英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

box [box 词源字典]: box: English has two distinct words box. The ‘receptacle’ [OE] probably comes from late Latin buxis, a variant of Latin pyxis (whence English pyx ‘container for Communion bread’ [14]). This was borrowed from Greek puxís, which originally meant not simply ‘box’, but specifically ‘box made of wood’; for it was a derivative of Greek púxos, which via Latin buxus has given English box the tree [OE]. Box ‘fight with the fists’ first appeared in English as a noun, meaning ‘blow’ [14], now preserved mainly in ‘a box round the ears’.

Its ancestry is uncertain: it may be related to Middle Dutch bōke and Danish bask ‘blow’, or it could simply be an obscure metaphorical extension of box ‘receptacle’.
=> pyx[box etymology, box origin, 英语词源]
boxer: boxer: [15] Boxer is a much travelled word. In its original sense ‘fighter’ it comes of course from the verb box, the origins of which remain mysterious. German borrowed the name for a new breed of dog, a sort of elongated, more elegant version of a bulldog – presumably either in tribute to its supposed pugnaciousness or because its flattened nose looked like that of an unsuccessful boxer.

Then in the 1930s English acquired this new application back from German. The use of ‘Boxer’ for the Chinese rebels around the turn of the 20th century who attempted to drive out all foreigners is based on their Chinese name, yi hé quán, literally ‘righteous harmonious fists’.
box (v.2): "to beat or whip," late 14c., from box (n.2). Meaning "to fight with the fists" is from 1560s. Related: Boxed; boxing.
Boxer Rebellion: 1900, a name based on mistranslation of Chinese xenophobic society I-He-T'uan, "Righteous Harmony Band," rendered by British as I-He-Ch'uan "Righteous Uniting Fists," and so associated with the pugilistic boxer.
boxing (n.): "fighting with the fists as a sport," 1711, verbal noun from box (v.2).
defeatist: 1918, adjective and noun, in reference to pacifists and political opposition in Britain, from French défaitiste, which was used there in reference to the Russians who sought to end their war with Germany; see defeat (n.) + -ist. Their opposition, in the original Russian context, were called defensists.
fist (n.): Old English fyst "fist, clenched hand," from West Germanic *fustiz (cognates: Old Saxon fust, Old High German fust, Old Frisian fest, Middle Dutch vuust, Dutch vuist, German Faust), from Proto-Germanic *funhstiz, probably ultimately from PIE *penkwe- "five" (see five, and compare Old Church Slavonic pesti, Russian piasti "fist").

Meaning "a blow with the fist" is from 1767. Fist-fight "duel with the fists" is from c. 1600. As a verb, Old English had fystlian "to strike with the fist."
fistic (adj.): "relating to or done with the fists," 1806, from fist (n.) + -ic. Long considered improper English ("Not in dignified use" - OED).
pugilism (n.): 1789, from Latin pugil "boxer, fist-fighter," related to pugnus "fist" (see pugnacious) + -ism. Pugilation "fighting with fists," now obsolete, is recorded from 1650s.
pugnacious (adj.): 1640s, a back-formation from pugnacity or else from Latin pugnacis, genitive of pugnax "combative, fond of fighting," from pugnare "to fight," especially with the fists, "contend against," from pugnus "a fist," from PIE *pung-, nasalized form of root *peuk-, *peug- "to stick, stab, to prick" (cognates: Greek pyx "with clenched fist," pygme "fist, boxing," pyktes "boxer;" Latin pungere "to pierce, prick").
punch (v.): "to thrust, push; jostle;" also, "prod, to drive (cattle, etc.) by poking and prodding," late 14c., from Old French ponchonner "to punch, prick, stamp," from ponchon "pointed tool, piercing weapon" (see punch (n.1)). Meaning "to pierce, emboss with a tool" is from early 15c.; meaning "to stab, puncture" is from mid-15c. To punch a ticket, etc., is from mid-15c. To punch the clock "record one's arrival at or departure from the workplace using an automated timing device" is from 1900. Related: Punched; punching.
Perhaps you are some great big chief, who has a lot to say.
Who lords it o'er the common herd who chance to come your way;
Well, here is where your arrogance gets a dreadful shock,
When you march up, like a private, salute, and PUNCH THE CLOCK.

[from "Punch the Clock," by "The Skipper," "The Commercial Telegraphers' Journal," May 1912]
Specialized sense "to hit with the fist" first recorded 1520s. Compare Latin pugnare "to fight with the fists," from a root meaning "to pierce, sting." In English this was probably influenced by punish; "punch" or "punsch" for "punish" is found in documents from 14c.-15c.:
punchyth me, Lorde, and spare my blyssyd wyff Anne. [Coventry Mystery Plays, late 15c.]
To punch (someone) out "beat up" is from 1971.
slugger (n.): 1877, originally in baseball, agent noun from slug (v.). Meaning "one who hits with the fists" is from 1883.