英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

apology [apology 词源字典]: apology: [16] The original meaning of apology was ‘formal self-justification’, often used as the title of a piece of writing rebutting criticism (as in the Apology of Sir Thomas More, knight 1533). This is indicative of the word’s origins in Greek apologíā, a derivative of the verb apologeisthai ‘speak in one’s defence’, formed from the prefix apo- ‘away, off’ and logos ‘speech’ (source of English logic).

It entered English through either French apologie or Latin apologia (which was separately borrowed into English as a Latinism in the late 18th century). The meaning ‘expression of regret for offence given’ developed in the late 16th century.
=> logic[apology etymology, apology origin, 英语词源]
biology: biology: [19] The modern European languages have made prolific use of Greek bíos ‘life’ as a prefix, particularly in the 20th century. The first compound into which it entered in English seems to have been biotic, in the now obsolete sense ‘of secular life’ (around 1600), but the trend was really set by biography, first recorded as being used by John Dryden in his Life of Plutarch 1683. Biology itself came along at the beginning of the 19th century, via French, having been coined in German by Gottfried Reinhold in 1802.

Twentieth-century contributions have included bioengineering, biometric, bionic, biorhythm, and biotechnology. Greek bíos itself goes back to an Indo-European base *gwej-, from which English also ultimately gets quick, vital, vivid, and zoo.
=> quick, vital, vivid, zoo
ecology: ecology: [19] Interpreted literally, ecology means ‘study of houses’. The word was coined, as ökologie, by the German zoologist Ernst Haeckel in the 1870s, on the basis of Greek oikos (as in economy). This means literally ‘house’, but Haeckel was using it in the wider sense ‘dwelling, habitat’. English adopted the word soon after its coinage, originally in the quasi- Latin form oecology.
=> economy
entomology: entomology: see insect
etymology: etymology: [14] The underlying meaning of etymology is ‘finding the underlying or ‘true’ meaning of words’. Its ultimate source is Greek étumos ‘real, true’. From this was derived étumon ‘true or literal sense of a word’ (acquired by English in the 16th century as etymon). Postclassical grammarians came to use this in the sense ‘root from which a particular word was derived’, as a result of which modern etymology, the study of etymons, deals with their history rather than their meaning.
gynaecology: gynaecology: [19] The Greek word for ‘woman’ was guné. It has relatives in several modern Indo-European languages, including Swedish kvinna, Danish kvinde, Irish Gaelic bean, Welsh benyw, Czech zhena, Russian zhenshchina, Persian zan (whence ultimately English zenana ‘harem’ [18]), and the now obsolete English quean [OE], and goes back to Indo-European *gwen-.

The resumption of the study of Greek in the 16th century led to increasing adoption of compounds involving guné into English. The earliest recorded ones are gyneconome ‘member of a board of Athenian magistrates whose job was to ensure that women behaved properly’ [16] and gynocracy ‘rule by women’ [17]. Gynaecology is a comparative latecomer, not appearing before the 1840s.
=> queen, zenana
herpetology: herpetology: see serpent
ichthyology: ichthyology: see fish
ideology: ideology: see idea
morphology: morphology: see form
odontology: odontology: see tooth
oenology: oenology: see wine
phrenology: phrenology: see frantic
psephology: psephology: [20] The term psephology ‘study of voting patterns’ was coined in the early 1950s by R B McCallum from Greek pséphos ‘pebble’. Pebbles were used in ancient Greece for casting votes, and so pséphos came to mean metaphorically ‘vote’ – hence psephology.
teleology: teleology: see talisman
theology: theology: [14] Greek theós meant ‘god’. (Despite the more than passing similarity, it is not related to Latin deus ‘god’, source of English deity. Its precise ancestry has never been determined. It may go back ultimately to the Indo-European base *dhē- ‘put, place’, which also produced English do, but it could equally well have been borrowed from a non-Indo- European source.) From it was derived theologíā ‘study of divine things’, which passed into English via Latin theologia and Old French theologie, and also apothéōsis ‘deification’, from which English gets apotheosis [17].
=> apotheosis
agriology (n.): study of prehistoric human customs, 1878, from agrio-, from Greek agrios "wild," literally "living in the fields," from agros "field" (see acre) + -logy. Related: Agriologist (n.), 1875.
anaesthesiology (n.): 1908, from anaesthesia + -ology.
Anesthesiology. This is the new term adopted by the University of Illinois defining "the science that treats of the means and methods of producing in man or animal various degrees of insensibility with or without hypnosis." ["Medical Herald," January, 1912]
anesthesiology (n.): alternative spelling of anaesthesiology (q.v.). See ae.
anthology (n.): 1630s, "collection of poetry," from Latin anthologia, from Greek anthologia "collection of small poems and epigrams by several authors," literally "flower-gathering," from anthos "a flower" (see anther) + logia "collection, collecting," from legein "gather" (see lecture (n.)). Modern sense (which emerged in Late Greek) is metaphoric, "flowers" of verse, small poems by various writers gathered together.
anthropology (n.): "science of the natural history of man," 1590s, originally especially of the relation between physiology and psychology, from Modern Latin anthropologia or coined independently in English from anthropo- + -logy. In Aristotle, anthropologos is used literally, as "speaking of man."
apology (n.): early 15c., "defense, justification," from Late Latin apologia, from Greek apologia "a speech in defense," from apologeisthai "to speak in one's defense," from apologos "an account, story," from apo- "from, off" (see apo-) + logos "speech" (see lecture (n.)).

The original English sense of "self-justification" yielded a meaning "frank expression of regret for wrong done," first recorded 1590s, but this was not the main sense until 18c. The old sense tends to emerge in Latin form apologia (first attested in English 1784), especially since J.H. Newman's "Apologia pro Vita Sua" (1864).
archaeology (n.): c. 1600, "ancient history," from French archéologie (16c.) or directly from Greek arkhaiologia "the study of ancient things;" see archaeo- + -ology. Meaning "scientific study of ancient peoples" recorded by 1825. Related: Archaeological; archaeologically.
archeology (n.): alternative spelling of archaeology. Also see ae.
aristology (n.): "science of dining," 1835, from Greek ariston "breakfast" (see ere; so called from being the early meal of the day) + -ology. Related: Aristological.
Assyriology (n.): 1846, from Assyria + -ology. Related: Assyriologist.
astrobiology (n.): 1903, from French astrobiologie; see astro- + biology. Related: Astrobiological; astrobiologist.
astrology (n.): late 14c., from Latin astrologia "astronomy, the science of the heavenly bodies," from Greek astrologia "telling of the stars," from astron "star" (see astro-) + -logia "treating of" (see -logy).

Originally identical with astronomy, it had also a special sense of "practical astronomy, astronomy applied to prediction of events." This was divided into natural astrology "the calculation and foretelling of natural phenomenon" (tides, eclipses, etc.), and judicial astrology "the art of judging occult influences of stars on human affairs" (also known as astromancy, 1650s). Differentiation between astrology and astronomy began late 1400s and by 17c. this word was limited to "reading influences of the stars and their effects on human destiny."
audiology (n.): science of hearing and treatment of deafness, 1946, from audio- + -ology. Related: Audiologist.
bacteriology (n.): 1884, from German; see bacteria + -ology. Related: Bacteriological (1886). Bacteriological warfare is from 1924.
battology (n.): "needless repetition in speaking or writing," c. 1600, from Greek battologia "a speaking stammeringly," from battos "stammerer," of imitative origin, + -logia (see -logy).
biology (n.): 1819, from Greek bios "life" (see bio-) + -logy. Suggested 1802 by German naturalist Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus (1776-1837), and introduced as a scientific term that year in French by Lamarck.
biotechnology (n.): also bio-technology, 1947, "use of machinery in relation to human needs;" 1972 in sense of "use of biological processes in industrial production," from bio- + technology.
cardiology (n.): 1847, from cardio- + -logy. Cardiologist attested from 1885.
choreology (n.): "the study of dancing," 1964, from Latinized form of Greek khoreia "dance" (see chorus) + connective -o- + -logy.
Christology (n.): 1670s, from Christ + connective -o- + -logy.
chronology (n.): 1590s, from Middle French chronologie or directly from Modern Latin chronologia; see chrono- + -logy. Related: Chronologer (1570s).
climatology (n.): "scientific study of climates," 1803, from climate + -ology.
cosmetology (n.): 1855, from French cosmétologie, from Latinized form of Greek kosmetos (see cosmetic) + -ology.
cosmology (n.): 1650s, from Modern Latin cosmologia, from Greek kosmos (see cosmos) + -logia "discourse" (see -logy). Related: Cosmological; cosmologist.
They cannot scare me with their empty spaces
Between stars--on stars where no human race is.
I have it in me so much nearer home
To scare myself with my own desert places.

[Robert Frost, from "Desert Places," 1936]
criminology (n.): 1890, from Latin stem of criminal + -ology. Criminologist is recorded from 1857.
cryptology (n.): 1640s, from crypto- + -ology.
cytology (n.): 1857, from cyto- + -logy. Related: Cytologist (1884).
demonology (n.): 1590s; see demon + -ology.
dendrochronology (n.): "dating by tree rings," 1928; see dendro- + chronology.
dendrology (n.): 1708, from dendro- + -ology.
deontology (n.): science of moral duty, 1826, from Greek deont-, comb. form of deon "that which is binding, duty," neuter present participle of dei "is binding;" + -ology. Said to have been coined by Bentham. Related: Deontological.
dermatology (n.): 1819, from dermato- + -logy. Related: Dermatological.
doxology (n.): "hymn of praise," 1640s, from Medieval Latin doxologia, from Ecclesiastical Greek doxologia "praise, glory," from doxologos "praising, glorifying," from doxa "glory, praise" (from dokein "to seem good;" see decent) + logos "a speaking" (see lecture (n.)).
ecology (n.): 1873, oecology, "branch of science dealing with the relationship of living things to their environments," coined in German by German zoologist Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) as Ökologie, from Greek oikos "house, dwelling place, habitation" (see villa) + -logia "study of" (see -logy). In use with reference to anti-pollution activities from 1960s.