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eureka [eureka 词源字典]: eureka: [16] The Greek mathematician Archimedes (c. 287–212 BC) was commissioned by King Hiero II of Syracuse to find out whether the goldsmith who had made a new crown for him had fraudulently mixed some silver in with the gold. In order to do so, Archimedes needed to ascertain the metal’s specific gravity. But how to do this? According to Plutarch, he decided to take a bath to ponder the problem.

He filled the bath too full, and some of the water overflowed – and it suddenly occurred to Archimedes that a pure-gold crown would displace more water if immersed than one made from an alloy. Elated at this piece of lateral thinking, Archimedes is said to have leapt out of the bath shouting heúrēka! ‘I have found!’, the perfect indicative of Greek heurískein ‘find’ (source of English heuristic [19]).

The earliest occurrence of the word in an English text as an exclamation of delight at discovery is in John Dee’s Preface, but there it appears in Greek characters; the first English author to fully naturalize it was probably Henry Fielding in Joseph Andrews 1742; ‘Adams returned overjoyed cring out “Eureka!”’ (The goldsmith, incidentally, had adulterated the gold.)
=> heuristic[eureka etymology, eureka origin, 英语词源]
repertory: repertory: [16] A repertory is etymologically a list of things ‘found’. The word was adopted from late Latin repertōrium, a derivative of reperīre ‘find out’. This was formed from the base *per- ‘attempt’, which has also given English experience, expert, peril, pirate, etc. The sense ‘list of plays, pieces of music, etc performed’ was introduced from French in the 19th century, along with the French form repertoire.
=> experience, expert, peril, pirate
ascertain (v.): early 15c., "to inform, to give assurance," from Anglo-French acerteiner, Old French acertener "to assure, certify" (13c.), from a "to" (see ad-) + certain "certain" (see certain). Modern meaning of "find out for sure by experiment or investigation" is first attested 1794. Related: Ascertained; ascertaining.
contrive (v.): early 14c., from Old French controver (Modern French controuver) "to find out, contrive, imagine," from Late Latin contropare "to compare" (via a figure of speech), from Latin com- "with" (see com-) + tropus "song, musical mode," from Greek tropos "figure of speech" (see trope).

Sense evolution (in French) was from "invent with ingenuity" to "invent falsely." Spelled contreve until unexplained 15c. sound change that also affected briar, friar, choir. Related: Contrived; contriving.
find (v.): Old English findan "come upon, meet with; discover; obtain by search or study" (class III strong verb; past tense fand, past participle funden), from Proto-Germanic *finthan "to come upon, discover" (cognates: Old Saxon findan, Old Frisian finda, Old Norse finna, Middle Dutch vinden, Old High German findan, German finden, Gothic finþan), originally "to come upon."

The Germanic word is from PIE root *pent- "to tread, go" (cognates: Old High German fendeo "pedestrian;" Sanskrit panthah "path, way;" Avestan panta "way;" Greek pontos "open sea," patein "to tread, walk;" Latin pons (genitive pontis) "bridge;" Old Church Slavonic poti "path," peta "heel;" Russian put' "path, way").

To find out "to discover by scrutiny" is from 1550s (Middle English had a verb, outfinden, c. 1300).
guess (v.): c. 1300, gessen "to infer from observation, perceive, find out; form an opinion, judge, decide, discern; evaluate, estimate the number, importance, etc. of," perhaps from Scandinavian (compare Middle Danish gitse, getze "to guess," Old Norse geta "guess, get"), or from or influenced by Middle Dutch gessen, Middle Low German gissen "to guess," all from Proto-Germanic *getan "to get" (see get (v.)). The prehistoric sense evolution then would be from "get," to "take aim at," to "to estimate." Meaning "to hit upon the right answer" is from 1540s. Spelling with gu- is late 16c., sometimes attributed to Caxton and his early experience as a printer in Bruges. Related: Guessed; guessing. Guessing game attested from 1650s. To keep (someone) guessing "keep him in a state of suspense" is from 1896, American English.
[T]he legitimate, English sense of this word is to conjecture; but with us, and especially in New England, it is constantly used in common conversation instead of to believe, to suppose, to think, to imagine, to fancy. [Bartlett, "Dictionary of Americanisms," 1848]
heuristic (adj.): "serving to discover or find out," 1821, irregular formation from Greek heuretikos "inventive," related to heuriskein "to find" (from PIE *were- (2) "to find;" cognate with Old Irish fuar "I have found") + -istic. As a noun, from 1860.
knowledge (n.): early 12c., cnawlece "acknowledgment of a superior, honor, worship;" for first element see know (v.). Second element obscure, perhaps from Scandinavian and cognate with the -lock "action, process," found in wedlock. Meaning "capacity for knowing, understanding; familiarity; fact of knowing" is late 14c. Sense of "an organized body of facts or teachings" is from c. 1400, as is that of "sexual intercourse." Also a verb in Middle English, knoulechen "acknowledge" (c. 1200), later "find out about; recognize," and "to have sexual intercourse with" (c. 1300).
locate (v.): 1650s, "to establish oneself in a place, settle," from Latin locatus, past participle of locare "to place, put, set, dispose, arrange," from locus "a place" (see locus). Sense of "mark the limits of a place" (especially a land grant) is attested from 1739 in American English; this developed to "establish (something) in a place" (1807) and "to find out the place of" (1882, American English). Related: Located; locating.
meet (v.): Old English metan "to find, find out; fall in with, encounter; obtain," from Proto-Germanic *motjan (cognates: Old Norse mæta, Old Frisian meta, Old Saxon motian "to meet," Gothic gamotijan), from PIE root *mod- "to meet, assemble." Related to Old English gemot "meeting." Meaning "to assemble" is from 1520s. Of things, "to come into contact," c. 1300. Related: Met; meeting. To meet (someone) halfway in the figurative sense is from 1620s.
skilled (adj.): 1550s, past participle adjective from skill (v.) "to have personal and practical knowledge" (c. 1200), from Old Norse skilja "separate, part, divide; break off, break up; part company, take leave; discern, distinguish; understand, find out; decide, settle," from the source of skill (n.).
spy (v.): mid-13c., "to watch stealthily," from Old French espiier "observe, watch closely, spy on, find out," probably from Frankish *spehon or some other Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *spehon- (cognates: Old High German *spehon "to look out for, scout, spy," German spähen "to spy," Middle Dutch spien), the Germanic survivals of the productive PIE root *spek- "to look, observe" (see scope (n.1)). Old English had spyrian "make a track, go, pursue; ask about, investigate," also a noun spyrigend "investigator, inquirer." Italian spiare, Spanish espiar also are Germanic loan-words. Meaning "to catch sight of" is from c. 1300. Children's game I spy so called by 1946.
verify (v.): early 14c., from Old French verifier "substantiate, find out the truth about" (14c.), from Medieval Latin verificare "make true," from Latin verus "true" (see very) + root of facere "to make" (see factitious).