quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- ampere



[ampere 词源字典] - ampere: [19] This international term for a unit of electrical current derives from the name of André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836), the French physicist and mathematician. It was officially adopted by the Congrès Électrique in Paris in 1881. Ampère himself is best remembered for first making the distinction between electrical current and voltage, and for explaining magnetism in terms of electrical currents. The term ammeter ‘current-measuring device’ [19] was based on ampere.
[ampere etymology, ampere origin, 英语词源] - anachronism




- anachronism: [17] The Greek prefix anameant ‘up’, and hence, in terms of time, ‘back’; Greek khrónos meant ‘time’ (as in English chronicle): hence Greek anakhronismós ‘reference to a wrong time’. From the point of view of its derivation it should strictly be applied to the representation of something as happening earlier than it really did (as if Christ were painted wearing a wristwatch), but in practice, ever since the Greek term’s adoption into English, it has also been used for things surviving beyond their due time.
=> chronicle - effrontery




- effrontery: [18] The notion of ‘audacity’ or ‘impudence’ is often expressed in terms of ‘exposing or pushing forward the face’: a ‘barefaced lie’ or ‘putting on a bold front’, for instance. And effrontery is no exception. It comes ultimately from late Latin effrōns ‘barefaced, shameless’, a compound adjective formed from the prefix ex- ‘out of’ and frōns ‘forehead’ (source of English front).
This seems subsequently to have been reformulated along the lines of its original components, giving Vulgar Latin *exfrontātus, source of Old French esfronte. This in turn developed to French effronté, whose derived noun effronterie was acquired by English as effrontery.
=> front - fat




- fat: [OE] Fat is one of a large Indo-European family of words denoting the substance ‘fat’ or its consequences in terms of obesity – the probably related Greek pímelē and Latin pinguis, for instance, signified respectively ‘lard’ and ‘fat’. The Germanic members of the family, which include German fett, Dutch vet, and Swedish fet as well as English fat, go back to a prehistoric Germanic *faitaz.
- guillotine




- guillotine: [18] Joseph Ignace Guillotin (1738– 1814), a French doctor, did not invent the device named after him – such contraptions had been around for some time – but it was he who saw the advantages, in terms of speed and efficiency, of an easily resettable blade for beheading in a time of peak demand, and he recommended it to the Revolutionary authorities. The term used for it, first recorded in English in 1793, is a fitting memorial to him. Its application to the limitation of discussion in a legislature dates from the 1890s.
- England (n.)




- Old English Engla land, literally "the land of the Angles" (see English (n.1)), used alongside Angelcynn "the English race," which, with other forms, shows Anglo-Saxon persistence in thinking in terms of tribes rather than place. By late Old English times both words had come to be used with a clear sense of place, not people; a Dane, Canute, is first to call himself "King of England." By the 14c. the name was being used in reference to the entire island of Great Britain and to the land of the Celtic Britons before the Anglo-Saxon conquest. The loss of one of the duplicate syllables is a case of haplology.
- entropy (n.)




- 1868, from German Entropie "measure of the disorder of a system," coined 1865 (on analogy of Energie) by German physicist Rudolph Clausius (1822-1888), in his work on the laws of thermodynamics, from Greek entropia "a turning toward," from en "in" (see en- (2)) + trope "a turning, a transformation" (see trope). The notion is supposed to be "transformation contents." Related: Entropic.
It was not until 1865 that Clausius invented the word entropy as a suitable name for what he had been calling "the transformational content of the body." The new word made it possible to state the second law in the brief but portentous form: "The entropy of the universe tends toward a maximum," but Clausius did not view entropy as the basic concept for understanding that law. He preferred to express the physical meaning of the second law in terms of the concept of disgregation, another word that he coined, a concept that never became part of the accepted structure of thermodynamics. [Martin J. Klein, "The Scientific Style of Josiah Willard Gibbs," in "A Century of Nathematics in America," 1989]
- equal (adj.)




- late 14c., "identical in amount, extent, or portion;" early 15c., "even or smooth of surface," from Latin aequalis "uniform, identical, equal," from aequus "level, even, flat; as tall as, on a level with; friendly, kind, just, fair, equitable, impartial; proportionate; calm, tranquil," which is of unknown origin. Parallel formation egal (from Old French egal) was in use late 14c.-17c. Equal rights is from 1752; by 1854, American English, in relation to men and women. Equal opportunity (adj.) in terms of hiring, etc. is recorded by 1925.
- mamma (n.)




- 1570s, representing the native form of the reduplication of *ma- that is nearly universal among the Indo-European languages (Greek mamme "mother, grandmother," Latin mamma, Persian mama, Russian and Lithuanian mama "mother," German Muhme "mother's sister," French maman, Welsh mam "mother"). Probably a natural sound in baby-talk, perhaps imitative of sound made while sucking.
Its late appearance in English is curious, but Middle English had mome (mid-13c.) "an aunt; an old woman," also an affectionate term of address for an older woman. In educated usage, the stress is always on the last syllable. In terms of recorded usage of related words in English, mama is from 1707, mum is from 1823, mummy in this sense from 1839, mommy 1844, momma 1852, and mom 1867. - par (n.)




- 1620s, "equality," also "value of one currency in terms of another," from Latin par "equal, equal-sized, well-matched," also as a noun, "that which is equal, equality," of unknown origin. Watkins suggests perhaps from PIE root *pere- (2) "to grant, allot," with suggestion of reciprocality (see part (n.)).
Another guess connects it with PIE root *per- "to traffic in, sell" (on notion of "give equal value for"); see pornography. Meaning "average or usual amount" is first attested 1767. Golf usage is first attested 1898. Figurative use of par for the course is from 1928. - parable (n.)




- mid-13c., parabol, modern form from early 14c., "saying or story in which something is expressed in terms of something else," from Old French parable "parable, parabolic style in writing" (13c.), from Latin parabola "comparison," from Greek parabole "a comparison, parable," literally "a throwing beside," hence "a juxtaposition," from para- "alongside" (see para- (1)) + bole "a throwing, casting, beam, ray," related to ballein "to throw" (see ballistics).
Replaced Old English bispell. In Vulgar Latin, parabola took on the meaning "word," hence Italian parlare, French parler "to speak" (see parley (n.)). - term (n.)




- c. 1200, terme "limit in time, set or appointed period," from Old French terme "limit of time or place, date, appointed time, duration" (11c.), from Latin terminus "end, boundary line," in Medieval Latin "expression, definition," related to termen "boundary, end" (see terminus). Old English had termen "term, end," from Latin. Sense of "period of time during which something happens" first recorded c. 1300, especially of a school or law court session (mid-15c.).
The meaning "word or phrase used in a limited or precise sense" is first recorded late 14c., from Medieval Latin use of terminus to render Greek horos "boundary," employed in mathematics and logic. Hence in terms of "in the language or phraseology peculiar to." Meaning "completion of the period of pregnancy" is from 1844. Term-paper in U.S. educational sense is recorded from 1931. - moneywise




- "In terms of money, as far as money is concerned", Early 19th cent..
- hedonic




- "Relating to, characterized by, or considered in terms of pleasant (or unpleasant) sensations", Mid 17th century: from Greek hēdonikos, from hēdonē 'pleasure'.