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chant [chant 词源字典]: chant: [14] The Latin verb for ‘sing’ was canere (possibly related to English hen). A form derived from it to denote repeated action was cantāre ‘keep on singing’, a rich source of English words. From its French descendant chanter we have chant and the derived chantry [14]; from Italian, cantata [18], originally a past participle; and from the Latin noun cantus ‘song’ the derivatives accent, descant, and canticle [13], as well as (via Italian) canto [16]. Cant ‘hypocritical talk’ is probably from the same source, and shanty or chanty ‘sailor’s song’ is also related.
=> accent, cant, cantata, canto, chanty, descant, hen, incantation, recant[chant etymology, chant origin, 英语词源]
elephant: elephant: [13] Elephants were named from their tusks. Greek eléphās (probably a borrowing from a non-Indo-European language) meant originally ‘ivory’ (hence chryselephantine ‘of gold and ivory’ [19]). Only later did it come to denote the animal itself, and it passed in this sense into Latin as elephantus. By post-classical times this had become *olifantus, and it is a measure of the unfamiliarity of the beast in northern Europe in the first millenium AD that when Old English acquired the word, as olfend, it was used for the ‘camel’.

Old French also had olifant (referring to the ‘elephant’ this time) and passed it on to English as olifaunt. It was not until the 14th century that, under the influence of the classical Latin form, this began to change to elephant. In the 16th and 17th centuries there was a learned revival of the sense ‘ivory’: Alexander Pope, for instance, in his translation of the Odyssey 1725, refers to ‘the handle … with steel and polish’d elephant adorn’d’.

The notion of the white elephant as ‘something unwanted’ arose apparently from the practice of the kings of Siam presenting courtiers who had incurred their displeasure with real white elephants, the cost of whose proper upkeep was ruinously high.
merchant: merchant: [13] Latin merx denoted ‘goods for sale’. From it was derived the verb mercārī ‘trade’ (whose past participle was the source of English market). Mercārī was adapted in Vulgar Latin to mercātāre, whose present participle mercātāns produced the Old French noun marcheant ‘trader’, source of English merchant. Merchandise [13] comes from a derivative of marcheant; and other English descendants of Latin merx are commerce and mercury.
=> commerce, market, mercury
penchant: penchant: see pendulum
phantom: phantom: [13] Like fancy and fantasy, phantom goes back ultimately to the Greek verb phantázein ‘make visible’, a derivative of phaínein ‘show’ (source also of English diaphanous and phenomenon [17]). From phantázein was derived the noun phántasma ‘apparition, spectre’, which passed into Latin as phantasma. This reached English in two separate forms: as phantom, via Old French fantosme; and as phantasm [13], via Old French fantasme. The latter formed the basis of the fanciful coinage (originally French) phantasmagoria [19]. Other related English words are emphasis and pant.
=> diaphanous, emphasis, pant, phase, phenomenon
shanty: shanty: English has two distinct words shanty. The older, ‘shack’ [19], originated in America, and the fact that to begin with it was mainly used for the houses of Irish immigrants suggests that it may have come from Irish sean tig ‘old house’. Shanty ‘sailor’s song’ [19] probably comes from chantez, the imperative plural of French chanter ‘sing’.
=> canto, chant
sycophant: sycophant: [16] Sycophants are etymologically ‘fig-showers’. The word comes via Latin sychophanta from Greek súkophántēs, a compound formed from súkon ‘fig’ and -phántēs ‘shower’, a derivative of phaínein ‘show’ (source of English fancy, phantom, etc). Súkon (which probably came from a Semitic source that also produced Latin ficus ‘fig’, source of English fig) was used metaphorically for ‘cunt’, and hence for an ‘indecent gesture made by putting the thumb into the mouth or between two fingers’.

People who grassed on criminals were said to ‘show them the fig’ – ‘show them two fingers’, as it might be expressed in modern English. And so the term súkophántēs came to be used for an ‘informer’, and eventually, via ‘one who ingratiates himself by informing’, for a ‘flatterer’ or ‘toady’.
=> fancy, phantom, sycamore
white elephant: white elephant: see elephant
Ashanti (n.): 1705, Asiantines, one of the Akan people of central Ghana; native name. As a language, it is part of the Niger-Congo family.
chant (v.): late 14c., from Old French chanter "to sing, celebrate" (12c.), from Latin cantare "to sing," originally frequentative of canere "sing" (which it replaced), from PIE root *kan- "to sing" (cognates: Greek eikanos "cock," Old English hana "cock," both literally "bird who sings for sunrise;" Old Irish caniaid "sings," Welsh canu "sing"). The frequentative quality of the word was no longer felt in Latin, and by the time French emerged the word had entirely displaced canere. Related: Chanted; chanting.
chant (n.): 1670s, from chant (v.), or else from French chant (12c.), from Latin cantus "song, a singing; bird-song," from past participle stem of canere.
chanter (n.): "singer, composer," late 14c., from Old French chanteor (Modern French chanteur), from Latin cantorem "singer," from cantare "to sing" (see chant (v.)).
chanteuse (n.): "female singer of popular songs," 1888, from French chanteuse (16c.), fem. agent noun of chanter "to sing" (see chant (v.)). In Old French, the word was chanteresse.
chanticleer (n.): "a cock," c. 1300, from Old French Chantecler "sing-loud" (Modern French Chanteclair), name of the cock in medieval stories of Reynard the Fox; from chanter "to sing" (see chant (v.)) + cler (see clear (adj.)).
Chantilly: town in France near Paris; as a kind of porcelain made there, 1774; in reference to a delicate lace originally made there, 1831. The place name is Medieval Latin Chantileium, from the Gallo-Roman personal name Cantilius.
chanty (n.): 1856, also shanty, chantey; probably an alteration of French chanter "to sing" (see chant (v.)); perhaps from French chantez, imperative of chanter.
chryselephantine (adj.): "overlaid with gold and ivory," 1816, probably via German, from Latinized form of Greek khryselephantinos, from khrysos "gold" (see chrysalis) + elephantinos "made of ivory," from elephans (genitive elephantos) "elephant; ivory" (see elephant).
cryselephantine (adj.): 1827, from Greek khryselephantinos "of gold and ivory," applied to statues overlaid with gold and ivory, such as Athene Parthenos and Olympian Zeus.
disenchant (v.): 1580s, from Middle French desenchanter (13c.), from des- (see dis-) + enchanter "to enchant" (see enchant). Related: Disenchanted; disenchanting; disenchantment. Carlyle coined disenchantress (1831).
elephant (n.): c. 1300, olyfaunt, from Old French olifant (12c., Modern French éléphant), from Latin elephantus, from Greek elephas (genitive elephantos) "elephant; ivory," probably from a non-Indo-European language, likely via Phoenician (compare Hamitic elu "elephant," source of the word for it in many Semitic languages, or possibly from Sanskrit ibhah "elephant").

Re-spelled after 1550 on Latin model. Cognate with the common term for the animal in Romanic and Germanic; Slavic words (for example Polish slon', Russian slonu are from a different word. Old English had it as elpend, and compare elpendban, elpentoð "ivory," but a confusion of exotic animals led to olfend "camel."

As an emblem of the Republican Party in U.S. politics, 1860. To see the elephant "be acquainted with life, gain knowledge by experience" is an American English colloquialism from 1835. The elephant joke was popular 1960s-70s.
elephantiasis (n.): 1580s, from Greek elephantos, genitive of elephas "elephant" (see elephant) + -iasis "pathological or morbid condition." It refers to two diseases, one characterized by thickening of a body part (E. Arabum), the other, older meaning is "disease characterized by skin resembling an elephant's" (E. Græcorum, also called Egyptian leprosy). In Middle English, elephancy (late 14c.).
elephantine (adj.): 1620s, "huge," from Latin elephantinus "pertaining to the elephant," from elephantus (see elephant). Meaning "pertaining to elephants" is from 1670s. Earlier adjective was elephantic (1590s).
enchant (v.): late 14c., literal and figurative, from Old French enchanter "bewitch, charm, cast a spell" (12c.), from Latin incantare "to enchant, fix a spell upon" (see enchantment). Or perhaps a back-formation from enchantment.
enchanted (adj.): "delighted," 1590s, past participle adjective from enchant (v.).
enchanter (n.): late 13c., agent noun from enchant, or from Old French enchanteor "magician; singer; mountebank," from Latin incantator.
enchanting (adj.): 1590s, "having magical power," present participle adjective from enchant (v.). Meaning "bewitched" is from 1712. Related: Enchantingly.
enchantment (n.): c. 1300, "act of magic or witchcraft; use of magic; magic power," from Old French encantement "magical spell; song, concert, chorus," from enchanter "bewitch, charm," from Latin incantare "enchant, cast a (magic) spell upon," from in- "upon, into" (see in- (2)) + cantare "to sing" (see chant (v.)). Figurative sense of "allurement" is from 1670s. Compare Old English galdor "song," also "spell, enchantment," from galan "to sing," which also is the source of the second element in nightingale.
enchantress (n.): late 14c., "witch," from enchanter + -ess. Meaning "charming woman" is from 1713.
hierophant (n.): "expounder of sacred mysteries," 1670s, from Late Latin hierophantes, from Greek hierophantes "one who teaches the rites of sacrifice and worship," literally "one who shows sacred things," from hieros "sacred" (see ire) + phainein "to reveal, bring to light" (see phantasm). In modern use, "expounder of esoteric doctrines," from 1822.
hierophantic (adj.): 1775, from Greek herophantikos, from hierophantes (see hierophant).
merchant (n.): c. 1200, from Anglo-French marchaunt "merchant, shopkeeper" (Old French marcheant, Modern French marchand), from Vulgar Latin *mercatantem (nominative *mercatans) "a buyer," present participle of *mercatare, frequentative of Latin mercari "to trade, traffic, deal in" (see market). Meaning "fellow, chap" is from 1540s; with a specific qualifier, and suggesting someone who deals in it (such as speed merchant "one who enjoys fast driving"), from 1914.
merchant (adj.): c. 1400, from merchant (n.) and from Old French marcheant (adj.).
oliphant (n.): obsolete form of elephant, c. 1200; also used in Middle English with sense "ivory horn."
penchant (n.): 1670s, from French penchant, noun use of present participle of Old French pencher "to incline," from Vulgar Latin *pendicare, a frequentative formed from Latin pendere "to hang" (see pendant (n.)).
phantasm (n.): early 13c., fantesme, from Old French fantosme "a dream, illusion, fantasy; apparition, ghost, phantom" (12c.), and directly from Latin phantasma "an apparition, specter," from Greek phantasma "image, phantom, apparition; mere image, unreality," from phantazein "to make visible, display," from stem of phainein "to bring to light, make appear; come to light, be seen, appear; explain, expound, inform against; appear to be so," from PIE root *bha- (1) "to shine" (cognates: Sanskrit bhati "shines, glitters," Old Irish ban "white, light, ray of light"). Spelling conformed to Latin from 16c. (see ph). A spelling variant of phantom, "differentiated, but so that the differences are elusive" [Fowler].
phantasma (n.): 1590s, from Latin phantasma (see phantasm).
phantasmagoria (n.): 1802, name of a "magic lantern" exhibition brought to London in 1802 by Parisian showman Paul de Philipstal, the name an alteration of French phantasmagorie, said to have been coined 1801 by French dramatist Louis-Sébastien Mercier as though to mean "crowd of phantoms," from Greek phantasma "image, phantom, apparition" (see phantasm) + second element probably a French form of Greek agora "assembly" (but this may have been chosen more for the dramatic sound than any literal sense). Transferred meaning "shifting scene of many elements" is attested from 1822. Related: Phantasmagorical.
phantasmal (adj.): 1813, from phantasm + -al (1). Related: Phantasmally.
phantom (n.): c. 1300, fantum "illusion, unreality," from Old French fantosme (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *fantauma, from Latin phantasma "an apparition" (see phantasm). The ph- was restored in English late 16c. (see ph). Meaning "specter, spirit, ghost" is attested from late 14c.; that of "something having the form, but not the substance, of a real thing" is from 1707. As an adjective from early 15c.
shantung (n.): type of coarse silk, 1882, from Shantung province, in China, where the fabric was made. The place name is "east of the mountain," from shan (mountain) + dong (east). The mountain in question is Tan Shan. West of it is Shansi, from xi "west."
shanty (n.1): "rough cabin," 1820, from Canadian French chantier "lumberjack's headquarters," in French, "timberyard, dock," from Old French chantier "gantry," from Latin cantherius "rafter, frame" (see gantry). Shanty Irish in reference to the Irish underclass in the U.S., is from 1928 (title of a book by Jim Tully).
shanty (n.2): "sea song," 1867, alternative spelling of chanty (n.).
shantytown (n.): also shanty town, 1836, from shanty (n.1) + town.
sycophant (n.): 1530s (in Latin form sycophanta), "informer, talebearer, slanderer," from Middle French sycophante and directly from Latin sycophanta, from Greek sykophantes "false accuser, slanderer," literally "one who shows the fig," from sykon "fig" (see fig) + phainein "to show" (see phantasm). "Showing the fig" was a vulgar gesture made by sticking the thumb between two fingers, a display which vaguely resembles a fig, itself symbolic of a vagina (sykon also meant "vulva"). The modern accepted explanation is that prominent politicians in ancient Greece held aloof from such inflammatory gestures, but privately urged their followers to taunt their opponents. The sense of "mean, servile flatterer" is first recorded in English 1570s.
The explanation, long current, that it orig. meant an informer against the unlawful exportation of figs cannot be substantiated. [OED]
sycophantic (adj.): 1670s, from Greek sykophantikos, from sykophantes (see sycophant). Related: Sycophantical (1560s).
tam-o'-shanter (n.): c. 1840, type of bonnet formerly worn by Scottish plowmen, from Tam O'Shanter "Tom of Shanter," name of hero in a poem of the same name by Robert Burns, written 1790. The woolen cap became fashionable for ladies c. 1887.
trenchant (adj.): early 14c., "cutting, sharp," from Old French trenchant "cutting, sharp" (literal and figurative), present participle of trenchier "to cut" (see trench). Figurative sense in English is from c. 1600.
triumphant (adj.): early 15c., from Latin triumphantem (nominative triumphans), present participle of triumphare (see triumph (n.)). Related: Triumphantly.
trochanter (n.): 1610s as a part of the thigh-bone, from French trochanter (16c.), from Greek trokhanter (Galen), from trekhein "to run" (see truckle (n.)). From 1816 as the second joint of an insect leg.
white elephant (n.): "burdensome charge, inconvenient thing that one does not know how to get rid of," 1851, supposedly from the practice of the King of Siam of presenting one of the sacred albino elephants to a courtier who had fallen from favor; the gift was a great honor, but the proper upkeep of one was ruinously expensive.