英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

act [act 词源字典]: act: [14] Act, action, active, actor all go back to Latin agere ‘do, perform’ (which is the source of a host of other English derivatives, from agent to prodigal). The past participle of this verb was āctus, from which we get act, partly through French acte, but in the main directly from Latin. The Latin agent noun, āctor, came into the language at about the same time, although at first it remained a rather uncommon word in English, with technical legal uses; it was not until the end of the 16th century that it came into its own in the theatre (player had hitherto been the usual term).

Other Latin derivatives of the past participial stem āct- were the noun āctiō, which entered English via Old French action, and the adjective āctīvus, which gave English active. See also ACTUAL.
=> action, active, agent, cogent, examine, prodigal[act etymology, act origin, 英语词源]
adjacent: adjacent: [15] Adjacent and adjective come from the same source, the Latin verb jacere ‘throw’. The intransitive form of this, jacēre, literally ‘be thrown down’, was used for ‘lie’. With the addition of the prefix ad-, here in the sense ‘near to’, was created adjacēre, ‘lie near’. Its present participial stem, adjacent-, passed, perhaps via French, into English.

The ordinary Latin transitive verb jacere, meanwhile, was transformed into adjicere by the addition of the prefix ad-; it meant literally ‘throw to’, and hence ‘add’ or ‘attribute’, and from its past participial stem, adject-, was formed the adjective adjectīvus. This was used in the phrase nomen adjectīvus ‘attributive noun’, which was a direct translation of Greek ónoma épithetos.

And when it first appeared in English (in the 14th century, via Old French adjectif) it was in noun adjective, which remained the technical term for ‘adjective’ into the 19th century. Adjective was not used as a noun in its own right until the early 16th century.
=> adjective, easy, reject
arise: arise: [OE] Arise is a compound verb with cognate forms in many other Germanic languages (Gothic, for instance, had urreisan). The prefix a- originally meant ‘away, out’, and hence was used as an intensive; rise comes from an unidentified Germanic source which some etymologists have connected with Latin rīvus ‘stream’ (source of English rivulet), on the basis of the notion of a stream ‘rising’ from a particular source.

The compound arise was in fact far commoner than the simple form rise in the Old English period, and it was only in early Middle English that rise began to take its place. This happened first in northern dialects, and may have been precipitated by Old Norse rísa. Today, it is only in the sense ‘come into existence’ that arise is commoner.
=> raise, rear, rise, rivulet
bailiff: bailiff: [13] Latin bājulus meant literally ‘carrier’ (it is probably the ultimate source of English bail in some if not all of its uses). It developed the metaphorical meaning ‘person in charge, administrator’, which passed, via the hypothetical medieval adjectival form *bājulīvus, into Old French as baillif, and hence into English.
=> bail
capture: capture: [16] Along with its relatives captive, captivity, captivate, and captor, capture is the English language’s most direct lineal descendant of Latin capere ‘take, seize’ (others include capable, case for carrying things, cater, and chase, and heave is distantly connected). First to arrive was captive [14], which was originally a verb, meaning ‘capture’; it came via Old French captiver from Latin captīvus, the past participle of capere.

Contemporary in English was the adjectival use of captive, from which the noun developed. (The now archaic caitiff [13] comes from the same ultimate source, via an altered Vulgar Latin *cactivus and Old French caitiff ‘captive’.) Next on the scene was capture, in the 16th century; originally it was only a noun, and it was not converted to verbal use until the late 18th century, when it replaced captive in this role.

Also 16th-century is captivate, from the past participle of late Latin captivāre, a derivative of captīvus; this too originally meant ‘capture’, a sense which did not die out until the 19th century: ‘The British … captivated four successive patrols’, John Neal, Brother Jonathan 1825.
=> captive, cater, chase, cop, heave
derive: derive: [14] Like rival, derive comes ultimately from Latin rīvus ‘stream’. This was used as the basis of a verb dērīvāre, formed with the prefix dē- ‘away’, which originally designated literally the ‘drawing off of water from a source’. This sense was subsequently generalized to ‘divert’, and extended figuratively to ‘derive’ (a metaphor reminiscent of spring from). English acquired the word via Old French deriver.
=> rival
divine: divine: [14] Like deity, divine comes ultimately from Indo-European *deiwos, an ancestor whose godly connotations seem to have developed from earlier associations with ‘sky’ and ‘day’, and which probably originally meant ‘shining’. Its Latin descendants included deus ‘god’ (source of English deity) and the adjective dīvus ‘godlike’ (the noun use of its feminine form, dīva, for ‘goddess’ entered English via Italian as diva ‘prima donna’ [19]).

From dīvus was derived the further adjective dīvīnus, which became Old French devin and eventually English divine. Dīvīnus was used as a noun meaning, in classical times, ‘soothsayer’ (whence, via the Latin derivative dīvīnāre, the English verb divine) and in the Middle Ages ‘theologian’ (whence the nominal use of English divine in the same sense).
=> deity
furtive: furtive: [15] Etymologically, someone who is furtive ‘carries things away like a thief’. The word comes via Old French furtif from Latin furtīvus ‘stealthy, hidden’, a derivative of furtum ‘theft’, which in turn was based on fūr ‘thief’. This was either borrowed from or related to Greek phór ‘thief’, which came ultimately from Indo-European *bher- ‘carry’ (source of English bear) and thus meant literally ‘someone who carries things off’. A ferret is etymologically a ‘furtive’ animal.
=> bear, ferret
locomotive: locomotive: [17] Locomotive denotes etymologically ‘moving by change of place’. It is an anglicization of modern Latin locōmōtīvus, a compound formed from locus ‘place’ and mōtīvus ‘causing to move’ (source of English motive). Originally it was used strictly as an adjective, and it was not until the early 19th century that the present-day noun use (which began life as an abbreviation of locomotive engine) emerged.
motor: motor: [16] The most direct English descendant of Latin movēre ‘move’ is of course move, but several more have found their way into the language via derivatives. From mōtiō ‘movement’ comes motion [15] (and its collateral forms commotion [15], emotion, and promotion [15]); from mōtīvus ‘causing to move’ come motivate [19], motive [14], and (via modern French) motif [19]; and mōtor ‘mover’ has given motor.

Originally this was used for the rather generalized notion of a ‘moving force’; the modern application to an ‘engine’ did not emerge until the mid-19th century. Also from movēre come English moment and mutiny.
=> commotion, emotion, moment, motif, motion, motive, move, mutiny, promotion
native: native: [14] Native is one of a large family of English words that go back ultimately to the Latin verb nāscī. This meant ‘be born’, and was a descendant of the Indo-European base *gen-, *gn- ‘produce’, which also gave English gene, general, generate, etc. From its past participial stem nāt- was formed the adjective nātīvus ‘from birth, born’, which has produced English native (and also, via Old French, naive [17], which is etymologically the equivalent of ‘born yesterday’), and also its derivative nativity [12] (applied from earliest times specifically to the birth of Christ).

Other English words from the same source include cognate [17], innate [15], nascent [17], natal [14], nation, nature, noel (earlier nowel [14], from an Old French descendant of Latin nātālis ‘of birth’), pregnant, puny, and renaissance [19] (literally ‘rebirth’).
=> cognate, gene, general, generate, innate, naive, nascent, nation, nature, noel, pregnant, puny, renaissance
private: private: [14] Latin prīvus meant ‘single, individual’. From it was derived the verb prīvāre, source of English deprive [14] and privation [14]. This originally meant ‘make solitary, isolate’, and although it later moved on metaphorically to ‘bereave, deprive’, its earliest sense was preserved in the adjective formed from its past participle prīvātus.

This denoted ‘belonging to the individual alone’, hence ‘not belonging or related to the state’. English has acquired the word twice: first, via Old French, as the now almost archaic privy [13], and later, directly from Latin, as private. Privilege [12] comes via Old French privilege from Latin prīvilēgium, a compound formed from prīvus and lēx ‘law’ (source of English legal) which etymologically meant ‘law affecting an individual’.
=> deprive, privilege, privy
proper: proper: [13] Proper originally meant ‘belonging to itself, particular to itself’ (a sense now defunct in English except in certain fossilized contexts, such as the astronomical term proper motion). It comes via Old French propre from Latin prōprius ‘one’s own’, which may have been a lexicalization of the phrase prō prīvō, literally ‘for the individual’ (prīvus is the source of English private). The word developed widely in meaning in Latin, but its main modern English senses, ‘correct’ and ‘morally right’, are of later evolution. Appropriate [15] goes back to a late Latin derivative.
=> appropriate, property
punish: punish: [14] Latin pūnīre ‘punish’ was derived from the noun poena ‘penalty, punishment’ (source of English pain). It passed into Old French as punir, whose stem puniss- gave English punish. A derivative of pūnīre was pūnitīvus ‘inflicting punishment’, which has given English punitive [17].
=> pain
quick: quick: [OE] Originally quick meant ‘alive’ (as in the now fossilized phrase the quick and the dead); it was not until the 13th century that the sense ‘rapid’ began to emerge. It goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *kwikwaz (which also produced Swedish kvick ‘rapid’); and this was descended from an Indo-European base *gwej-, which branched out into Latin vīvus ‘alive’ (source of English vivid), Greek bíos ‘life’ (source of English biology), Welsh byw ‘alive’, Russian zhivoj ‘alive’, etc.

The couch of couch grass [16] is a variant of the now seldom encountered quitch, whose Old English ancestor cwice may be related to quick (the allusion presumably being to its vigorous growth).
=> biology, vivid
recidivist: recidivist: [19] A recidivist – a ‘persistent offender’ – is etymologically someone who ‘falls back’. The word was borrowed from French récidiviste, a descendant of medieval Latin recidīvāre. This in turn was based on the noun recidīvus ‘falling back’, a derivative of Latin recidere ‘fall back’, which was a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back, again’ and cadere ‘fall’ (source of English cadence, case, decadent, etc).
=> cadaver, cadence, case, decadent
rest: rest: English has two words rest in current general use: ‘repose’ [OE] and ‘remainder’ [15]. The former is a general Germanic term, with relatives in German (rast) and Swedish (rast), but its ultimate antecedents are uncertain. The latter comes via Old French rester ‘remain’ from Latin restāre ‘stand back’, a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back’ and stāre ‘stand’ (source of English statue, status, etc and related to English stand).

Amongst its derivatives is restive [16], which has completely reversed its meaning over the centuries. It comes from Vulgar Latin *restīvus ‘inclined to remain, unwilling to move’, and reached English via Old French restif in the sense ‘inactive’. The modern meaning ‘restless, uneasy’ comes partly from an intermediate ‘refractory, hard to control’, but also through association with the unrelated rest ‘repose’.
=> arrest, stand, station, statue
rise: rise: [OE] Not surprisingly, rise and raise are closely related. Both go back to a common prehistoric Germanic ancestor meaning ‘go up’. This reached English directly as rise, while its causative derivative, meaning ‘cause to go up’, has given English raise, and also rear. The derived arise is of long standing. It is not clear what the word’s ultimate ancestry may be; some have linked it with Latin rīvus ‘stream’ (source of English rivulet), from the notion of a stream ‘rising’ in a particular place.
=> raise, rear
rival: rival: [16] A rival is etymologically ‘someone who uses the same stream as another’. The word comes from Latin rīvālis, a noun use of an adjective meaning ‘of a stream’, derived from rīvus ‘stream’ (source of English derive). People who use or live by the same stream are neighbours and hence, human nature being as it is, are usually in competition with each other – hence rival.
=> derive
viper: viper: [16] A viper is etymologically a creature that ‘gives birth to live young’. The word comes via Old French vipere from Latin vīpera ‘snake’. This was a contraction of an earlier *vīvipera, a compound noun formed from vīvus ‘alive’ (source of English vivacious, vivid, etc) and parere ‘give birth’ (source of English parent, parturition, etc) – in former times it was thought that snakes gave birth to live young.

Latin vīpera is also the ancestor of English wyvern ‘dragonlike creature’ [17] and possibly of weever [17], the name of a type of fish with poisonous spines; and the elements from which it was formed also of course underlie the English adjective viviparous.
=> parent, vivid, viviparous
vital: vital: [14] Vital comes via Old French vital from Latin vītālis. This was a derivative of vīta ‘life’. And vīta went back ultimately to Latin vīvus ‘living’, source of English vivacious, vivid, etc. Viable [19] is also descended from vīta, and etymologically means ‘capable of life’.
=> viable, vitamin, vivid
-ative: word-forming element meaning "of or related to; tending to," from Latin -ativus.
ablative (n.): mid-15c., from Middle French ablatif, from Latin (casus) ablativus "(case) of removal," expressing direction from a place or time, coined by Julius Caesar from ablatus "taken away," past participle of auferre "carrying away," from ab- "away" (see ab-) + irregular verb ferre (past participle latum; see oblate) "to carry, to bear" (see infer). The Latin case of adverbial relation, typically expressing the notion "away from," or the source or place of an action.
abortive (adj.): late 14c., "born prematurely or dead," from Latin abortivus "pertaining to miscarriage; causing abortion," from abort-, past participle stem of aboriri "disappear, miscarry," from ab- "amiss" (see ab-) + oriri "appear, be born, arise" (see orchestra); the compound word used in Latin for deaths, miscarriages, sunsets, etc. The Latin verb for "to produce an abortion" was abigo, literally "to drive away." Not originally used to imply forced or deliberate miscarriage; from 14c.-18c. stillborn children or domestic animals were said to be abortive. Also see abortion. Related: Abortiveness.
abusive (adj.): 1530s (implied in abusively), originally "improper," from Middle French abusif, from Latin abusivus, from abus-, past participle stem of abuti (see abuse (v.)). Meaning "full of abuse" is from 1580s. Abuseful was used 17c., and Shakespeare has abusious ("Taming of the Shrew," 1594). Related: Abusiveness.
acclivity (n.): 1610s, from Latin acclivitatem (nominative acclivitas) "an ascending direction, an upward steepness," from acclivis "mounting upwards, ascending," from ad- "up" (see ad-) + clivus "hill, a slope," from PIE *klei-wo-, suffixed form of *klei- "to lean" (see lean (v.)).
accusative (n.): grammatical case whose primary function is to express destination or goal of motion, mid-15c., from Anglo-French accusatif, Old French acusatif, or directly from Latin (casus) accusativus "(case) of accusing," from accusatus, past participle of accusare (see accuse).

Translating Greek ptosis aitiatike "case of that which is caused," on similarity of Greek aitiasthai "accuse." Greek aitia is the root of both, and means both "cause" and "accusation," hence the confusion of the Romans. A more correct translation would have been casus causativus. Typically the case of the direct object, but also sometimes denoting "motion towards." Nouns and adjectives in French, Spanish, and Italian, languages from which English has borrowed heavily, generally were formed from the accusative case of a Latin word.
active (adj.): mid-14c., "given to worldly activity" (opposed to contemplative or monastic), from Old French actif (12c.) or directly from Latin activus, from actus (see act (n.)). As "capable of acting" (opposed to passive), from late 14c. Meaning "energetic, lively" is from 1590s; that of "working, effective, in operation" is from 1640s. Active voice is recorded from 1765 (grammatical use of active dates from mid-15c.).
activity (n.): c. 1400, "active or secular life," from Old French activité, from Medieval Latin activitatem (nominative activitas), a word in Scholastic philosophy, from Latin activus (see active). Meaning "state of being active, briskness, liveliness" recorded from 1520s; that of "capacity for acting on matter" is from 1540s.
additive (adj.): 1690s, "tending to be added," from Latin additivus "added, annexed," from past participle stem of addere (see addition).
adjective: late 14c., as an adjective, "adjectival," in noun adjective, from Old French adjectif (14c.), from Latin adjectivum "that is added to (the noun)," neuter of adjectivus "added," from past participle of adicere "to throw or place (a thing) near," from ad- "to" (see ad-) + comb. form of iacere "to throw" (see jet (v.)). Also as a noun from late 14c. In 19c. Britain, the word itself often was a euphemism for the taboo adjective bloody.
They ... slept until it was cool enough to go out with their 'Towny,' whose vocabulary contained less than six hundred words, and the Adjective. [Kipling, "Soldiers Three," 1888]
administrative (adj.): 1731, from Latin administrativus, from past participle stem of administrare (see administer). Related: Administratively.
adoptive (adj.): early 15c., from Middle French adoptif, from Latin adoptivus "pertaining to adoption," from stem of adoptere (see adopt).
affirmative (adj.): "answering 'yes,'" mid-15c., from use in logic; from Middle French affirmatif (13c.), from Latin affirmativus, from affirmat-, past participle stem of affirmare (see affirm). As a noun from early 15c. Affirmative action "positive or corrective effort by employers to prevent discrimination in hiring or promotion" is attested from 1935 with regard to labor unions; specific racial sense is from 1961; now often used in reference to hiring quotas, etc.
alternative (adj.): 1580s, "offering one or the other of two," from Medieval Latin alternativus, from Latin alternatus, past participle of alternare (see alternate (v.)). Meaning "purporting to be a superior choice to what is in general use" was current by 1970 (earliest reference is to the media). Alternative energy is from 1975. Related: Alternatively.
alternative (n.): 1620s, in rhetoric, from Medieval Latin alternativus (see alternative (adj.)). Of courses of action, from 1814. Of objects, etc., "the other of two which may be chosen," by 1838.
aperitif (n.): 1894, "alcoholic drink taken before a meal to stimulate the appetite," from French apéritif "laxative, laxative liqueur," literally "opening," from Latin aperitivus, from aperire "to open" (see overt). Compare Middle English apertive (adj.), a medical word meaning "capable of opening or dilating" (pores, etc.), early 15c.
appellative (adj.): mid-15c., from Latin appellativus, from appellat-, past participle stem of appellare (see appeal). As a noun, attested from 1590s.
apprehensive (adj.): late 14c., "capable of perceiving, fitted for mental impression," from Medieval Latin apprehensivus, from Latin apprehensus, past participle of apprehendere (see apprehend). Meaning "fearful of what is to come" is recorded from 1718, via notion of "capable of grasping with the mind" (c. 1600). Related: Apprehensively; apprehensiveness.
Argive (adj.): "of Argos," hence, especially in Homeric usage, "the Greeks," as a byword for Achaean (he describes Agamemnon as king of Argos), 1520s, from Latin Argivus, from Greek Argeios "of Argos."
assumptive (adj.): early 15c., from Latin assumptivus, from assumpt-, past participle stem of assumere "take up, take to oneself" (see assume) + -ive.
authoritative (adj.): c. 1600, "dictatorial" (a sense now restricted to authoritarian), from Medieval Latin authoritativus (see authority). Meaning "possessing authority" is recorded from 1650s; that of "proceeding from proper authority" is from 1809. Related: Authoritatively; authoritativeness.
bailiff (n.): mid-13c., from Old French baillif (12c., nominative baillis) "administrative official, deputy," from Vulgar Latin *bajulivus "official in charge of a castle," from Latin bajulus "porter," which is of unknown origin. Used in Middle English of a public administrator of a district, a chief officer of a Hundred, or an officer under a sheriff.
bio-: word-forming element, from Greek bio-, comb. form of bios "one's life, course or way of living, lifetime" (as opposed to zoe "animal life, organic life"), from PIE root *gweie- (1) "to live" (cognates: Sanskrit jivah "alive, living;" Old Persian *jivaka- "alive," Middle Persian zhiwak "alive;" Old English cwic, cwicu "living, alive;" Latin vivus "living, alive," vita "life;" Old Church Slavonic zivo "to live;" Lithuanian gyvas "living, alive," gyvata "(eternal) life;" Old Irish bethu "life," bith "age;" Welsh byd "world"). The correct usage is that in biography, but in modern science it has been extended to mean "organic life."
captivate (v.): 1520s, "to enthrall with charm," from Late Latin captivatus, past participle of captivare "to take, capture," from captivus (see captive). Literal sense (1550s) is rare or obsolete in English, which uses capture (q.v.). Latin captare "to take, hold" also had a transferred sense of "to entice, entrap, allure." Related: Captivated; captivating; captivatingly.
captive (adj.): late 14c., "imprisoned, enslaved," from Latin captivus "caught, taken prisoner," from captus, past participle of capere "to take, hold, seize" (see capable). As a noun from c. 1400; an Old English noun was hæftling, from hæft "taken, seized."
captivity (n.): late 14c., Old French *captivite or directly from Latin captivitatem (nominative captivitas), from captivus (see captive (n.)). An Old English cognate word for it was gehæftnes (see haft).
causative (adj.): early 15c. (as a noun), from French causatif, from Latin causativus, from causa (see cause (n.)).
cogitative (adj.): late 15c., from Old French cogitatif (14c.), from Medieval Latin cogitativus, from Latin cogitare (see cogitation).
collective (adj.): early 15c., from Middle French collectif, from Latin collectivus, from collectus (see collect). As a noun, short for collective farm (in the USSR) it dates from 1925. collective farm first attested 1919 in translations of Lenin. Collective bargaining coined 1891 by Beatrice Webb; defined in U.S. 1935 by the Wagner Act. Collective noun is recorded from 1510s; collective security first attested 1934 in speech by Winston Churchill.