英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

broom: broom: [OE] Broom was originally the name of the yellow-flowered bush; its application to the long-handled brush did not come about until the 15th century (the underlying notion is of a brush made from broom twigs tied to a handle). The plant-name occurs throughout the Germanic languages, but it is applied to quite a wide range of plants: Old High German brāmma, for instance, is a ‘wild rose’; Old Saxon hiopbrāmio is a ‘hawthorn bush’; and English bramble probably comes from the same source.
=> bramble
cauliflower: cauliflower: [16] Cauliflower is literally ‘flowered cabbage’. English probably borrowed and adapted the word from Italian cavoli fiori, plural of cavolo fiore ‘cabbage flower’. Cavolo came from late Latin caulus, a variant of Latin caulis ‘cabbage’. This word originally meant ‘stem’, but the notion ultimately underlying it is ‘hollow stem’, for it can be traced back to an Indo-European base which also produced hole and hollow.

It was borrowed early on into the Germanic languages, and via this route has produced in English the now rare cole ‘cabbage, rape’[14] (more familiar in the Dutch borrowing coleslaw); the Scots version kale [13], from Old Norse kál, best known south of the border in the form curly kale; and via German kohlrabi [19], the last element of which is related to English rape the plant.
=> cole, coleslaw, hole, hollow, kale, kohlrabi
limbo: limbo: English has two distinct and probably unrelated words limbo. By far the older is the theological limbo [14], referring originally to that condition in which the souls of the dead exist that are neither in heaven nor in hell. It comes from Latin limbus ‘border, edge’, which in the Middle Ages was used to refer to a region on the borders of, but not actually inside, hell.

It very often turned up in the ablative case, in the phrase in limbo, which is how English adopted it. The other limbo [20], denoting a West Indian dance that involves passing underneath a progressively lowered bar, probably comes from limber ‘flexible, supple’ [16], which in turn might be from limb or possibly from limber ‘detachable forward part of a gun-carriage’ [15] (although spellings of that with a b do not occur before the 17th century).

No one knows where that limber came from, although it might ultimately be Celtic. Alternatively, if the bar is viewed as a sort of boundary that the dancer must cross, the terpsichorean limbo could be related to the theological limbo.
marigold: marigold: [14] The Old English term for this yellow-to-orange-flowered plant was golde, which was presumably derived from gold, in allusion to the colour. In the Middle Ages the name Mary (no doubt a reference to the Virgin Mary) was added to it. Another English word based ultimately on Mary is marionette [17], which was borrowed from a French word derived from the diminutive form Marion.
pimpernel: pimpernel: [15] The burnet, a plant of the rose family, has fruit that look like peppercorns. It was therefore termed in Vulgar Latin *piperīnella, a derivative of *piperīnus ‘pepperlike’, which in turn was based on Latin piper ‘pepper’ (source of English pepper). This passed into Old French as piprenelle, which was later altered to pimpernelle – hence English pimpernel. This too denoted the ‘burnet’, and it is not clear how it came to be applied (as early as the 15th century) to the small red-flowered plant of the primrose family, its current usage.
=> pepper
cauliflower (n.): 1590s, originally cole florye, from Italian cavoli fiori "flowered cabbage," plural of cavolo "cabbage" + fiore "flower" (from Latin flora; see flora).

First element is from Latin caulis "cabbage" (originally "stem, stalk") which was borrowed into Germanic and is the source of cole in cole-slaw and of Scottish kale. The front end of the word was re-Latinized from 18c.; the back end was influenced by flower (n.). The boxer's cauliflower ear is from 1907.
deflower (v.): late 14c., "deprive (a maiden) of her virginity," also "excerpt the best parts of (a book)," from Old French desflorer (13c., Modern French déflorer) "to deflower (a garden); to take the virginity of," from Late Latin deflorare, from de- (see de-) + flos "flower" (see flora). Notion is "to strip of flowers," hence "to ravish," which is the oldest sense in English.
The French Indians are said not to have deflowered any of our young women they captivated. [James Adair, "The Life of an Indian Trader," London, 1775]
diaper (n.): mid-14c., "fabric with a repeated pattern of figures," from Old French diaspre "ornamental cloth; flowered, patterned silk cloth," perhaps via Medieval Latin diasprum from Medieval Greek diaspros "thoroughly white," or perhaps "white interspersed with other colors," from dia- (see dia-) + aspros "white."

Aspros originally meant "rough," and was applied to the raised parts of coins (among other things), and thus was used in Byzantine Greek to mean "silver coin," from which the bright, shiny qualities made it an adjective for whiteness. Modern sense of "underpants for babies" is continuous since 1837, but such usage has been traced back to 1590s.
flower (v.): c. 1200, "be vigorous, prosper, thrive," from flower (n.). Of a plant or bud, "to blossom," c. 1300. Meaning "adorn or cover with flowers" is from 1570s. Related: Flowered; flowering.
glower (v.): mid-14c., "to shine;" c. 1500, "to stare with wide eyes," perhaps from a Scandinavian source (compare Norwegian dialectal glora "to glow, gleam; stare"), or related to Middle Dutch gluren "to leer;" in either case from Proto-Germanic *glo- (see glow (v.)), root of Old English glowan "to glow," which influenced the spelling of this word. Meaning "to look angrily, look intently and threateningly, scowl" is from 18c. Related: Glowered; glowering. As a noun, 1715, "an angry or threatening stare," from the verb.
juniper (n.): "evergreen shrub," late 14c., from Latin iuniperus (source of French genièvre, Spanish enebro, Portuguese zimbro, Italian ginepro), of uncertain origin, perhaps related to iunco "reed." Watkins has it from PIE *yoini-paros "bearing juniper berries," from *yoi-ni- "juniper berry." Applied to various North American species from 1748. In the Bible, it renders Hebrew rethem, the name of a white-flowered shrub unrelated to the European evergreen.
lower (v.1): c. 1600, "to descend, sink," from lower (adj.), from Middle English lahghere (c. 1200), comparative of low (adj.). Transitive meaning "to let down, to cause to descend" attested from 1650s. Related: Lowered; lowering. In the sense "to cause to descend" the simple verb low (Middle English lahghenn, c. 1200) was in use into the 18c.
lower (v.2): "to look dark and threatening," also lour, Middle English louren, luren "to frown" (early 13c.), "to lurk" (mid-15c.), from Old English *luran or from its cognates, Middle Low German luren, Middle Dutch loeren "lie in wait." Form perhaps assimilated to lower (1). Related: Lowered; lowering.
unemployed (adj.): 1600, "at leisure, not occupied," from un- (1) "not" + past participle of employ (v.). Meaning "temporarily out of work" is from 1660s. The noun meaning "unemployed persons collectively" is from 1782.
No man has hired us
With pocketed hands
And lowered faces
We stand about in open places
And shiver in unlit rooms ...

[T.S. Eliot, "Choruses from the Rock"]
sainfoin: "A pink-flowered plant of the pea family, which is native to Asia and grown widely for fodder", Mid 17th century: from obsolete French saintfoin, from modern Latin sanum foenum 'wholesome hay' (with reference to its medicinal properties).