英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

atlas [atlas 词源字典]: atlas: [16] In Greek mythology, Atlas was a Titan who as a punishment for rebelling against the gods was forced to carry the heavens on his shoulders. Hence when the term was first used in English it was applied to a ‘supporter’: ‘I dare commend him to all that know him, as the Atlas of Poetry’, Thomas Nashe on Robert Greene’s Menaphon 1589. In the 16th century it was common to include a picture of Atlas with his onerous burden as a frontispiece in books of maps, and from this arose the habit of referring to such books as atlases (the application is sometimes said to have arisen specifically from such a book produced in the late 16th century by the Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator (1512–94), published in England in 1636 under the title Atlas).

Atlas also gave his name to the Atlantic ocean. In ancient myth, the heavens were said to be supported on a high mountain in northwestern Africa, represented as, and now named after, the Titan Atlas. In its Greek adjectival form Atlantikós (later Latin Atlanticus) it was applied to the seas immediately to the west of Africa, and gradually to the rest of the ocean as it came within the boundaries of the known world.
=> atlantic[atlas etymology, atlas origin, 英语词源]
cappuccino: cappuccino: [20] Frothy coffee was given the name cappuccino in Italian from its supposed resemblance to the habit of Capuchin monks, which is the colour of lightly milked coffee. The Order of Friars Minor Capuchins, an independent branch of Franciscans, was founded in 1528. In emulation of St Francis they wear a pointed cowl, in Italian a cappuccio (from late Latin cappa ‘hood’, source of English cap and cape), from which the name Cappuccino ‘Capuchin’ (literally ‘little hood’) was derived.

The term Capuchin itself arrived in English in the late 16th century, and the order’s vestimentary arrangements have gifted other items of vocabulary to English, notably capuchin [18] for a woman’s cloak and hood and capuchin monkey [18] for a type of South American monkey with a tuft of hair on its head resembling a monk’s cowl.
=> cap, cape
crocodile: crocodile: [13] The crocodile gets its name from its habit of basking in the sun on sandbanks or on the shores of rivers. The word means literally ‘pebble-worm’, and it was coined in Greek from the nouns krókē ‘pebbles’ and drilos ‘worm’. The resulting Greek compound *krokódrīlos has never actually been found, for it lost its second r, giving krokódīlos, and this r reappeared and disappeared capriciously during the word’s journey through Latin and Old French to English. Middle English had it – the 13th century form was cokodrille – but in the 16th century the modern r-less form took over, based on Latin crocodīlus.
duck: duck: [OE] A duck is a bird that ‘ducks’ – as simple as that. It gets its name from its habit of diving down under the surface of the water. There is no actual record of an English verb duck until the 14th century, but it is generally assumed that an Old English verb *dūcan did exist, which would have formed the basis of the noun duck. It came from a prehistoric West Germanic verb *dukjan, which also produced German tauchen ‘dive’.

English is the only language which uses this word for the bird, although Swedish has the term dykand, literally ‘dive-duck’, which refers to the ‘diver’, a sort of large waterbird. Nor is it the original English word: the Anglo-Saxons mainly called the duck ened, a term which survived until the 15th century. This represents the main Indo-European name for the duck, which comes from an original *anə ti- and is found in Greek nessa, Latin anas, German ente, Dutch eend, Swedish and, and Russian utka.
moose: moose: [17] The moose’s name is a native American word. It comes from Natick moos, which has been linked by some with Narragansett moosu ‘he strips’, an allusion to the moose’s habit of stripping the bark from trees.
opossum: opossum: [17] Opossum comes from aposoum, a word in Virginia Algonquian meaning literally ‘white animal’. The shortened form possum is virtually contemporary with it. When referring to the animal, opossum is now the more usual term, but possum holds its own in the expression play possum ‘feign death or sleep’. Dating from the early 19th century, it alludes to the opossum’s habit of pretending to be dead when threatened.
osprey: osprey: [15] Etymologically, the osprey is simply a ‘bird of prey’. Its name comes from ospreit, the Old French descendant of Vulgar Latin *avispreda, which in turn was a conflation of Latin avis praedae ‘bird of prey’ (avis is the source of English augur, auspice, aviary, and aviation, and praeda is the ancestor of English prey).

The specific association with the ‘osprey’ came about in Old French through confusion with the coincidentally similar osfraie ‘osprey’. This meant etymologically ‘bone-breaker’. It came from Latin ossifraga, a compound formed from os ‘bone’ (source of English ossify [18]) and frangere ‘break’ (source of English fracture, fragment, etc).

It was originally applied to the lammergeier, a large vulture, in allusion to its habit of dropping its prey from a great height on to rocks beneath in order to break its bones, but was subsequently also used for the osprey.
=> aviary, prey
petrel: petrel: [17] The petrel, a gull-like seabird, is alleged to have been named after the apostle Peter, supposedly inspired by the resemblance between the petrel’s habit of flying close to the surface of the sea and touching it with its feet, and Peter’s reported feat of walking on the water, as reported in Matthew 14:29 – ‘And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus’
silhouette: silhouette: [18] The term silhouette commemorates the name of the French author and politician Étienne de Silhouette (1709–67). As finance minister in the late 1750s he gained a reputation for cheeseparing, and silhouette came to be used for anything skimped. One account of the application of the word to a ‘simple cut-out picture’ is that it carries on this notion of ‘simplicity’ or ‘lack of finish’, but an alternative theory is that Silhouette himself was in the habit of making such pictures. The metaphorical use of the term for a ‘dark image against a bright background’ emerged in the mid-19th century.
spoonerism: spoonerism: [19] The term spoonerism commemorates the name of the Reverend William Spooner (1844–1930), Warden of New College, Oxford, who reputedly was in the habit of producing utterances with the initial letters of words reversed, often to comic effect (as in ‘hush my brat’ for ‘brush my hat’ or ‘scoop of boy trouts’ for ‘troop of boy scouts’)
a (2): as in twice a day, etc., from Old English an "on," in this case "on each." The sense was extended from time to measure, price, place, etc. The habit of tacking a onto a gerund (as in a-hunting we will go) died out 18c.
bankrupt (adj.): 1560s, from Italian banca rotta, literally "a broken bench," from banca "moneylender's shop," literally "bench" (see bank (n.1)) + rotta "broken, defeated, interrupted" from (and remodeled on) Latin rupta, fem. past participle of rumpere "to break" (see rupture (n.)). "[S]o called from the habit of breaking the bench of bankrupts" [Klein]. Earlier in English as a noun, "bankrupt person" (1530s).
black widow (n.): type of poisonous spider (Latrodectus mactans) in U.S. South, 1904, so called from its color and from the female's supposed habit of eating the male after mating (they are cannibalistic, but this particular behavior is rare in the wild). Sometimes also known as shoe-button spider. The name black widow is attested earlier (1830s) as a translation of a name of the "scorpion spider" of Central Asia.
cachectic (adj.): 1630s, from Latinized form of Greek kakhektikos "in a bad habit of body" (see cachexia).
chaffinch (n.): Fringilla cælebs, Old English ceaffinc, literally "chaff-finch," so called for its habit of eating waste grain among the chaff on farms. See chaff + finch.
chaise (n.): 1701, "pleasure carriage," from French chaise "chair" (15c.), dialectal variant of chaire (see chair (n.)) due to 15c.-16c. Parisian accent swapping of -r- and -s-, a habit often satirized by French writers. French chair and chaise then took respectively the senses of "high seat, throne, pulpit" and "chair, seat." Chaise lounge (1800) is corruption of French chaise longue "long chair," the second word confused in English with lounge.
cuckold (n.): mid-13c., kukewald, from Old French cucuault, from cocu (see cuckoo) + pejorative suffix -ault, of Germanic origin. So called from the female bird's alleged habit of changing mates, or her authentic habit of leaving eggs in another bird's nest.

In Modern French the identity is more obvious: Coucou for the bird and cocu for the betrayed husband. German Hahnrei (13c.), from Low German, is of obscure origin. The second element seems to be connected to words for "ardent," and suggests perhaps "sexually aggressive hen," with transferal to humans, but Kluge suggests rather a connection to words for "capon" and "castrated." Related: Cuckoldry.
ebriety (n.): "state or habit of being intoxicated," early 15c., from Latin ebrietatem (nominative ebrietas) "drunkenness, intoxication," from ebrius "drunk, full, sated with drink," which is of unknown origin. The opposite of sobriety. Related: Ebrious; ebriosity.
faineant (adj.): 1855; earlier as a noun (1610s); from French fainéant (16c.) "do-nothing," from fait, third person singular of faire "to do" (from Latin facere "to make, do;" see factitious) + néant "nothing" (compare dolce far niente). According to OED this is a French folk-etymology alteration of Old French faignant (14c.), present participle of faindre "to feign" (see feign). Applied in French to the late Merovingian kings, puppets in the hands of the palace mayors. Related: Faineance "the habit of doing nothing."
flaunt (n.): 1620s, "act or habit of flaunting," from flaunt (v.).
floccinaucinihilipilification (n.): "action or habit of estimating as worthless," in popular smarty-pants use from c. 1963; attested 1741 (in a letter by William Shenstone, published 1769), a combination of four Latin words (flocci, nauci, nihili, pilifi) all signifying "at a small price" or "for nothing," which appeared together in a rule of the well-known Eton Latin Grammar.
[F]or whatever the world might esteem in poor Somervile, I really find, upon critical enquiry, that I loved him for nothing so much as his flocci-nauci-nihili-pili-fication of money. [Shenstone, letter, 1741]
The kind of jocular formation that was possible among educated men in Britain in those days. Just so, as in praesenti, the opening words of mnemonic lines on conjugation in Lilley's 16c. Latin grammar, could stand alone as late as 19c. and be understood to mean "rudiments of Latin."
habituate (v.): "accustom, make familiar," 1520s, from Late Latin habituatus, past participle of habituare "to bring into a condition or habit of the body," from habitus "condition, appearance, dress" (see habit (n.)). Related: Habituated; habituating.
habituation (n.): mid-15c., "action of forming a habit; customary practice," from Medieval Latin habituationem (nominative habituatio), noun of action from past participle stem of habituare "bring into a condition or habit of the body" (see habituate (v.)). Meaning "condition of being habituated" is from 1816.
ideation (n.): 1829; see idea + -ation. Related: Ideational.
As we say Sensation, we might say also, Ideation; it would be a very useful word; and there is no objection to it, except the pedantic habit of decrying a new term. [James Mill, "Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind," London, 1829]
Indian: "inhabit of India or South Asia," c. 1300 (noun and adjective); applied to the native inhabitants of the Americas from at least 1553, on the mistaken notion that America was the eastern end of Asia. Red Indian, to distinguish them from inhabitants of India, is first attested 1831 (Carlyle) but was not commonly used in North America. More than 500 modern phrases include Indian, most of them U.S. and most impugning honesty or intelligence, such as Indian giver, first attested 1765 in Indian gift:
An Indian gift is a proverbial expression, signifying a present for which an equivalent return is expected. [Thomas Hutchinson, "History of Massachusetts Bay," 1765]
Meaning "one who gives a gift and then asks for it back" first attested 1892.
its: neuter possessive pronoun; the modern word begins to appear in writing at the end of 16c., from it + genitive/possessive ending 's (q.v.), and "at first commonly written it's, a spelling retained by some to the beginning of the 19c." [OED]. The apostrophe came to be omitted, perhaps because it's already was established as a contraction of it is, or by general habit of omitting apostrophes in personal pronouns (hers, yours, theirs, etc.).

The neuter genitive pronoun in Middle English was his, but the clash between grammatical gender and sexual gender, or else the application of the word to both human and non-human subjects, evidently made users uncomfortable. Restriction of his to the masculine and avoidance of it as a neuter pronoun is evidenced in Middle English, and of it and thereof (as in KJV) were used for the neuter possessive. Also, from c. 1300, simple it was used as a neuter possessive pronoun. But in literary use, his as a neuter pronoun continued into the 17c.
joiner (n.): early 14c. (late 12c. as a surname), joynour "maker of furniture, small boxes, etc.," from Old French joigneor "joiner, carpenter," agent noun from joindre "to join" (see join). A craftsman who did lighter and more ornamental work than a carpenter. Meaning "one who makes a habit of joining" (societies, clubs, etc.) is from 1890. Related: Joinery.
lesser (adj.): early 13c., a double comparative, from less + -er (2). Johnson calls it "a barbarous corruption of less, formed by the vulgar from the habit of terminating comparatives in -er." As an adverb from 1590s; now generally poetic or obsolete except in expression lesser-known (1813).
luxury (n.): c. 1300, "sexual intercourse;" mid-14c., "lasciviousness, sinful self-indulgence," from Old French luxurie "debauchery, dissoluteness, lust" (Modern French luxure), from Latin luxuria "excess, luxury, extravagance, profusion; delicacy" (source also of Spanish lujuria, Italian lussuria), from luxus "excess, extravagance, magnificence," probably a figurative use of luxus (adj.) "dislocated," which is related to luctari "wrestle, strain" (see reluctance).

Meaning "sensual pleasure" is late 14c. Lost its pejorative taint 17c. Meaning "habit of indulgence in what is choice or costly" is from 1630s; that of "sumptuous surroundings" is from 1704; that of "something enjoyable or comfortable beyond life's necessities" is from 1780. Used as an adjective from 1916.
-ment: suffix forming nouns, originally from French and representing Latin -mentum, which was added to verb stems sometimes to represent the result or product of the action. French inserts an -e- between the verbal root and the suffix (as in commenc-e-ment from commenc-er; with verbs in ir, -i- is inserted instead (as in sent-i-ment from sentir). Used with English verb stems from 16c. (for example merriment, which also illustrates the habit of turning -y to -i- before this suffix).
nuthatch (n.): mid-14c., probably so called from its habit of breaking open and eating nuts; from nut + second element related to hack (v.) and hatchet.
-or: word-forming element making nouns of quality, state, or condition, from Middle English -our, from Old French -our (Modern French -eur), from Latin -orem (nominative -or), a suffix added to pp. verbal stems. Also in some cases from Latin -atorem (nominative -ator).

In U.S., via Noah Webster, -or is nearly universal (but not in glamour, curious, generous), while in Britain -our is used in most cases (but with many exceptions: author, error, senator, ancestor, horror etc.). The -our form predominated after c. 1300, but Mencken reports that the first three folios of Shakespeare's plays used both spellings indiscriminately and with equal frequency; only in the Fourth Folio of 1685 does -our become consistent.

A partial revival of -or on the Latin model took place from 16c. (governour began to lose its -u- 16c. and it was gone by 19c.), and also among phonetic spellers in both England and America (John Wesley wrote that -or was "a fashionable impropriety" in England in 1791).

Webster criticized the habit of deleting -u- in -our words in his first speller ("A Grammatical Institute of the English Language," commonly called the Blue-Black Speller) in 1783. His own deletion of the -u- began with the revision of 1804, and was enshrined in the influential "Comprehensive Dictionary of the English Language" (1806), which also established in the U.S. -ic for British -ick and -er for -re, along with many other attempts at reformed spelling which never caught on (such as masheen for machine). His attempt to justify them on the grounds of etymology and the custom of great writers does not hold up.

Fowler notes the British drop the -u- when forming adjectives ending in -orous (humorous) and derivatives in -ation and -ize, in which cases the Latin origin is respected (such as vaporize). When the Americans began to consistently spell it one way, however, the British reflexively hardened their insistence on the other. "The American abolition of -our in such words as honour and favour has probably retarded rather than quickened English progress in the same direction." [Fowler]
ostrich (n.): early 13c., from Old French ostruce "ostrich" (Modern French autruche) and Medieval Latin ostrica, ostrigius, all from Vulgar Latin avis struthio, from Latin avis "bird" (see aviary) + Late Latin struthio "ostrich," from Greek strouthion "ostrich," from strouthos megale "big sparrow," perhaps from PIE *trozdo- "thrush" (see thrush (n.1)). The Greeks also knew the bird as strouthokamelos "camel-sparrow," for its long neck. Among its proverbial peculiarities are indiscriminate voracity (especially a habit of swallowing iron and stone to aid digestion), want of regard for its eggs, and a tendency to hide its head in the sand when pursued.
Like the Austridge, who hiding her little head, supposeth her great body obscured. [1623, recorded in OED]
Ostriches do put their heads in the sand, but ostrich farmers say they do this in search of something to eat.
pack-rat (n.): common name for the North American bushytailed woodrat (Neotoma cinerea) 1885, from pack (v.); so called from the rodents' habit of dragging objects off to their holes. Used figuratively or allusively from c. 1850 of persons who won't discard anything, which means either the rat's name is older than the record or the human sense is the original one.
pangolin (n.): 1774, "scaly toothless mammal of Java," from Malay peng-goling "roller," from its habit of curling into a ball; from peng- (denominative prefix) + goling "to roll." Later extended to related species in Asia and Africa.
pettish (adj.): 1550s, "impetuous," evidently from pet (n.2) in its "ill humor" sense + -ish. Meaning "peevish, easily annoyed" is from 1590s.
It has naturally been assoc. with PET sb.1, as being a characteristic habit of a "pet" or indulged and spoiled child; but the connexion of sense is not very clear or simple .... [OED]
Related: Pettishly; pettishness.
pie (n.1): "pastry," mid-14c. (probably older; piehus "bakery" is attested from late 12c.), from Medieval Latin pie "meat or fish enclosed in pastry" (c. 1300), perhaps related to Medieval Latin pia "pie, pastry," also possibly connected with pica "magpie" (see pie (n.2)) on notion of the bird's habit of collecting miscellaneous objects. Figurative of "something to be shared out" by 1967.

According to OED, not known outside English, except Gaelic pighe, which is from English. In the Middle Ages, a pie had many ingredients, a pastry but one. Fruit pies began to appear c. 1600. Figurative sense of "something easy" is from 1889. Pie-eyed "drunk" is from 1904. Phrase pie in the sky is 1911, from Joe Hill's Wobbly parody of hymns. Pieman is not attested earlier than the nursery rhyme "Simple Simon" (c. 1820). Pie chart is from 1922.
recidivism (n.): "habit of relapsing" (into crime), 1882, from recidivist + -ism, modeled on French récidivisme, from récidiver.
redemption (n.): mid-14c., "deliverance from sin," from Old French redemcion (12c.) and directly from Latin redemptionem (nominative redemptio) "a buying back, releasing, ransoming" (also "bribery"), noun of action from past participle stem of redimere "to redeem, buy back," from red- "back" (see re-) + emere "to take, buy, gain, procure" (see exempt). The -d- is from the Old Latin habit of using red- as the form of re- before vowels. In the Mercian hymns, Latin redemptionem is glossed by Old English alesnisse.
reserve (n.): "something stored up," 1610s, from reserve (v.) or from French réserve, a Middle French back-formation from reserver. Meaning "self-imposed restraint on freedom of words or actions; habit of keeping back the feelings" is from 1650s.
sedentary (adj.): 1590s, "remaining in one place," from Middle French sédentaire (16c.) and directly from Latin sedentarius "sitting, remaining in one place," from sedentem (nominative sedens), present participle of sedere "to sit; occupy an official seat, preside; sit still, remain; be fixed or settled," from PIE root *sed- (1) "to sit" (cognates: Sanskrit a-sadat "sat down," sidati "sits;" Old Persian hadis "abode;" Greek ezesthai "to sit," hedra "seat, chair, face of a geometric solid;" Old Irish suide "seat, sitting;" Welsh sedd "seat," eistedd "sitting;" Old Church Slavonic sežda, sedeti "to sit;" Lithuanian sedmi "to sit;" Russian sad "garden," Lithuanian soditi "to plant;" Gothic sitan, Old English sittan "to sit;" see sit). Of persons, the sense "not in the habit of exercise" is recorded from 1660s.
slur (n.): "deliberate slight, disparaging or slighting remark," c. 1600, from dialectal slur "thin or fluid mud," from Middle English slore (mid-15c.), cognate with Middle Low German sluren, Middle Dutch sloren "to trail in mud." Related to East Frisian sluren "to go about carelessly," Norwegian slora "to be careless." Literal sense of "a mark, stain, smear" is from 1660s in English. The musical sense (1746) is from the notion of "sliding." Meaning "act or habit of slurring" in speech is from 1882.
Sufi (n.): member of a Muslim mystical order, 1650s (earlier Sufian, 1580s), from Arabic sufi, literally "man of wool" (i.e., "man wearing woolen garments," as opposed to silk), from suf "wool." According to Klein, so-called from the habit of "putting on the holy garment" (labs-as-suf) to devote oneself to mysticism. Related: Sufic.
temperament (n.): late 14c., "proportioned mixture of elements," from Latin temperamentum "proper mixture, a mixing in due proportion," from temperare "to mix" (see temper (v.)). In medieval theory, it meant a combination of qualities (hot, cold, moist, dry) that determined the nature of an organism; thus also "a combination of the four humors (sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, and melancholic) that made up a person's characteristic disposition." General sense of "habit of mind, natural disposition" is from 1821.
thee (pron.): Old English þe (accusative and dative singular of þu "thou"), from Proto-Germanic *theke (cognates: Old Frisian thi, Middle Dutch di, Old High German dih, German dich, Old Norse þik, Norwegian deg, Gothic þuk), from PIE *tege-, accusative of root *tu-, second person singular pronoun (see thou). The verb meaning "to use the pronoun 'thee' to someone" is recorded from 1662, in connection with the rise of Quakerism.

In Middle English, people began to use plural forms in all cases, at first as a sign of respect to superiors, then as a courtesy to equals. By the 1600s, the singular forms had come to represent familiarity and lack of status, and fell from use except in the case of a few dialects, notably in the north of England. People in Lancashire north of the Rossendale Forest and Yorkshire formerly were noted for use of the singular second person pronouns tha (nom.) and thee (acc.). For religious reasons (Christian equality of persons, but also justified as grammatically correct), the Quakers also retained the familiar forms.
Thou and Thee was a sore cut to proud flesh and them that sought self-honour, who, though they would say it to God and Christ, could not endure to have it said to themselves. So that we were often beaten and abused, and sometimes in danger of our lives, for using those words to some proud men, who would say, "What! you ill-bred clown, do you Thou me?" as though Christian breeding consisted in saying You to one; which is contrary to all their grammar and teaching books, by which they instructed their youth. [George Fox's journal, 1661]

While the Quakers originally adopted "thee" and "thou" on account of their grammatical correctness, they soon fell into the careless habit of using "thee," the objective, instead of "thou," the nominative. Common illustrations are: "How does thee do?" or "Will thee," etc. [George Fox Tucker, "A Quaker Home," Boston, 1891]
thrift (n.): c. 1300, "fact or condition of thriving," also "prosperity, savings," from Middle English thriven "to thrive" (see thrive), influenced by (or from) Old Norse þrift, variant of þrif "prosperity," from þrifask "to thrive." Sense of "habit of saving, economy" first recorded 1550s (thrifty in this sense is recorded from 1520s; also see spendthrift). Thrift shop attested by 1919.
truthiness (n.): "act or quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than those known to be true," a catch word popularized in this sense by U.S. comedian Stephen Colbert (b.1964), declared by American Dialect Society to be "2005 Word of the Year." It was used in 1832 in a sense "habit of telling the truth," from truthy "characterized by truth" (1800), from truth (n.) + -y (2).
V: In Middle English, -u- and -v- were used interchangeably, though with a preference for v- as the initial letter (vnder, vain, etc.) and -u- elsewhere (full, euer, etc.). The distinction into consonant and vowel identities was established in English by 1630, under influence of continental printers, but into 19c. some dictionaries and other catalogues continued to list -u- and -v- words as a single series.

No native Anglo-Saxon words begin in v- except those (vane, vat, vixen) altered by the southwestern England habit of replacing initial f- with v- (and initial s- with z-). Confusion of -v- and -w- also was a characteristic of 16c. Cockney accents.

As a Roman numeral, "five." In German rocket weapons systems of World War II, it stood for Vergeltungswaffe "reprisal weapon." V-eight as a type of motor engine is recorded from 1929 (V-engine is attested from 1909), so called for the arrangement. The V for "victory" hand sign was conceived January 1941 by Belgian politician and resistance leader Victor de Laveleye, to signify French victoire and Flemish vrijheid ("freedom"). It was broadcast into Europe by Radio België/Radio Belgique and popularized by the BBC by June 1941, from which time it became a universal allied gesture.
virtue (n.): c. 1200, vertu, "moral life and conduct; a particular moral excellence," from Anglo-French and Old French vertu "force, strength, vigor; moral strength; qualities, abilities" (10c. in Old French), from Latin virtutem (nominative virtus) "moral strength, high character, goodness; manliness; valor, bravery, courage (in war); excellence, worth," from vir "man" (see virile).
For my part I honour with the name of virtue the habit of acting in a way troublesome to oneself and useful to others. [Stendhal "de l'Amour," 1822]
Especially (in women) "chastity, sexual purity" from 1590s. Phrase by virtue of (early 13c.) preserves alternative Middle English sense of "efficacy." Wyclif Bible has virtue where KJV uses power. The seven cardinal virtues (early 14c.) were divided into the natural (justice, prudence, temperance, fortitude) and the theological (hope, faith, charity). To make a virtue of a necessity (late 14c.) translates Latin facere de necessitate virtutem [Jerome].
windhover (n.): "kestrel," 1670s, from wind (n.1) + hover; so called from the bird's habit of hovering in the wind. Among the many early names for it was windfucker (1590s).