英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

board (n.1)[board 词源字典]: Old English bord "a plank, flat surface," from Proto-Germanic *burdam (cognates: Old Norse borð "plank," Dutch bord "board," Gothic fotu-baurd "foot-stool," German Brett "plank"), from PIE *bhrdh- "board," from root *bherdh- "to cut." See also board (n.2), with which this is so confused as practically to form one word (if indeed they were not the same word all along).

A board is thinner than a plank, and generally less than 2.5 inches thick. The transferred meaning "food" (late 14c.) is an extension of the late Old English sense of "table" (compare boarder, boarding); hence, also, above board "honest, open" (1610s). A further extension is to "table where council is held" (1570s), then transferred to "leadership council, council (that meets at a table)," 1610s.[board etymology, board origin, 英语词源]
cabinet (n.): 1540s, "secret storehouse, treasure chamber," from Middle French cabinet "small room" (16c.), diminutive of Old French cabane "cabin" (see cabin); perhaps influenced by (or rather, from) Italian gabbinetto, diminutive of gabbia, from Latin cavea "stall, stoop, cage, den for animals" (see cave (n.)).

Meaning "case for safe-keeping" (of papers, liquor, etc.) is from 1540s, gradually shading to mean a piece of furniture that does this. Sense of "private room where advisors meet" (c. 1600) led to modern political meaning (1640s); perhaps originally short for cabinet council (1630s); compare board (n.1) in its evolution from place where some group meets to the word for the group that meets there.
Capitol (n.): "building where U.S. Congress meets," 1793 (in writings of Thomas Jefferson), from Latin Capitolium, temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill in ancient Rome. Used earlier of Virginia state houses (1699). Its use in American public architecture deliberately evokes Roman republican imagery. With reference to the Roman citadel, it is recorded in English from late 14c., via Old North French capitolie. Relationship of Capitoline to capital is likely but not certain.
female (n.): early 14c., from Old French femelle "woman, female" (12c.), from Medieval Latin femella "a female," from Latin femella "young female, girl," diminutive of femina "woman" (see feminine).
WHEN the Himalayan peasant meets the he-bear in his pride,
He shouts to scare the monster, who will often turn aside.
But the she-bear thus accosted rends the peasant tooth and nail.
For the female of the species is more deadly than the male.

[Kipling]
Sense extended in Vulgar Latin from young humans to female of other animals, then to females generally. Compare Latin masculus, also a diminutive (see masculine). Spelling altered late 14c. in erroneous imitation of male. In modern use usually as an adjective (early 14c.). Reference to implements with sockets and corresponding parts is from 1660s.
holism (n.): 1926, apparently by South African Gen. J.C. Smuts (1870-1950) in his book "Holism and Evolution" which treats of evolution as a process of unification of separate parts; from Greek holos "whole" (see safe (adj.)) + -ism.
This character of "wholeness" meets us everywhere and points to something fundamental in the universe. Holism (from [holos] = whole) is the term here coined for this fundamental factor operative towards the creation of wholes in the universe. [Smuts, "Holism and Evolution," p.86]
house (n.): Old English hus "dwelling, shelter, house," from Proto-Germanic *husan (cognates: Old Norse, Old Frisian hus, Dutch huis, German Haus), of unknown origin, perhaps connected to the root of hide (v.) [OED]. In Gothic only in gudhus "temple," literally "god-house;" the usual word for "house" in Gothic being razn.

Meaning "family, including ancestors and descendants, especially if noble" is from c. 1000. The legislative sense (1540s) is transferred from the building in which the body meets. Meaning "audience in a theater" is from 1660s (transferred from the theater itself, playhouse); as a dance club DJ music style, probably from the Warehouse, a Chicago nightclub where the style is said to have originated. Zodiac sense is first attested late 14c. To play house is from 1871; as suggestive of "have sex, shack up," 1968. House arrest first attested 1936. On the house "free" is from 1889.
And the Prophet Isaiah the sonne of Amos came to him, and saide vnto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not liue. [2 Kings xx:1, version of 1611]
mutable (adj.): late 14c., "liable to change," from Latin mutabilis "changeable," from mutare "to change," from PIE root *mei- (1) "to change, go, move" (cognates: Sanskrit methati "changes, alternates, joins, meets;" Avestan mitho "perverted, false;" Hittite mutai- "be changed into;" Latin meare "to go, pass," migrare "to move from one place to another;" Old Church Slavonic mite "alternately;" Czech mijim "to go by, pass by," Polish mijać "avoid;" Gothic maidjan "to change"); with derivatives referring to the exchange of goods and services as regulated by custom or law (compare Latin mutuus "done in exchange," munus "service performed for the community, duty, work").
pisiform: "A small rounded carpal bone situated where the palm of the hand meets the outer edge of the wrist and articulating with the triquetral", Mid 18th century: from modern Latin pisiformis 'pea-shaped', from pisum 'pea' + forma 'shape'.