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glimpse [glimpse 词源字典]: glimpse: [14] Glimpse originally meant ‘shine faintly’. It comes from the same Germanic source (*glaim-, *glim-) as produced English gleam and glimmer. The modern sense ‘see briefly’ developed in the 18th century from the noun glimpse, originally a ‘momentary or dim flash’, hence ‘faint brief appearance’, and finally ‘sight of something afforded by such an appearance’.
=> gleam, glimmer[glimpse etymology, glimpse origin, 英语词源]
glimpse (v.): c. 1400, "to glisten, be dazzling," probably from Old English *glimsian "shine faintly," part of the group of Germanic words in *gl- having to do with "smooth; shining; joyous" (see gleam (n.)). If so, the intrusive -p- would be there to ease pronunciation. From mid-15c. as "to glance with the eyes;" from 1779 as "catch a quick view." Related: Glimpsed; glimpsing.
glimpse (n.): 1530s, "faint or transient appearance," from glimpse (v.). From 1570s as "a brief and imperfect view." Earlier was the verbal noun glimpsing "imperfect vision" (late 14c.).
palimpsest (n.): "parchment from which earlier writing has been removed to clear it for new writing," 1660s, from Latin palimpsestus, from Greek palimpsestos "scraped again," from palin "again" (see palindrome) + verbal adjective of psen "to rub smooth" (of uncertain origin).