quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- robin




- robin: [15] Robin was borrowed from the French male first name Robin, a familiar form of Robert, which is first recorded as a bird-name in the 15th century. It originally appeared in English, in the mid-15th century, in the expression robin redbreast, and robin was not used on its own until about a hundred years later. Since then its has gradually ousted the native ruddock (a relative of red) as the standard term for the bird. (The name Robert, incidentally, is of Germanic origin, and means etymologically ‘famebright’.)
- sextant




- sextant: [17] A sextant is etymologically an instrument based on a ‘sixth’ of a circle. Sextants measure off the angle between the horizon and a celestial body on a graduated scale that is marked on an arc equal to one sixth of a circle. They were first named at the beginning of the 17th century by the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, who used the term sextāns ‘sixth part’, a derivative of Latin sextus ‘sixth’ (to which English six is closely related). The anglicized version sextant is first recorded in 1628.
=> six - teddy




- teddy: English has two words teddy, both of them based on affectionate alterations of male first names. The teddy bear [20] was named after Theodore (‘Teddy’) Roosevelt, president of the USA from 1901 to 1909. One of his favourite leisure pursuits was hunting bears, and early in 1906 the New York Times published a humorous poem about the adventures of two bears, which were named Teddy B and Teddy G in his honour.
The names were then appropriated to two bears that had just been presented to the Bronx Zoo; and before the year was out, toy manufacturers with an eye for profit had put toy bears called teddy bears on the market. The teddy of teddy boy [20] is short for Edward, an allusion to the teddy boys’ preference for clothes in a style reminiscent of the Edwardian period (1901–10).
The first record of the word comes from 1954.
- ABBA




- Swedish pop music group formed 1972, the name dates from 1973 and is an acronym from the first names of the four band members: Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Agnetha Fältskog.
- Aldine (n.)




- type font, 1837, from Aldus Manutius (1450-1515), Venetian printer who used it in his popular editions of Greek and Roman classics. His name is a Latinized form of Italian Aldo Manuzio, the first name short for Teobaldo (see Theobald), and, like so many Italian masc. given names, of Germanic origin. The device characteristic of Aldine books is a figure of a dolphin on an anchor.
- first (adj., adv.)




- Old English fyrst "foremost, going before all others; chief, principal," also (though rarely) as an adverb, "at first, originally," superlative of fore; from Proto-Germanic *furista- "foremost" (cognates: Old Saxon fuirst "first," Old High German furist, Old Norse fyrstr, Danish første, Old Frisian ferist, Middle Dutch vorste "prince," Dutch vorst "first," German Fürst "prince"), from PIE *pre-isto-, superlative of *pre-, from root *per- (1) "forward, through" (see per).
The usual Old English superlative word was not fyrst, but forma, which shows more clearly the connection to fore. Forma became Middle English firme "first, earliest," but this has not survived.
First aid is that given at the scene, pending the arrival of a doctor. First Lady as an informal title for the wife of a U.S. president was in use by 1908, short for First lady of the land (by 1863 with reference to the president's wife). First name is attested from mid-13c. First base "a start" in any sense (1938) is a figurative use from baseball.
First-fruits is from late 14c. as "earliest productions of the soil;" 1590s as "first results" of any activity or endeavor. First love is from 1741 as "one's first experience of romantic love;" 1971 as "one's favorite occupation or pastime." First-floor is from 1660s as "story built on or just above the ground" (now U.S.); 1865 as "story built next above the ground."