英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

barge: barge: [13] Barge comes in the first instance from Old French barge, but speculation has pushed it further back to medieval Latin *barica, which would have derived from báris, a Greek word for an Egyptian boat. This hypothetical *barica would have been a by-form of late Latin barca, which came into English via Old French as barque, also spelled bark, ‘sailing vessel’ [15] (source of embark). The metaphorical use of the verb barge, ‘move clumsily or rudely’, is barely a hundred years old; it comes from the ponderous progress made by barges.
=> bark, barque, embark
blame: blame: [12] Blame and blaspheme are ultimately the same word. Both come from Greek blasphēmein ‘say profane things about’, but whereas blaspheme has stuck to the path of ‘profanity’, blame has developed the more down-to-earth sense ‘reproach, censure’. The radical change of form seems to have come via blastēmāre, a demotic offshoot of late Latin blasphēmāre, which passed into Old French as blasmer, later blamer (whence English blame).
=> blaspheme
bottle: bottle: [14] Etymologically, a bottle is a small butt, or barrel. The word comes ultimately from medieval Latin butticula, a diminutive form of late Latin buttis ‘cask’ (whence English butt ‘barrel’). It reached English via Old French botele. The 20th-century British colloquial meaning ‘nerve, courage’ comes from rhyming slang bottle and glass ‘class’. In medieval Latin, a servant who handed wine round at meals and looked after the wine cellar was a buticulārius: hence, via Old French bouteillier and Anglo-Norman buteler, English butler [13].
=> butler
burlesque: burlesque: [17] French is the immediate source of English burlesque, but French got it from Italian burlesco, a derivative of burla ‘joke, fun’. This may come from Vulgar Latin *burrula, a derivative of late Latin burra ‘trifle’, perhaps the same word as late Latin burra ‘wool, shaggy cloth’.
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
charge: charge: [13] The notion underlying the word charge is of a ‘load’ or ‘burden’ – and this can still be detected in many of its modern meanings, as of a duty laid on one like a load, or of the burden of an expense, which began as metaphors. It comes ultimately from Latin carrus ‘two-wheeled wagon’ (source also of English car). From this was derived the late Latin verb carricāre ‘load’, which produced the Old French verb charger and, via the intermediate Vulgar Latin *carrica, the Old French noun charge, antecedents of the English words.

The literal sense of ‘loading’ or ‘bearing’ has now virtually died out, except in such phrases as ‘charge your glasses’, but there are reminders of it in cargo [17], which comes from the Spanish equivalent of the French noun charge, and indeed in carry, descended from the same ultimate source. The origins of the verb sense ‘rush in attack’ are not altogether clear, but it may have some connection with the sense ‘put a weapon in readiness’.

This is now familiar in the context of firearms, but it seems to have been used as long ago as the 13th century with reference to arrows. The Italian descendant of late Latin carricāre was caricare, which meant not only ‘load’ but also, metaphorically, ‘exaggerate’. From this was derived the noun caricatura, which reached English via French in the 18th century as caricature.
=> car, cargo, caricature
chisel: chisel: [14] Chisel and scissors are related, for both come ultimately from Latin caedere ‘cut’ (source of a range of other English words from cement to concise and decide). From its past participle caesus was formed an unrecorded Vulgar Latin term for a cutting tool, probably *caesellus. This must have become changed at some point to *cīsellus, probably under the influence of late Latin cīsōrium (source of English scissors), itself derived from caedere. This passed into Old Northern French as chisel, and thence into English. (The modern French equivalent, in the plural, is ciseaux ‘scissors’.)
=> cement, concise, decide, precise, scissors
count: count: There are two distinct words count in English. Count ‘enumerate’ [14] comes ultimately from Latin computāre ‘calculate’ (source of English compute). It came into English from Old French conter, which had, via the notion of ‘adding up and rendering an account’, developed the sense ‘tell a story’ (preserved in English in the derivatives account and recount).

The derivative counter [14] began life as medieval Latin computātōrium ‘place of accounts’, and entered English via Anglo- Norman counteour. Its modern sense ‘surface for transactions in a shop’ does not seem to have become firmly established until the early 19th century, although it was applied to similar objects in banks from the late 17th century. The noble title count [16] comes via Old French conte from Latin comes, which originally meant ‘companion, attendant’ (it was a compound noun, formed from the prefix com- ‘with’ and īre ‘go’, and so its underlying etymological meaning is ‘one who goes with another’).

In the Roman empire it was used for the governor of a province, and in Anglo- Norman it was used to translate English earl. It has never been used as an English title, but the feminine form countess was adopted for the wife of an earl in the 12th century (and viscount was borrowed from Anglo-Norman viscounte in the 14th century). The Latin derivative comitātus was originally a collective noun denoting a ‘group of companions’, but with the development of meaning in comes it came to mean first ‘office of a governor’ and latterly ‘area controlled by a governor’.

In England, this area was the ‘shire’, and so county [14], acquired via Anglo-Norman counte, came to be a synonym for ‘shire’. Another descendant of Latin comes is concomitant [17], from the present participle of late Latin concomitārī.
=> account, compute, putative, recount; concomitant, county
dilapidate: dilapidate: [16] It is a common misconception that dilapidate means literally ‘fall apart stone by stone’, since the word comes ultimately from Latin lapis ‘stone’ (as in lapis lazuli [14], literally ‘azure stone’). But in fact Latin dīlapidāre meant ‘squander’ (a sense once current in English, but now superseded). It was a compound verb formed from the prefix dis- ‘apart’ and lapidāre ‘throw stones’, and thus originally must have meant literally ‘scatter like stones’, but its only recorded sense is the metaphorical extension ‘throw away or destroy wantonly, squander’.

The application of the word to the destruction of buildings is a piece of later etymologizing.
=> lapis lazuli
envoy: envoy: [14] English has acquired envoy – literally ‘sent on one’s way’ – twice. The first time, it meant ‘final part of a poem’ (this is now usually spelled envoi); the second time (in the 17th century) it meant ‘diplomatic representative’. Both came from the past participle of the French verb envoyer ‘send’, which in turn was a descendant of late Latin inviāre ‘put on the way’, a compound based on the noun via ‘way’. Its plural formed the basis of invoice [16].
=> invoice
eureka: eureka: [16] The Greek mathematician Archimedes (c. 287–212 BC) was commissioned by King Hiero II of Syracuse to find out whether the goldsmith who had made a new crown for him had fraudulently mixed some silver in with the gold. In order to do so, Archimedes needed to ascertain the metal’s specific gravity. But how to do this? According to Plutarch, he decided to take a bath to ponder the problem.

He filled the bath too full, and some of the water overflowed – and it suddenly occurred to Archimedes that a pure-gold crown would displace more water if immersed than one made from an alloy. Elated at this piece of lateral thinking, Archimedes is said to have leapt out of the bath shouting heúrēka! ‘I have found!’, the perfect indicative of Greek heurískein ‘find’ (source of English heuristic [19]).

The earliest occurrence of the word in an English text as an exclamation of delight at discovery is in John Dee’s Preface, but there it appears in Greek characters; the first English author to fully naturalize it was probably Henry Fielding in Joseph Andrews 1742; ‘Adams returned overjoyed cring out “Eureka!”’ (The goldsmith, incidentally, had adulterated the gold.)
=> heuristic
fair: fair: English has two distinct words fair, one Germanic and the other Romance. The older, meaning ‘beautiful’ [OE], comes from a prehistoric Germanic *fagraz, which survives also in Swedish fager ‘beautiful’. It derived from a base *fag-, which seems originally to have meant ‘fitting, suitable’ (a variant of it was the ultimate source of fake and possibly also of the now archaic noun fig ‘clothes, array’, as in ‘in full fig’).

Of its main present-day meanings, ‘just, equitable’ developed in the 14th century and ‘not dark’ in the mid 16th century. Fair ‘festive event’ [13] comes from Old French feire. This was a descendant of late Latin fēria, a singular use of a noun which in classical times had been used in the plural, fēriae, for ‘holiday’. A close relative of fēriae was the adjective festus ‘joyous’, source of English feast, festival, festoon, and fête.
=> fake, feast, festival, festoon, fête, fig
galoshes: galoshes: [14] In modern terms, galoshes might be etymologically rendered as ‘little French shoes’. The word comes from Old French galoche, which was an alteration of late Latin gallicula. This in turn was a diminutive form of Latin gallica, short for gallica solea ‘Gallic sandal, sandal from Gaul’ (the name Gaul, incidentally, and the Latin-based Gallic [17], come ultimately from prehistoric Germanic *walkhoz ‘foreigners’, which is related also to Walloon, walnut, and Welsh). The term galosh was originally used in English for a sort of clog; the modern sense ‘overshoe’ did not develop until the early 19th century.
=> gallic, walloon, walnut, welsh
grocer: grocer: [15] Etymologically, a grocer is simply somebody who sells ‘in gross’ – that is, wholesale. The word’s ancestor is medieval Latin grossārius ‘wholesale dealer’, a derivative of late Latin grossus ‘large, bulky’ (from which English gets gross). It passed into English via Old French grossier and Anglo-Norman grosser. In practice, the term seems largely restricted in Britain from earliest times to merchants who dealt in spices and similar imported edible goods, and as early as the mid 15th century it was being used for retailers who sold such goods in small quantities to the public. Greengrocer is an 18th-century formation.
=> gross
hostage: hostage: [13] Despite its similarity, hostage is not related to any of the English words host. It comes via Old French hostage from *obsidāticum, a Vulgar Latin derivative of late Latin obsidātus ‘condition of being held as a security for the fulfilment of an undertaking’. This is turn was based on Latin obses ‘hostage’, a compound noun formed from the prefix ob- ‘before’ and the base of sedēre ‘sit’ (English obsess [16] is made up of virtually the same elements). The use of hostage for the ‘person held’ was established before English took it over.
=> obsess
identity: identity: [16] The historical meaning of identity is best preserved in its derivative identical [17] – ‘the same’. For its ultimate source was Latin idem ‘same’, a pronoun (formed from id ‘it, that one’ with the suffix -dem) used in English since the 17th century for referring to a previously cited author or text. This formed the basis of late Latin identitās, which meant literally ‘sameness’; the main meaning of its English descendant identity, ‘individuality, set of definitive characteristics’, arose from the notion of something always being the same or always being itself (rather than something else).
invent: invent: [15] Invent originally meant ‘find’ (‘Since that Eve was procreated out of Adam’s side, could not such newels [novelties] in this land be invented’, wrote the anonymous author of a 15th-century song). It was based on invent-, the past participial stem of Latin invenīre ‘come upon, find’, a compound verb formed from the prefix in- ‘on’ and venīre ‘come’.

The sense ‘devise’, which developed via ‘discover’, actually existed in the Latin verb, but English did not take it on board until the 16th century. The derivative inventory [16] was borrowed from medieval Latin inventōrium ‘list’, an alteration of late Latin inventārium, which originally meant a ‘finding out’, hence an ‘enumeration’.
=> adventure, inventory
pantry: pantry: [13] A pantry is etymologically a ‘bread’ room. The word comes from Old French paneterie ‘cupboard for keeping bread’, a derivative of panetier ‘servant in charge of bread’. This was adopted from medieval Latin pānetārius, an alteration of late Latin pānārius ‘bread-seller’, which in turn was a derivative of Latin pānis ‘bread’ (source also of English pannier). The notion of ‘bread storage’ survived into English, but was gradually lost in the face of the extended ‘food store’.
=> pannier
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
quarrel: quarrel: English has two words quarrel, one of them now little more than a historical memory. Quarrel ‘argument’ [14] goes back via Old French querele to Latin querēla, a derivative of querī ‘complain’. Also based on querī was querulus ‘complaining’, from which English gets querulous [15]. Quarrel ‘crossbow arrow’ [13] comes via Old French quarel from Vulgar Latin *quadrellus, a diminutive form of late Latin quadrus ‘square’ (the quarrel had a ‘square’ head). And quadrus was based on the stem quadr- ‘four’, source of English quadrangle, quadrant, quadruped, etc.
=> querulous; quarter
salvage: salvage: [17] The salvage of a ship is etymologically simply a payment made for ‘saving’ it. The word comes via Old French salvage from medieval Latin salvāgium, a derivative of late Latin salvāre ‘save’ (source of English save). The use of English salvage as a verb is a comparatively recent development, dating from the 1880s.
=> save
scissors: scissors: [14] Scissors are etymologically a ‘cutting’ implement. The word comes via Old French cisoires from cīsōria, the plural of late Latin cīsōrium ‘cutting implement’, which was derived from Latin caedere ‘cut’ (source of English concise, decide, incision, etc). The original form of the word in English was sisoures; the sc- spelling did not come on the scene until the 16th century, presumably through association with Latin scindere ‘cut’ (source of English rescind [17] and scission ‘cutting’ [15], and related to Greek skhízein ‘split’, from which English gets schism and schizophrenia).
=> concise, decide, incision, rescind, schism, schizophrenia
snooker: snooker: [19] The most widely canvassed theory of the origins of the term snooker is that it is an adaptation of late 19th-century army slang snooker ‘new cadet’ (‘These embryo generals were called by the somewhat sneering terms of “snookers” or “last-joined”,’ Routledge’s Every Boy’s Annual 1872). The game was invented, as a diversion perhaps from the monotony of billiards, by British army officers serving in India in the 1870s, and the story goes that the term snooker was applied to it by Colonel Sir Neville Chamberlain (1856–1944), at that time a subaltern in the Devonshire Regiment stationed in Jubbulpore, in allusion to the inept play of one of his brother officers.

The ancestry of snooker ‘new cadet’, however, remains a mystery.
splendid: splendid: [17] Splendid comes via French splendide from Latin splendidus, a derivative of the verb splendēre ‘shine’. This went back ultimately to the Indo-European base *splēnd- or *plēnd- ‘bright’, which also produced Old Lithuanian splendeti ‘shine’ and Welsh llathru ‘polish’. Amongst the derivatives adopted by English are resplendent [15], splendiferous [15] (from splendiferus, a medieval alteration of late Latin splendōrifer, literally ‘bearing brightness’, hence ‘full of splendour’ – its modern use, as a jocular alternative to splendid, is a 19th-century American innovation), and splendour [15].
=> resplendent
talisman: talisman: [17] Talisman, one of the very few English nouns ending in -man which does not turn into -men in the plural (dragoman is another), denotes etymologically an ‘object consecrated by the completion of a religious ritual’. It comes via French talisman from medieval Greek télesmon, an alteration of late Greek télesma ‘consecrated object’. This in turn was derived from the verb teleín ‘complete’, hence ‘perform a ritual’, hence ‘consecrate’, which was based on télos ‘aim, result’ (source of English teleology [18]).
=> teleology, television
toll: toll: Toll ‘charge, payment’ [OE] and toll ‘ring a bell’ [15] are distinct words. The former was borrowed into Old English from medieval Latin tolōneum ‘place where tolls are collected’, an alteration of late Latin telōneum. This in turn was borrowed from Greek telónion, a derivative of télos ‘tax’. The ancestry of toll ‘ring a bell’ is more conjectural. It may be the same word as the long-obsolete toll ‘pull’, which went back to an Old English *tollian.
ventriloquist: ventriloquist: [17] A ventriloquist is etymologically a ‘stomach-speaker’. The word is an anglicization of late Latin ventriloquus, a compound formed from Latin venter ‘stomach’ (source also of English ventral [18] and ventricle [14]) and loquī ‘speak’ (source of English colloquial [18], elocution [15], eloquent [14], loquacious [17], etc).

The ultimate model for this was Greek eggastrímuthos ‘speaking in the stomach’. The term was originally a literal one; it referred to the supposed phenomenon of speaking from the stomach or abdomen, particularly as a sign of possession by an evil spirit. It was not used for the trick of throwing one’s voice until the end of the 18th century.
=> colloquial, elocution, eloquent, locution, loquatious, ventral, ventricle
alteration (n.): late 14c., "action of altering," from Old French alteracion (14c.) "change, alteration," and directly from Medieval Latin alterationem (nominative alteratio), noun of action from past participle stem of Late Latin alterare (see alter). Meaning "change in character or appearance" is from 1530s; that of "change in ready-made clothes to suit a customer's specifications" is from 1901. Related: Alterations.
Anastasia: fem. proper name, from fem. of Late Latin Anastasius, from Greek Anastasios, from anastasis "resurrection," literally "a standing or rising up," from ana "up; again" (see ana-) + histanai "to cause to stand, to stand up" from PIE root *sta- "to stand" (see stet).
anthropomorphous (adj.): 1753, anglicization of Late Latin anthropomorphus "having human form," from Greek anthropomorphos, from anthropos "human being" (see anthropo-) + morphe "form" (see morphine).
Apocrypha: late 14c., neuter plural of Late Latin apocryphus "secret, not approved for public reading," from Greek apokryphos "hidden; obscure," thus "(books) of unknown authorship" (especially those included in the Septuagint and Vulgate but not originally written in Hebrew and not counted as genuine by the Jews), from apo- "away" (see apo-) + kryptein "to hide" (see crypt). Properly plural (the single would be Apocryphon or apocryphum), but commonly treated as a collective singular.
artiste (n.): 1819 in English, from 1804 as a French word, from French artiste; a reborrowing of artist, at first in a foreign context, later used to fill the gap after the sense of artist had become limited toward the visual arts and especially painting.
Artiste: an admirable word (albeit somewhat Frenchified) of late applied, with nice discrimination, to every species of exhibitor, from a rope-dancer down to a mere painter or sculptor. On looking into little Entick (my great authority in these matters), I find we have already the word artist; but with stupid English perversity, we have hitherto used that in a much more restricted sense than its newly-imported rival, which it is becoming the excellent fashion to adopt. ["Paul Pry's Journal of a Residence at Little-Pedlington," Philadelphia, 1836]
beatification (n.): c. 1500, "act of rendering blessed," from Middle French béatification, noun of action and state from past participle stem of Late Latin beatificare (see beatify). As a papal declaration about the status of a deceased person, it dates from c. 1600.
bedridden (adj.): also bed-ridden, mid-14c., from adjectival use of late Old English bæddrædæn "bedridden (man)," from bedrid, from Old English bedreda, literally "bedrider, bedridden (man)," from bed + rida "rider" (see ride (v.)). Originally a noun, it became an adjective in Middle English and acquired an -en on the analogy of past participle adjectives from strong verbs such as ride.
bent (n.2): "stiff grass," Old English beonet, from West Germanic *binut- "rush, marsh grass" (cognates: Old Saxon binet, Old High German binuz, German Binse "rush, reed"), which is of unknown origin. An obsolete word, but surviving in place names (such as Bentley, from Old English Beonet-leah; Bentham).
The verdure of the plain lies buried deep
Beneath the dazzling deluge; and the bents,
And coarser grass, upspearing o'er the rest,
Of late unsightly and unseen, now shine
Conspicuous, and, in bright apparel clad
And fledg'd with icy feathers, nod superb.

[Cowper, "The Winter-Morning Walk," from "The Task"]
beret (n.): also berret, 1827, from French béret, 19c., from dialect of Béarn, from Old Gascon berret "cap," from Medieval Latin birretum, diminutive of Late Latin birrus "a large hooded cloak," perhaps of Gaulish origin. The round, flat cap originally was worn by Basque peasants.
bonnet (n.): late 14c., Scottish bonat "brimless hat for men," from Old French bonet, short for chapel de bonet, from bonet (12c., Modern French bonnet) "kind of cloth used as a headdress," from Medieval Latin bonitum "material for hats," perhaps a shortening of Late Latin abonnis "a kind of cap" (7c.), which is perhaps from a Germanic source.
bottle (n.): mid-14c., originally of leather, from Old French boteille (12c., Modern French bouteille), from Vulgar Latin butticula, diminutive of Late Latin buttis "a cask," which is perhaps from Greek. The bottle, figurative for "liquor," is from 17c.
bowl (v.): "to roll a ball on the ground," typically as part of a game or contest, mid-15c., from bowl "wooden ball" (see bowls). Specifically of cricket from 1755; cricket use is source of late 19c. expressions bowl over, etc. Related: Bowled; bowling.
cap (n.): late Old English cæppe "hood, head-covering, cape," from Late Latin cappa "a cape, hooded cloak" (source of Spanish capa, Old North French cape, French chape), possibly a shortened from capitulare "headdress," from Latin caput "head" (see head (n.)).

Meaning "women's head covering" is early 13c. in English; extended to men late 14c. Figurative thinking cap is from 1839 (considering cap is 1650s). Of cap-like coverings on the ends of anything (such as hub-cap) from mid-15c. Meaning "contraceptive device" is first recorded 1916. That of "cap-shaped piece of copper lined with gunpowder and used to ignite a firearm" is c. 1826; extended to paper version used in toy pistols, 1872 (cap-pistol is from 1879).

The Late Latin word apparently originally meant "a woman's head-covering," but the sense was transferred to "hood of a cloak," then to "cloak" itself, though the various senses co-existed. Old English took in two forms of the Late Latin word, one meaning "head-covering," the other "ecclesiastical dress" (see cape (n.1)). In most Romance languages, a diminutive of Late Latin cappa has become the usual word for "head-covering" (such as French chapeau).
cauldron (n.): c. 1300, caudron, from Anglo-French caudrun, Old North French cauderon (Old French chauderon "cauldron, kettle"), from augmentative of Late Latin caldaria "cooking pot" (source of Spanish calderon, Italian calderone), from Latin calidarium "hot bath," from calidus "warm, hot" (see calorie). The -l- was inserted 15c. in imitation of Latin.
certification (n.): early 15c., "notification;" mid-15c., "demonstration, proof," from Medieval Latin certificationem (nominative certificatio), noun of action from past participle stem of Late Latin certificare (see certify). Meaning "act of providing with a legal certificate" is from 1881.
chapel (n.): early 13c., from Old French chapele (12c., Modern French chapelle), from Medieval Latin cappella "chapel, sanctuary for relics," literally "little cape," diminutive of Late Latin cappa "cape" (see cap (n.)); by tradition, originally in reference to the sanctuary in France in which the miraculous cape of St. Martin of Tours, patron saint of France, was preserved; meaning extended in most European languages to "any sanctuary." (While serving Rome as a soldier deployed in Gaul, Martin cut his military coat in half to share it with a ragged beggar. That night, Martin dreamed Christ wearing the half-cloak; the half Martin kept was the relic.)
concern (v.): early 15c., "perceive, distinguish," also "refer to, relate to," from Middle French concerner, from Medieval Latin concernere "concern, touch, belong to," figurative use of Late Latin concernere "to sift, mix, as in a sieve," from Latin com- "with" (see com-) + cernere "to sift," hence "perceive, comprehend" (see crisis). Apparently the sense of the prefix shifted to intensive in Medieval Latin. Meaning "worry" is 17c. Related: Concerned; concerning. Letter opening to whom it may concern attested by 1740.
cream (n.): early 14c., creyme, from Old French cresme (13c., Modern French crème) "chrism, holy oil," blend of Late Latin chrisma "ointment" (from Greek khrisma "unguent;" see chrism) and Late Latin cramum "cream," which is perhaps from Gaulish. Replaced Old English ream. Re-borrowed 19c. from French as creme. Figurative sense of "most excellent element or part" is from 1580s. Cream-cheese is from 1580s.
culmination (n.): 1630s, from French culmination, noun of action from past participle stem of Late Latin culminare (see culminate). Originally a term in astronomy/astrology; figurative use is from 1650s.
decapitation (n.): 1640s, from French décapitation, from Medieval Latin decapitationem (nominative decapitatio), noun of action from past participle stem of Late Latin decapitare (see decapitate).
defoliation (n.): 1650s, noun of action from past participle stem of Late Latin defoliare "shed leaves," from de- (see de-) + folium "leaf" (see folio).
elongation (n.): late 14c., from Medieval Latin elongationem (nominative elongatio), noun of action from past participle stem of Late Latin elongare "remove to a distance," from Latin ex- "out" (see ex-) + longus "long" (see long (adj.)).
excoriation (n.): mid-15c., from Medieval Latin excoriationem (nominative excoriatio), from past participle stem of Late Latin excoriare (see excoriate).