quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- bath (n.)




- Old English bæð "immersing in water, mud, etc.," also "quantity of water, etc., for bathing," from Proto-Germanic *batham (cognates: Old Norse bað, Middle Dutch bat, German bad), from PIE root *bhe- "to warm" (see fever) + Germanic *-thuz suffix indicating "act, process, condition" (as in birth, death). Original sense was of heating, not immersing in water. The city in Somerset, England (Old English Baðun) was so called from its hot springs. Bath salts attested from 1875 (Dr. Julius Braun, "On the Curative Effects of Baths and Waters").
- Emmaus




- Biblical town (Luke xxiv:13), from Aramaic hammat "hot spring."
- geyser (n.)




- 1780, extended from Icelandic Geysir, name of a specific hot spring in the valley of Haukadal, literally "the gusher," from Old Norse geysa "to gush," from Proto-Germanic *gausjan, suffixed form of PIE *gheus-, extended form of the root *gheu- "to pour" (see found (v.2)). Taken by foreign writers as the generic name for spouting hot springs, for which the native Icelandic words are hverr "a cauldron," laug "a hot bath."
- lye (n.)




- Old English læg, leag "lye," from Proto-Germanic *laugo (cognates: Middle Dutch loghe, Dutch loog, Old High German louga, German Lauge "lye"), from PIE root *leue- "to wash" (see lave). The substance was formerly used in place of soap, hence Old High German luhhen "to wash," Old Norse laug "hot bath, hot spring," Danish lørdag, Swedish lördag "Saturday," literally "washing-day." Chamber-lye in early Modern English was the name for urine used as a detergent.
- Reykjavik




- capital of Iceland, literally "bay of smoke," from Old Norse reykja "to smoke" (see reek (n.)) + vik "bay" (see viking). So called from the natural hot springs there. Settlement said to date from 9c., but not established as a town until 1786.
- thermal (adj.)




- 1756, "having to do with hot springs," from French thermal (Buffon), from Greek therme "heat, feverish heat," from PIE *gwher- "to heat, warm" (cognates: Latin fornax "an oven, kiln," formus "warm," Old English wearm; see warm (adj.)). Sense of "having to do with heat" is first recorded 1837. The noun meaning "rising current of relatively warm air" is recorded from 1933.
- bath chair




- "A kind of wheelchair for invalids, typically with a hood", Early 19th century: named after the city of Bath, which attracted many invalids because of the supposed curative powers of its hot springs.