英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

diet [diet 词源字典]: diet: [13] Diet comes, via Old French diete and Latin diaeta, from Greek díaita ‘mode of life’. This was used by medical writers, such as Hippocrates, in the specific sense ‘prescribed mode of life’, and hence ‘prescribed regimen of food’. It has been speculated that Latin diaeta, presumably in the yet further restricted sense ‘day’s allowance of food’, came to be associated with Latin diēs ‘day’.

This gave rise to medieval Latin diēta ‘day’s journey’, ‘day’s work’, etc, hence ‘day appointed for a meeting’, and thus ‘meeting (of legislators)’. English acquired this word (coming orthographically full circle as diet) in the 15th century, but it is now mainly used for referring to various foreign legislatures.
[diet etymology, diet origin, 英语词源]
too: too: [16] Too is historically the same word as to, but the two were not differentiated orthographically until the 16th century. The sense ‘also’ comes from the notion of addition implicit in putting something ‘to’ something else; and ‘addition’ led on to ‘excess’.
=> to
yoghurt: yoghurt: [17] It has taken a long time for yoghurt to settle down orthographically, and the process is not yet complete. It was originally acquired (from Turkish yoghurt) in the 1620s as yoghurd, and since then spellings such as yaghourt, yooghort, yughard, yohourth, and yaourt (reflecting the fact that Turkish gh is silent) have been tried. Yoghurt still vies with yogurt.
ambrotype (n.): 1855, American English, apparently from Greek ambrotos "immortal, imperishable" (see ambrosia), with second element from daguerreotype. A type of photograph on glass with lights given by silver and shades by a dark background showing through.
This invention consists in an improved process of taking photographic pictures upon glass, and also of beautifying and preserving the same, which process I have styled "ambrotype." My improved process has reference to the art of taking pictures photographically on a film of collodion upon the surface of a sheet of glass, the collodion being suitably prepared for the purpose. By the use of the said process, the beauty and permanency of such pictures are greatly increased, and I have on this account styled the process "ambrotype," from the Greek word ambrotos, immortal. ["Specification of the Patent granted to James A. Cutting, of Boston, in the United States of America, Photographer, for an Improved Process of taking Photographic Pictures upon Glass and also of Beautifying and Preserving the same. Dated London, July 26, 1854," printed in "Journal of the Franklin Institute," September 1855]
biographical (adj.): 1738; see biography + -ical. Related: Biographically.
demographic (adj.): 1891, from demography + -ic. As a noun, by 1998, short for demographic group or category. Related: Demographical; demographically.
geographical (adj.): "pertaining to geography," 1550s, from Late Latin geographicus (from Greek geographikos, from geographia; see geography) + -al (1). Related: Geographically.
graphic (adj.): "vivid, describing accurately ," 1660s (graphically "vividly" is from 1570s), from Latin graphicus "picturesque," from Greek graphikos "of or for writing, belonging to drawing, picturesque," from graphe "writing, drawing," from graphein "to write" (see -graphy). Meaning "pertaining to drawing" is from 1756. Meaning "pertaining to the use of diagrams" is from 1866. Related: Graphically. Graphic design is attested by 1956. Graphic equalizer is from 1969.
logogram (n.): "sign or character representing a word," 1840, from Greek logos (see logos) + -gram. Generically, "any symbol representing graphically a product, idea, etc." is from 1966. The earliest use of the word (1820) is in the sense "logograph," but OED explains this as a substitute "for logograph, which in this sense is itself a mistake for logogriph."
Netherlands: from Dutch Nederland, literally "lower land" (see nether); said to have been used by the Austrians (who ruled much of the southern part of the Low Countries from 1713 to 1795), by way of contrast to the mountains they knew, but the name is older than this. The Netherlands formerly included Flanders and thus were equivalent geographically and etymologically to the Low Countries. Related: Netherlander; Netherlandish (c. 1600).
orthographic (adj.): 1660s, from orthography + -ic. Related: Orthographically.
photographic (adj.): 1839, from photograph + -ic. Photographic memory is from 1940. Related: Photographical; photographically.
telegraphic (adj.): 1794, originally of semaphor, etc.; from telegraph (n.) + -ic. Electric telegraph sense is from 1823. Related: Telegraphically.
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).
topography (n.): early 15c., "description of a place," from Late Latin topographia, from Greek topographia "a description of a place," from topos "place" (see topos) + -graphia (see -graphy). Meaning "collective features of a region" is from 1847. Related: Topographic; topographical; topographically.
typographical (adj.): "pertaining to typography," 1590s, from typography + -ical. Related: Typographically.
reperforator: "A machine which perforates paper tape in accordance with telegraphically received signals or computer output; a machine for producing a copy of a perforated tape", Early 20th cent. From re- + perforator.
allopatric speciation: "The evolution of one or more new species from an ancestral species that becomes split into geographically separate populations which diverge genetically over a period of time", 1940s; earliest use found in American Naturalist.