英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

lethargy [lethargy 词源字典]: lethargy: [14] Greek léthē meant ‘oblivion’ (the Romans used it for the name of a river in Hades whose water induced forgetfulness, and its influence has also been traced in changing Latin lētum ‘death’ to lēthum, source of English lethal [17]). From it was formed the adjective léthargos, which in turn produced the noun lēthargíā, source (via Latin and Old French) of English lethargy.
=> lethal[lethargy etymology, lethargy origin, 英语词源]
mesmerize: mesmerize: [19] Franz Anton Mesmer (1734– 1815) was an Austrian doctor whose experiments with what he called ‘animal magnetism’, by which he induced a trance-like state in his subjects, are considered to be the forerunner of modern hypnotism (formerly called mesmerism [19]). The broader sense of mesmerize, ‘enthral’, dates from the early 20th century.
phlegm: phlegm: [14] Greek phlégma denoted ‘bodily fluid produced by inflammation’ (it was a derivative of phlégein ‘burn’, which went back to the same Indo-European base as produced English flagrant, flame, fulminate, and phlox [18] – in Greek literally ‘flame’). As Latin phlegma it came to be used for ‘body fluid’ in general, and was incorporated into the medieval system of bodily humours as a term for the ‘cold moist humour’, which induced sluggishness (whence the meaning of the derivative phlegmatic [16]).

This came to be associated in the late Middle Ages with ‘mucus, particularly as produced in the respiratory passage’. English acquired the word via Old French fleume as fleume, and did not revert to the latinate form until the 16th century.
=> flagrant, flame, fulminate, phlox
con (adj.): "swindling," 1889, American English, from confidence man (1849), from the many scams in which the victim is induced to hand over money as a token of confidence. Confidence with a sense of "assurance based on insufficient grounds" dates from 1590s.
hypnosis (n.): 1869, "the coming on of sleep," coined (as an alternative to hypnotism) from Greek hypnos "sleep" (see somnolence) + -osis "condition." Of an artificially induced condition, from 1880.
hypnotic (adj.): 1620s, "inducing sleep," originally used of drugs, from French hypnotique (16c.) "inclined to sleep, soporific," from Late Latin hypnoticus, from Greek hypnotikos "inclined to sleep, putting to sleep, sleepy," from hypnoun "put to sleep," from hypnos "sleep" (see somnolence). Modern sense of "pertaining to an induced trance" first recorded in English 1843, along with hypnotist, hypnotize, both coined by Dr. James Braid. Related: Hypnotical; hypnotically.
induce (v.): late 14c., "to lead by persuasions or other influences," from Latin inducere "lead into, bring in, introduce, conduct, persuade," from in- "into, in, on, upon" (see in- (2)) + ducere "to lead" (see duke (n.)). Meaning "to bring about," of concrete situations, etc., is from early 15c.; sense of "to infer by reasoning" is from 1560s. Electro-magnetic sense first recorded 1777. Related: Induced; inducing.
Sinon: name of the Greek who induced the Trojans to take the wooden horse into the city; hence "a deceiver by false tales."
space (v.): 1540s, "to make of a certain extent;" 1680s in typography; 1703 as "to arrange at set intervals," from space (n.). Meaning "to be in a state of drug-induced euphoria" is recorded from 1968. Space cadet "eccentric person disconnected with reality" (often implying an intimacy with hallucinogenic drugs) is a 1960s phrase, probably traceable to 1950s U.S. sci-fi television program "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet," which was watched by many children who dreamed of growing up to be one and succeeded. Related: Spaced; spacing.
wingding (n.): 1927, originally hobo slang, "counterfeit seizures induced to attract sympathy;" meaning "energetic celebration" first recorded 1949.
abortionism: "Originally: the practice of inducing abortion. In later use ( depreciative ): support for or advocacy for permitting induced abortion, especially as a woman's right", Mid 19th cent. From abortion + -ism. Compare slightly earlier abortionist.