英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

-ae [-ae 词源字典]: occasional plural suffix of words ending in -a, most of which, in English, are from Latin nominative fem. singular nouns, which in Latin form their plurals in -ae. But plurals in -s were established early in English for many of them (such as idea, arena) and many have crossed over since. Now it is not possible to insist on purity one way or the other without breeding monsters.[-ae etymology, -ae origin, 英语词源]
abomination (n.): early 14c., "abominable thing or action;" late 14c., "feeling of disgust, hatred, loathing," from Old French abominacion "abomination, horror, repugnance, disgust" (13c.), from Latin abominationem (nominative abominatio) "abomination," noun of action from past participle stem of abominari "shun as an ill omen," from ab- "off, away from" (see ab-) + omin-, stem of omen (see omen). Meaning intensified by folk etymology derivation from Latin ab homine "away from man," thus "beastly."
Doubtless, the life of an Irregular is hard; but the interests of the Greater Number require that it shall be hard. If a man with a triangular front and a polygonal back were allowed to exist and to propagate a still more Irregular posterity, what would become of the arts of life? Are the houses and doors and churches in Flatland to be altered in order to accommodate such monsters? [Edwin Abbot, "Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions," 1885]
centaur (n.): late 14c., from Latin centaurus, from Greek Kentauros, origin disputed. In early Greek literature they were a savage, horse-riding tribe from Thessaly; later they were monsters half horse, half man. The southern constellation of Centaurus is attested in English from 1550s but was known by that name to the Romans and known as a centaur to the Greeks. It has often been confused since classical times with Sagittarius.
Frankenstein (n.): allusive use for man-made monsters dates to 1838, from Baron Frankenstein, character in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel "Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus." Commonly taken (mistakenly) as the proper name of the monster, not the creator, and thus franken- extended 1990s as a prefix to mean "non-natural." The German surname is probably literally "Franconian Mountain," stein being used especially for steep, rocky peaks, which in the Rhineland often were crowned with castles. The Shelleys might have passed one in their travels. The German surname also suggests "free stone."
Frankenstein is the creator-victim; the creature-despot & fatal creation is Frankenstein's monster. The blunder is very common indeed -- almost, but surely not quite, sanctioned by custom. [Fowler]
fret (v.): Old English fretan "devour, feed upon, consume," from Proto-Germanic compound *fra-etan "to eat up," from *fra- "completely" (see *per- (1)) + *etan "to eat" (see eat). Cognates include Dutch vreton, Old High German freggan, German fressen, Gothic fraitan.

Used of monsters and Vikings; in Middle English used of animals' eating. Notion of "wear away by rubbing or scraping" (c. 1200) might have come to this word by sound-association with Anglo-French forms of Old French froter "to rub, wipe; beat, thrash," which is from Latin fricare "to rub" (see friction). Figurative use is from c. 1200, of emotions, sins, vices, etc., "to worry, consume, vex" someone or someone's heart or mind, from either the "eating" or the "rubbing" sense. Intransitive sense "be worried, vex oneself" is by 1550s. Modern German still distinguishes essen for humans and fressen for animals. Related: Fretted; fretting. As a noun, early 15c., "a gnawing," also "the wearing effect" of awareness of wrongdoing, fear, etc.
harpy (n.): winged monster of ancient mythology, late 14c., from Old French harpie (14c.), from Latin harpyia, from Greek Harpyia (plural), literally "snatchers," which is probably related to harpazein "to snatch" (see rapid (adj.)). Metaphoric extension to "repulsively greedy person" is c. 1400.
In Homer they are merely personified storm winds, who were believed to have carried off any person that had suddenly disappeared. In Hesiod they are fair-haired and winged maidens who surpass the winds in swiftness, and are called Aello and Ocypete; but in later writers they are represented as disgusting monsters, with heads like maidens, faces pale with hunger, and claws like those of birds. The harpies ministered to the gods as the executors of vengeance. ["American Cyclopædia," 1874]
lamia (n.): late 14c., from Latin lamia, from Greek lamia "female vampire," literally "swallower, lecher," from laimos "throat, gullet." Probably cognate with Latin lemures "spirits of the dead" (see lemur). Used in early translations of the Bible for screech owls and sea monsters. Sometimes also, apparently, mermaids.
Also kynde erreþ in som beestes wondirliche j-schape, as it fareþ in a beest þat hatte lamia, þat haþ an heed as a mayde & body as a grym fissche[;] whan þat best lamya may fynde ony man, first a flatereþ wiþ hym with a wommannes face and makeþ hym ligge by here while he may dure, & whanne he may noferþere suffice to here lecherye þanne he rendeþ hym and sleþ and eteþ hym. [John of Trevisa, translation of Bartholomew de Glanville's "De proprietatibus rerum," 1398]
Mohawk: North American Indian tribe name, Iroquoian, 1630s, Mohowawogs (plural), said to mean "they eat living things" in a southern New England Algonquian tongue, probably a reference to cannibalism. Compare Unami Delaware /muhuwe:yck/ "cannibal monsters." The people's name for themselves is kanye'keha:ka. Meaning "haircut style favored by punk rockers" is c. 1975, from fancied resemblance to hair style of the Indians in old illustrations. The style of cut earlier was called a Mohican (1960). Mohoc, Mohock, variant form of the word, was the name given 1711 to gangs of aristocratic London ruffians.
orca (n.): "killer whale," introduced as a generic term for the species by 1841, from earlier use in scientific names, from Latin orca "cetacean, a kind of whale." Earlier in English, orc, ork "large whale" (c. 1590), from French orque, had been used vaguely of sea monsters (see orc).
Pokemon (n.): video and trading card franchise, released in Japan in 1996, said to be from a contracted Romanization of Japanese Poketto Monsuta "pocket monsters," both elements ultimately from European languages. Apparently it is a collective word with no distinctive plural form.
python (n.): 1580s, fabled serpent, slain by Apollo near Delphi, from Latin Python, from Greek Python "serpent slain by Apollo," probably related to Pytho, the old name of Delphi, perhaps itself related to pythein "to rot," or from PIE *dhubh-(o)n-, from *dheub- "hollow, deep, bottom, depths," and used in reference to the monsters who inhabit them. Zoological application to large non-venomous snakes of the tropics is from 1836, originally in French.
Ragnarok (n.): in Norse mythology, the last battle of the world, in which gods and men will be destroyed by monsters and darkness, 1770, from Old Norse ragna, genitive of rögn "gods" + rök "destined end" or rökr "twilight." Also see Gotterdammerung.
sasquatch (n.): 1929, from Halkomelem (Salishan), a native language of the Pacific Northwest, sæsq'ec, one of a race of huge, hairy man-monsters supposed to inhabit the Pacific northwest woods in American Indian lore and also known as bigfoot.
teratogenic (adj.): "causing the formation of monsters," 1873, from teratogeny + -ic; probably based on German teratogenic (by 1856).
teratogeny (n.): "the production of monsters," 1855, from terato- + -geny. Related: Teratogenesis.