quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- intellect
- intellect: [14] Intellect and intelligent come from the same ultimate source: Latin intelligere ‘perceive, choose between’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix inter- ‘between’ and legere ‘gather, choose, read’ (source of English lecture, legible, etc). Its past participle intellectus came to be used as a noun meaning ‘perception, comprehension’, which English acquired as intellect via Old French; while its present participle intelligēns gave English intelligent [16].
The derivative intelligentsia [20] was borrowed from Russian intelligyentsia, which in turn came via Polish inteligiencja from Latin intelligentia ‘intelligence’.
=> intelligent, lecture, legible - intellect (n.)
- late 14c. (but little used before 16c.), from Old French intellecte "intellectual capacity" (13c.), and directly from Latin intellectus "discernment, a perception, understanding," from noun use of past participle of intelligere "to understand, discern" (see intelligence).