英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

bulletin: bulletin: [17] If a bullet is etymologically a ‘little ball’, a bulletin is a ‘little little edict’. It comes via French bulletin from Italian bulletino, which was a diminutive form of bulletta ‘document, voting slip’ (briefly introduced into English in the 17th century as bullet: ‘Elected by the Great Master and his Knights, who give their voices by bullets’, George Sandys, Travels 1615); French billet ‘letter’, and indeed English billet, as in ‘billeting’ soldiers on a house, are parallel formations on a variant of the root of bulletta.

And to return to bulletta, this was itself a diminutive form of bulla, from medieval Latin bulla ‘sealed document’, which is the source of English bull, as in ‘papal bull’.
=> billet, bull
embarrass: embarrass: [17] As in the case of embargo, the etymological meaning of embarrass is ‘put behind bars’. It comes ultimately from Italian imbarrare ‘surround with bars’, hence ‘impede’, a compound verb formed from the prefix in- ‘in’ and Vulgar Latin *barra ‘bar’ (source of English bar). From this was derived imbarazzare, which passed into English via Spanish embarazar and French embarrasser. Its original meaning ‘impede, hamper’ remains in use, chiefly in the context ‘financially embarrassed’, but has been overtaken in frequency by ‘disconcert’.
=> bar, barrier
bound (n.1): "limit," c. 1200, from Anglo-Latin bunda, from Old French bonde "limit, boundary, boundary stone" (12c., Modern French borne), variant of bodne, from Medieval Latin bodina, perhaps from Gaulish. Now chiefly in out of bounds, which originally referred to limits imposed on students at schools.
bush (n.): "many-stemmed woody plant," Old English bysc, from West Germanic *busk "bush, thicket" (cognates: Old Saxon and Old High German busc, Dutch bosch, bos, German Busch). Influenced by or combined with cognate words from Scandinavian (such as Old Norse buskr, Danish busk, but this might be from West Germanic) and Old French (busche "firewood," apparently of Frankish origin), and also perhaps Anglo-Latin bosca "firewood," from Medieval Latin busca (whence Italian bosco, Spanish bosque, French bois), which apparently also was borrowed from West Germanic; compare Boise.

In British American colonies, applied from 1650s to the uncleared districts, hence "country," as opposed to town (1780); probably originally from Dutch bosch in the same sense, because it seems to appear first in English in former Dutch colonies. Meaning "pubic hair" (especially of a woman) is from 1745. To beat the bushes (mid-15c.) is a way to rouse birds so that they fly into the net which others are holding, which originally was the same thing as beating around the bush (see beat (v.)).
busk (v.): "to prepare, to dress oneself," also "to go, set out," c. 1300, probably from Old Norse buask "to prepare oneself," reflexive of bua "to prepare" (see bound (adj.2)) + contraction of Old Norse reflexive pronoun sik. Most common in northern Middle English and surviving chiefly in Scottish and northern English dialect. Related boun had the same senses in northern and Scottish Middle English. Related: Busked; busking.

The nautical term is attested from 1660s (in a general sense of "to tack, to beat to windward"), apparently from obsolete French busquer "to shift, filch, prowl," which is related to Italian buscare "to filch, prowl," Spanish buscar (from Old Spanish boscar), perhaps originally from bosco "wood" (see bush (n.)), with a hunting notion of "beating a wood" to flush game.
chloral (n.): colorless liquid formed by the action of chlorine on alcohol, apparently coined by German chemist Justus von Liebig in 1833 from elements from chlorine + alcohol. Later chiefly in chloral hydrate (1874).
enamor (v.): c. 1300, from Old French enamorer "to fall in love with; to inspire love" (12c., Modern French enamourer), from en- "in, into" (see en- (1)) + amor "love," from amare "to love" (see Amy). Since earliest appearance in English, it has been used chiefly in the past participle (enamored) and with of or with. An equivalent formation to Provençal, Spanish, Portuguese enamorar, Italian innamorare.
ento-: word-forming element used chiefly in biology and meaning "within, inside, inner," from Greek ento-, comb. form of entos (adv., prep.) "within, inside," as a noun, "inner parts" (cognate with Latin intus), from PIE *entos, from *en "in" (see in) + adverbial suffix -tos, denoting origin.
fly (n.): Old English fleoge "a fly, winged insect," from Proto-Germanic *fleugon "flying insect" (cognates: Old Saxon fleiga, Old Norse fluga, Middle Dutch vlieghe, Dutch vlieg, Old High German flioga, German Fliege "fly"); literally "the flying (insect)" (compare Old English fleogende "flying"), from same source as fly (v.1).

Originally any winged insect (moths, gnats, beetles, locusts, hence butterfly, etc.) and long used by farmers and gardeners for any insect parasite. Flies figuratively for "large numbers" of anything is from 1590s. Plural flien (as in oxen, etc.) gradually normalized 13c.-15c. to -s. Fly in the ointment is from Eccles. x:1. Fly on the wall "unseen observer" first recorded 1881. No flies on _____ "no lack of activity or alertness on the part of," is attested by 1866. Meaning "fish-hook dressed to resemble an insect" is from 1580s; Fly-fishing is from 1650s. Fly-catcher "bird which eats insects on the wing" is from 1670s. The fly agaric mushroom (1788) so called because it was used as a poison for flies.

The sense of "a flight, flying" is from mid-15c. From the verb and the notion of "flapping as a wing does" comes the noun sense of "tent flap" (1810), which was extended to "strip of material sewn into a garment as a covering for buttons" or some other purpose (1844). Baseball fly ball attested by 1866. To do something on the fly is 1856, apparently from baseball.
When the catcher sees several fielders running to catch a ball, he should name the one he thinks surest to take it, when the others should not strive to catch the ball on the fly, but only, in case of its being missed, take it on the bound. ["The American Boys Book of Sports and Games," New York, 1864]
foie-gras (n.): 1818, French, short for pâté de foie gras (1827 in English), literally "pie of fat liver;" originally served in a pastry (as still in Alsace), the phrase now chiefly in English with reference to the filling. French foie "liver" is cognate with Italian fegato, from Latin *ficatum. For pâté see pate (n.2); for gras see grease (n.).
glamor: an alternative spelling of glamour (q.v.), chiefly in U.S., but it defies the usual pattern by not being the predominant spelling of the word there.
gubernatorial (adj.): 1734, formed in American English from Latin gubernator "a governor" (see govern) + -al (1). OED marks it "Cheifly U.S.," and Century Dictionary says "Chiefly in newspaper use." As English words, gubernator was in use from 1520s, gubernation from mid-15c., but both are rare.
hen-house (n.): 1510s, from hen + house (n.). As a place cheifly inhabited by or ruled by women, from 1785.
homely (adj.): late 14c., "of or belonging to home or household, domestic," from Middle English hom "home" (see home (n.)) + -ly (2). Sense of "plain, unadorned, simple" is late 14c., and extension to "having a plain appearance, ugly, crude" took place c. 1400, but now survives chiefly in U.S., especially in New England, where it was the usual term for "physically unattractive;" ugly being typically "ill-tempered."
hullabaloo (n.): 1762, hollo-ballo "uproar," chiefly in northern England and Scottish, perhaps a rhyming reduplication of hollo (see hello).
imperialism (n.): 1826, "advocacy of empire," originally in a Napoleonic context, also of Rome and of British foreign policy, from imperial + -ism. At times in British usage (and briefly in U.S.) with a neutral or positive sense relating to national interests or the spread of the benefits of Western civilization, but from the begining usually more or less a term of reproach. General sense of "one country's rule over another," first recorded 1878. Picked up disparagingly in Communist jargon by 1918.
It is the old story of 1798, when French republicanism sick of its own folly and misdeeds, became metamorphosed into imperialism, and consoled itself for its incapacity to found domestic freedom by putting an iron yoke upon Europe, and covering it with blood and battle-fields. [Francis Lloyd, "St. James's Magazine," January 1842]
implement (v.): 1806, originally chiefly in Scottish, where the noun was a legal term meaning "fulfillment," from implement (n.). It led to the wretched formation implementation, first recorded 1913. Related: Implemented.
messuage (n.): legal term for "dwelling," late 14c., (late 13c. in Anglo-Latin), from Anglo-French messuage, which probably is a clerical error for mesnage (see menage). Originally the portion of land set aside for a dwelling-house and outbuildings, whether occupied by them or not; later chiefly in reference to the house and buildings and the attached land.
missile (n.): "thing thrown or discharged as a weapon," is 1650s, from missile (adj.), 1610s, "capable of being thrown," chiefly in phrase missile weapon, from French missile and directly from Latin missilis "that may be thrown or hurled" (also, in plural, as a noun, "weapons that can be thrown, darts, javelins"), from missus "a throwing, hurling," past participle of mittere "to send" (see mission). Sense of "self-propelled rocket or bomb" is first recorded 1738; the modern remote guidance projectile so called from 1945.
overlie (v.): late 12c., from over- + lie (v.2), or from an unrecorded Old English *oferlicgan. "In use from 12th to 16th c.; in 17-18th displaced by overlay; reintroduced in 19th c., chiefly in geological use." [OED]. Related: Overlay; overlain.
Patrick: masc. proper name, from Old Irish Patraicc (Irish Padraig), from Latin Patricius, literally "a patrician" (see patrician). As a given name, chiefly in northern England and Scotland, in Ireland only a popular name after 1600, due probably to the Scots settlers in Ulster. [Reaney]
post-millennial (adj.): also postmillennial, 1831, from post- "after" + millennial; chiefly in reference to the Protestant doctrine that the second coming of Christ will occur after, not at, the Christian millennium.
puritanical (adj.): c. 1600, from Puritan + -ical. Chiefly in disparaging use. Related: Puritanically.
rarefaction (n.): c. 1600, from Middle French raréfaction or directly from Medieval Latin rarefactionem (nominative rarefactio), noun of action from past participle stem of Latin rarefacere (see rarefy). Used chiefly in reference to gases.
referendum (n.): 1847, "a submitting of a question to the voters as a whole" (originally chiefly in reference to Switzerland), from French or German, from Latin referendum "that which must be referred," literally "thing brought back," neuter gerundive of referre "to bring or take back" (see refer). As a gerundive, it has no plural in Latin; referendums is preferred in English.
shebeen (n.): "cabin where unlicensed liquor is sold and drunk," 1781, chiefly in Ireland and Scotland, from Irish seibin "small mug," also "bad ale," diminutive of seibe "mug, bottle, liquid measure." The word immigrated and persisted in South African and West Indian English.
shiver (v.2): "to break in or into many small pieces," c. 1200, from the source of shiver (n.). Chiefly in phrase shiver me timbers (1835), "a mock oath attributed in comic fiction to sailors" [OED]. My timbers! as a nautical oath (probably euphemistic) is attested from 1789 (see timber (n.)). Related: Shivered; shivering.
shod (adj.): "wearing shoes," late 14c., from Middle English past participle of shoe (v.), surviving chiefly in compounds, such as roughshod, slipshod, etc.
spade (n.1): "tool for digging," Old English spadu "spade," from Proto-Germanic *spadan (cognates: Old Frisian spada "a spade," Middle Dutch spade "a sword," Old Saxon spado, Middle Low German spade, German Spaten), from PIE *spe-dh-, from root *spe- (2) "long, flat piece of wood" (cognates: Greek spathe "wooden blade, paddle," Old English spon "chip of wood, splinter," Old Norse spann "shingle, chip;" see spoon (n.)).

"A spade differs from a two-handed shovel chiefly in the form and thickness of the blade" [Century Dictionary]. To call a spade a spade "use blunt language, call things by right names" (1540s) translates a Greek proverb (known to Lucian), ten skaphen skaphen legein "to call a bowl a bowl," but Erasmus mistook Greek skaphe "trough, bowl" for a derivative of the stem of skaptein "to dig," and the mistake has stuck [see OED].
state (n.1): c. 1200, "circumstances, position in society, temporary attributes of a person or thing, conditions," from Old French estat "position, condition; status, stature, station," and directly from Latin status "a station, position, place; way of standing, posture; order, arrangement, condition," figuratively "standing, rank; public order, community organization," noun of action from past participle stem of stare "to stand" from PIE root *sta- "to stand" (see stet). Some Middle English senses are via Old French estat (French état; see estate).

The Latin word was adopted into other modern Germanic languages (German, Dutch staat) but chiefly in the political senses only. Meaning "physical condition as regards form or structure" is attested from late 13c. Meaning "mental or emotional condition" is attested from 1530s (phrase state of mind first attested 1749); colloquial sense of "agitated or perturbed state" is from 1837.
He [the President] shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. [U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section iii]
stead (n.): Old English stede "place, position; standing, firmness, stability, fixity," from Proto-Germanic *stadiz (cognates: Old Saxon stedi, Old Norse staðr "place, spot; stop, pause; town," Swedish stad, Dutch stede "place," Old High German stat, German Stadt "town," Gothic staþs "place"), from PIE *steti-, suffixed form of root *sta- "to stand" (see stet). Related to stand.

Now chiefly in compounds or phrases. Meaning "assistance, use, benefit, advantage" is from c. 1300. Meaning "frame on which a bed is laid" is from c. 1400. The German use of Stadt for "town, city" "is a late development from c. 1200 when the term began to replace Burg" [Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names]. The Steads was 16c. English for "the Hanseatic cities."
suasion (n.): late 14c., from Old French suasion (14c.) and directly from Latin suasionem (nominative suasio) "a recommending, advocacy, support," noun of action from past participle stem of suadere "to urge, incite, promote, advise, persuade," literally "recommend as good" (related to suavis "sweet"), from PIE *swad- "sweet, pleasant" (see sweet (adj.)). Survives chiefly in phrase moral suasion (1640s). Latin Suada was the goddess of persuasion.
th: A sound found chiefly in words of Old English, Old Norse or Greek origin, unpronounceable by Normans and many other Europeans. In Greek, the sound corresponds etymologically to Sanskrit -dh- and English -d-; and it was represented graphically by -TH- and at first pronounced as a true aspirate (as still in English outhouse, shithead, etc.). But by 2c. B.C.E. the Greek letter theta was in universal use and had the modern "-th-" sound. Latin had neither the letter nor the sound, however, and the Romans represented Greek theta by -TH-, which they generally pronounced, at least in Late Latin, as simple "-t-" (passed down to Romanic languages, as in Spanish termal "thermal," teoria "theory," teatro "theater").

In Germanic languages it represents PIE *-t- and was common at the start of words or after stressed vowels. To represent it, Old English and Old Norse used the characters ð "eth" (a modified form of -d-) and þ "thorn," which originally was a rune. Old English, unlike Old Norse, seems never to have standardized which of the two versions of the sound ("hard" and "soft") was represented by which of the two letters.

The digraph -th- sometimes appears in early Old English, on the Roman model, and it returned in Middle English with the French scribes, driving out eth by c. 1250, but thorn persisted, especially in demonstratives (þat, þe, þis, etc.), even as other words were being spelled with -th-. The advent of printing dealt its death-blow, however, as types were imported from continental founders, who had no thorn. For a time y was used in its place (especially in Scotland), because it had a similar shape, hence ye for the in historical tourist trap Ye Olde _______ Shoppe (it never was pronounced "ye," only spelled that way).

The awareness that some Latin words in t- were from Greek th- encouraged over-correction in English and created unetymological forms such as Thames and author, while some words borrowed from Romanic languages preserve, on the Roman model, the Greek -th- spelling but the simple Latin "t" pronunciation (as in Thomas and thyme).
unabridged (adj.): 1590s, from un- (1) "not" + past participle of abridge (v.). Since 19c. chiefly in reference to literary works.
unfriend (v.): in the Facebook sense, attested from November 2007, from un- (1) "not" + friend (v.). Unfriended is at least as old as Shakespeare in the sense "friendless." A noun unfriend "enemy" is recorded from late 13c., chiefly in Scottish, and was still in use in the 19th century.
unto (prep.): mid-13c., perhaps a modification of until, with southern to in place of northern equivalent till. Or perhaps a contraction of native *und to, formed on the model of until from Old English *un- "up to, as far as," cognate of the first element in until. "Very rare in standard writers of the 18th c.," according to OED, and since then chiefly in dignified, archaic, or Biblical styles.
yawp (v.): c. 1300, yolpen, probably echoic variant of yelpen (see yelp). Related: Yawped; yawping. The noun, in reference to speech, is recorded from 1835, now used chiefly in conscious echo of Whitman (1855).
slivovitz: "A type of plum brandy made chiefly in the former Yugoslavia and in Romania", Croatian šljivovica, from šljiva 'plum'.
Lassa fever: "An acute and often fatal viral disease, with fever, occurring chiefly in West Africa. It is usually acquired from infected rats", 1970s: named after the village of Lassa, in NW Nigeria, where it was first reported.
aviate: "Pilot or fly in an aircraft", Late 19th century: back-formation from aviation.
about-turn: "(Chiefly in military contexts) a turn made so as to face the opposite direction", Late 19th century (originally as a military command): shortening of right about turn.
acarian: "= acarine", Mid 19th cent.; earliest use found in Encyclopaedia Metropolitana. From scientific Latin Acarus + -ian. perhaps after French acarien (1833 or earlier as noun (chiefly in plural acariens), 1842 or earlier as adjective).
Oreodon: "A former genus (now included in the genus Merycoidodon) of extinct pig-sized ruminant mammals of the family Oreodontidae, having four toes on each foot and selenodont teeth, the remains of which are found in Middle Tertiary rocks in the western United States; (also) an animal of this genus. Later chiefly in Oreodon beds: strata containing fossils of these animals", Mid 19th cent.; earliest use found in Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. From scientific Latin Oreodon from Hellenistic Greek ὀρεο- + ancient Greek -όδον.
on-hook: "(Of a telephone) having the receiver resting on the hook; chiefly in on-hook dialling, a facility for initiating a telephone call without lifting the receiver", 1970s; earliest use found in The New York Times.
misarrange: "To arrange badly or incorrectly; to put in the wrong place. Chiefly in pa. pple. Compare disarrange", Early 19th cent.; earliest use found in Walter Scott (1771–1832), poet and novelist. From mis- + arrange.
Adelphi: "Attributive Designating plays performed at or in a style characteristic of the Adelphi Theatre in London, especially (in early use, chiefly in Adelphi screamer) a type of broad comedy or farce; (later) a type of melodrama which was prevalent in the last decades of the 19th cent., typically with the dialogue written in a literary rather than natural, conversational style", Mid 19th cent.; earliest use found in Edinburgh Literary Journal. From Adelphi, the name of a London theatre in the vicinity of, and named after, a group of neoclassical terrace houses between the Strand and the Thames, designed by the Adam brothers from ancient Greek ἀδελϕοί, plural of ἀδελϕός brother.
collodion: "A syrupy solution of nitrocellulose in a mixture of alcohol and ether, used for coating things, chiefly in surgery", Mid 19th century: from Greek kollōdēs 'glue-like', from kolla 'glue'.
xenology: "(Chiefly in science fiction) the scientific study of alien biology, cultures, etc", 1950s: from Greek xenos 'stranger, foreigner', (adjective) 'strange'.
sexagenary: " Mathematics . Involving or based on the number 60; = sexagesimal. Now chiefly in sexagenary cycle", Late 16th cent.; earliest use found in Thomas Blundeville (fl. 1561), author and translator. From classical Latin sexāgēnārius that contains, or is identified in some way by, the number sixty, sixty years old, in post-classical Latin also sixtyfold (3rd cent.) from sexāgēnī sixty each (from sexāgintā sixty (from sex six + -ā- (after quadrāgintā forty) + -gintā, suffix forming cardinal numerals from thirty to ninety, related to decem ten: see decem-) + -ēnī, suffix forming distributive adjectives, after e.g. sēnī six apiece, six at a time, six) + -ārius.
altarage: "The revenue arising from an altar in the form of oblations, offerings, etc.; the right to collect and retain this as income. Also as a count noun (chiefly in plural): an income or revenue so derived", Late Middle English; earliest use found in John Wyclif (d. 1384), theologian, philosopher, and religious reformer. From altar + -age, after Anglo-Norman auterage and Middle French autelage or post-classical Latin altaragium, alteragium, altelagium, altilagium.