Hebrew Haggalil, literally "The District," a compressed form of Gelil haggoyim "the District of Nations" (see Isa. viii:23). The adjective Galilean, also Galilaean, is used both of Jesus, who was raised and began preaching there, and his followers (1610s), who was born there, and of the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei (1727); the family name is from one of its ancestors, Galileo de'Bonajuti, a prominent 15th century physician and civic leader in Florence, and represents Latin Galilaeus "Galilean." Galilean also figures as the word applied to early Christians among the pagans and Jews. Old and Middle English had Galileish
Graham: family name attested from early 12c., an Anglo-French form of the place name Grantham (Lincolnshire). In reference to crackers, bread, etc., made from unsifted whole-wheat flour, 1834, American English, from Sylvester Graham (1794-1851), U.S. dietetic reformer and temperance advocate. Related: Grahamism. Graham's law in physics (1845) is a reference to Scottish chemist Thomas Graham (1805-1869). Graham Land in Antarctica was named 1832 by English explorer John Biscoe in honor of Sir James Graham (1792-1861), first lord of the Admiralty; the U.S. name for it was Palmer Peninsula in honor of American explorer Nathaniel Palmer, who had led an expedition there in 1820. The rival names persisted until 1964.
guppy (n.): 1925, named for R.J.L. Guppy, Trinidad clergyman who supplied the first specimen (1866) to the British Museum. The family name is from a place in Dorset. The class of streamlined U.S. submarines (1948) is an acronym from greater underwater propulsion power + -y.
hominid (n.): 1889, "family of mammals represented by man," from Modern Latin Hominidæ the biological family name, coined 1825 from Latin homo (genitive hominis) "man" (see homunculus). As an adjective from 1915.
hooker (n.): "prostitute," often traced to the disreputable morals of the Army of the Potomac (American Civil War) under the tenure of Gen. "Fighting Joe" Hooker (early 1863), and the word might have been popularized by this association at that time (though evidence is wanting). But it is reported to have been in use in North Carolina c. 1845 ("[I]f he comes by way of Norfolk he will find any number of pretty Hookers in the Brick row not far from French's hotel. Take my advice and touch nothing in the shape of a prostitute when you come through Raleigh, for in honest truth the clap is there of luxuriant growth." letter quoted in Norman E. Eliason, "Tarheel Talk," 1956).

One early theory traces it to Corlear's Hook, a section of New York City.
HOOKER. A resident of the Hook, i.e. a strumpet, a sailor's trull. So called from the number of houses of ill-fame frequented by sailors at the Hook (i.e. Corlear's Hook) in the city of New York. [John Russell Bartlett, "Dictionary of Americanisms," 1859]
Perhaps related to hooker "thief, pickpocket" (1560s), but most likely a reference to prostitutes hooking or snaring clients. Hook in the figurative sense of "that by which anyone is attracted or caught" is recorded from early 15c.; and hook (v.) in the figurative sense of "catch hold of and draw in" is attested from 1570s; in reference to "fishing" for a husband or a wife, it was in common use from c. 1800. All of which makes the modern sense seem a natural step. Compare French accrocheuse, raccrocheuse, common slang term for "street-walker, prostitute," literally "hooker" of men.

The family name Hooker (attested from c.975 C.E.) would mean "maker of hooks," or else refer to an agricultural laborer who used a hook (compare Old English weodhoc "weed-hook").
Houston: city in Texas, U.S., founded 1836 and named for first president of Texas, Sam Houston. The family name is from the barony of Houston in Lanark.
-idae: word-forming element used to form family names in zoology, Latin plural noun suffix, plural of -ides (see -id).
John Hancock: colloquial for "signature," 1903 (sometimes, through some unexplainable error, John Henry), from the Boston merchant and rebel (1736-1793), signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. The extended sense is from his signing that dangerous document first or most flamboyantly.
John Hancock, president of Congress, was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence, writing his name in large, plain letters, and saying: "There; John Bull can read my name without spectacles. Now let him double the price on my head, for this is my defiance." [Hélène Adeline Guerber, "The Story of the Thirteen Colonies," New York, 1898]
The family name is attested from 1276 in Yorkshire, a diminutive (see cock) of Hann, a very common given name in 13c. Yorkshire as a pet form of Henry or John.
orchid (n.): 1845, introduced by John Lindley in "School Botanty," from Modern Latin Orchideæ (Linnaeus), the plant's family name, from Latin orchis, a kind of orchid, from Greek orkhis (genitive orkheos) "orchid," literally "testicle," from PIE *orghi-, the standard root for "testicle" (cognates: Avestan erezi "testicles," Armenian orjik, Middle Irish uirgge, Irish uirge "testicle," Lithuanian erzilas "stallion"). The plant so called because of the shape of its root. Earlier in English in Latin form, orchis (1560s), and in Middle English it was ballockwort (c. 1300; see ballocks). Marred by extraneous -d- in an attempt to extract the Latin stem.
Paige: fem. proper name, also a family name, variant of page (n.2) "young servant."
Pusey: family name, early 13c., from Le Puiset in France.
Rambo: used allusively from 1985, in reference to John Rambo, hero of David Morrell's novel "First Blood" (1972), popularized as portrayed by Sylvester Stallone in Hollywood movie version (1982), a U.S. Vietnam veteran, "macho and self-sufficient, and bent on violent retribution" [OED]. The family name is an old one in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, originally Swedish, sometimes said to represent Swedish place name Ramberget, or to be from French Huguenots who took refuge in Sweden.
sandwich (n.): 1762, said to be a reference to John Montagu (1718-1792), Fourth Earl Sandwich, who was said to be an inveterate gambler who ate slices of cold meat between bread at the gaming table during marathon sessions rather than get up for a proper meal (this account dates to 1770). It was in his honor that Cook named the Hawaiian islands (1778) when Montagu was first lord of the Admiralty. The family name is from the place in Kent, Old English Sandwicæ, literally "sandy harbor (or trading center)." For pronunciation, see cabbage. Sandwich board, one carried before and one behind, is from 1864.
Saudi (adj.): 1933, from Sa'ud, family name of the rulers of Nejd from 18c. and of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia since 1932. The name is from Arabic sa'd "good fortune, happiness."
Shenandoah: originally a place name in Dutchess County, N.Y., from Oneida (Iroquoian) family name Skenondoah, derived from oskenon:to "deer." Later transferred to river and valley in Virginia.
Sheraton: severe style of late 18c. English furniture, 1883, from name of cabinetmaker Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806). The family name is from a place in Durham, late Old English Scurufatun (c.1040), probably "farmstead of a man called Skurfa" (an old Scandinavian personal name). The hotel chain dates from 1937 and has no obvious direct connection.
silhouette (n.): 1798, from French silhouette, in reference to Étienne de Silhouette (1709-1767), French minister of finance in 1759. Usually said to be so called because it was an inexpensive way of making a likeness of someone, a derisive reference to Silhouette's petty economies to finance the Seven Years' War, which were unpopular among the nobility. But other theories are that it refers to his brief tenure in office, or the story that he decorated his chateau with such portraits.
Silhouette portraits were so called simply because they came into fashion in the year (1759) in which M. de Silhouette was minister. [A. Brachet, "An Etymological Dictionary of the French Language," transl. G.W. Kitchin, 1882]
Used of any sort of dark outline or shadow in profile from 1843. The verb is recorded from 1876, from the noun. The family name is a Frenchified form of a Basque surname; Arnaud de Silhouette, the finance minister's father, was from Biarritz in the French Basque country; the southern Basque form of the name would be Zuloeta or Zulueta, which contains the suffix -eta "abundance of" and zulo "hole" (possibly here meaning "cave").
surname (n.): c. 1300, "name, title, or epithet added to a person's name," from sur "above" (from Latin super-; see sur- (1)) + name (n.); modeled on Anglo-French surnoun "surname" (early 14c.), variant of Old French sornom, from sur "over" + nom "name." As "family name" from late 14c.

An Old English word for this was freonama, literally "free name." Meaning "family name" is first found late 14c. Hereditary surnames existed among Norman nobility in England in early 12c., among the common people they began to be used 13c., increasingly frequent until near universal by end of 14c. The process was later in the north of England than the south. The verb is attested from 1510s. Related: Surnamed.
Sydney: Australian city, founded 1788 and named for British Home Secretary Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney (1733-1800). The family name (also Sidney) is literally "dweller by the well-watered land," from Old English sid "side" + ieg "island."
Toyota: Japanese automaker, begun 1930s as a division of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, named for the family name of the founder. There seems to be no one accepted explanation for the change from -d- to -t-.
Washington: U.S. capital, founded 1791, named for President George Washington (1732-1799); the family name is from a town in northeastern England, from Old English, literally "estate of a man named Wassa." The U.S. state was named when it was formed as a territory in 1853 (admitted to the union 1889). Related: Washingtonian.
acridid: "An orthopteran insect of the family Acrididae, which includes locusts and typical (short-horned) grasshoppers", Late 19th cent. From scientific Latin Acrida, genus name ( Linnaeus Systema Naturae (ed. 10, 1758) I. 427; from ancient Greek ἀκρίδ-, ἀκρίς locust: see acrid) + -id, after scientific Latin Acridiidae, family name.
alliaceous: "Relating to or denoting plants of a group that comprises the onions and other alliums", Late 18th century: from Latin allium 'garlic' + -aceous; compare with the modern Latin taxonomic family name Alliaceae.
parkin: "A kind of dark gingerbread, typically with a soft, dry texture, made with oatmeal and treacle or molasses, especially in Yorkshire around Bonfire Night", Early 19th century: perhaps from the family name Parkin, diminutive of Per 'Peter'.
aglossal: "Designating the tongueless frogs that constitute the family Pipidae; belonging to this family", Late 19th cent.; earliest use found in George Rolleston (1829–1881), physician and physiologist. From scientific Latin Aglossae, former family name + -al.
piciform: "Of or relating to the order Piciformes, which includes the woodpeckers and (in later use) the toucans, barbets, puffbirds, jacamars, and honeyguides", Late 19th cent.; earliest use found in Elliott Coues (1842–1889), naturalist and historian. From scientific Latin Picus, genus name ( Linnaeus Systema Naturae (ed. 10, 1758) I. 112, after earlier use by him in Systema Naturae; from classical Latin pīcus woodpecker: see below) + -iform, after scientific Latin Piciformes, suborder name ( E. Coues Key to North American Birds (ed. 2, 1884) iii. ii. 446; earlier as a superfamily name, A. H. Garrod 1874 in Proc. Zool. Soc. 123).
picine: "Originally: †of or relating to the former superfamily Picinae, which comprised the woodpeckers and related birds; piciform ( obsolete ). Later: of or relating to the subfamily Picinae, which comprises the typical woodpeckers", Late 19th cent.; earliest use found in Ibis: a quarterly journal of ornithology. From scientific Latin Picus, genus name + -ine, after scientific Latin Picinae, former superfamily name.