英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

arrowroot [arrowroot 词源字典]: arrowroot: [17] Arrowroot, a tropical American plant with starchy tubers, gets its name by folk etymology, the process whereby an unfamiliar foreign word is reformulated along lines more accessible to the speakers of a language. In this case the word in question was aru-aru, the term used by the Arawak Indians of South America for the plant (meaning literally ‘meal of meals’). English-speakers adapted this to arrowroot because the root of the plant was used by the Indians to heal wounds caused by poisoned arrows.
[arrowroot etymology, arrowroot origin, 英语词源]
fizzle: fizzle: [16] Originally, fizzle meant ‘fart silently or unobtrusively’: ‘And then in court they poisoned one another with their fizzles’, Benjamin Walsh’s translation of Aristophanes’ Knights 1837. Then in the mid-19th century it started to be used for a ‘weak spluttering hissing sound’, and hence figuratively ‘end feebly’. In the earlier sense, fizzle was probably a derivative of the now obsolete English verb fist ‘fart’ (source of feisty), which came ultimately from Indo-European *pezd- (no doubt imitative of the sound of breaking wind).

The later sense is close enough semantically to suggest that it is probably a metaphorical extension of the earlier, but it could also be a new formation, based on fizz [17] (which was also of onomatopoeic origin).
=> feisty
salver: salver: [17] The word salver recalls the ancient practice of paranoid monarchs employing a special servant to taste their food before it was committed to the royal mouth, in case it was poisoned. The Spanish term for this was salva, a derivative of the verb salvar ‘save’, hence ‘make safe, try something out to make sure it is safe’, which in turn was descended from Latin salvāre ‘save’ (source of English save). By extension the Spanish noun came to be used for a tray on which the tested food was presented to the king, and it passed into French as salve. When English adopted it, the ending -er was added, perhaps on the model of platter.
=> save
toxic: toxic: [17] The etymological meaning underlying toxic is of ‘poisoned arrows’. Its ultimate source is Greek tóxon ‘bow’, which also gave English toxophily ‘archery’ [19]. From it was derived toxikós ‘of bows and arrows’, which formed the basis of a noun toxikón ‘poison for putting on arrows’. Latin took this over as toxicum ‘poison’, and the medieval Latin derivative toxicus gave English toxic.
=> toxophily
intoxicated (adj.): 1550s, "poisoned;" 1570s, "drunk," past participle adjective from intoxicate (v.).
poison (v.): "to give poison to; kill with poison," c. 1300, from Old French poisonner "to give to drink," and directly from poison (n.). Figuratively from late 14c. Related: Poisoned; poisoning.
poisonous (adj.): 1570s, from poison (n.) + -ous. Failed 16c. rivals were poisonsome, poisonful, poisony. Earlier poisoned was used (late 15c.). Related: Poisonously; poisonousness.
pregnant (adj.1): "with child," early 15c., from Latin praegnantem (nominative praegnans, originally praegnas) "with child," literally "before birth," probably from prae- "before" (see pre-) + root of gnasci "be born" (see genus).

Retained its status as a taboo word until c. 1950; modern euphemisms include anticipating, enceinte, expecting, in a family way, in a delicate (or interesting) condition. Old English terms included mid-bearne, literally "with child;" bearn-eaca, literally "child-adding" or "child-increasing;" and geacnod "increased." Among c. 1800 slang terms for "pregnant" was poisoned (in reference to the swelling).
punji (n.): sharpened and often poisoned bamboo stake set in a hole as a trap for animals or enemies, 1872, of unknown origin, probably from a Tibeto-Burman language (first recorded in a Bengal context).
simoom (n.): "hot, dry desert wind," 1790, from Arabic samum "a sultry wind," literally "poisonous," from samma "he poisoned," from sam "poison."
snake (n.): Old English snaca, from Proto-Germanic *snakon (cognates: Old Norse snakr "snake," Swedish snok, German Schnake "ring snake"), from PIE root *sneg- "to crawl, creeping thing" (cognates: Old Irish snaighim "to creep," Lithuanian snake "snail," Old High German snahhan "to creep"). In Modern English, gradually replacing serpent in popular use.

Traditionally applied to the British serpent, as distinguished from the poisonous adder. Meaning "treacherous person" first recorded 1580s (compare Old Church Slavonic gadu "reptile," gadinu "foul, hateful"). Applied from 17c. to various snake-like devices and appliances. Snakes! as an exclamation is from 1839.

Snake eyes in crap-shooting sense is from 1919. Snake-bitten "unlucky" is sports slang from 1957, from a literal sense, perhaps suggesting one doomed by being poisoned. The game of Snakes and Ladders is attested from 1907. Snake charmer is from 1813. Snake pit is from 1883, as a supposed primitive test of truth or courage; figurative sense is from 1941. Phrase snake in the grass is from Virgil's Latet anguis in herba [Ecl. III:93].
toxic (adj.): 1660s, from French toxique and directly from Late Latin toxicus "poisoned," from Latin toxicum "poison," from Greek toxikon (pharmakon) "(poison) for use on arrows," from toxikon, neuter of toxikos "pertaining to arrows or archery," and thus to a bow, from toxon "bow," probably from a Scythian word that also was borrowed into Latin as taxus "yew." Watkins suggests a possible source in Iranian taxša- "bow," from PIE *tekw- "to run, flee." As a noun from 1890.