quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- eclipse




- eclipse: [13] From the point of view of the observer, an object which has been eclipsed has ‘gone away’ – is no longer there. And that in fact is the etymological foundation of the word. It comes, via Old French and Latin, from Greek ékleipsis, a derivative of ekleípein ‘no longer appear or be present’. This was a compound verb formed from the prefix ek- ‘out, away’ and leípein ‘leave’ (a distant relative of English leave).
Its adjectival derivative, ekleiptikós, passed into English as ecliptic [14], which was applied to the apparent path of the Sun relative to the stars because that is the line along which eclipses caused by the moon occur.
=> leave - absolute (adj.)




- late 14c., "unrestricted; complete, perfect;" also "not relative to something else" (mid-15c.), from Middle French absolut (14c., Old French asolu, Modern French absolu), from Latin absolutus, past participle of absolvere "to set free, make separate" (see absolve).
Most of the current senses also were in the Latin word. Sense evolution was "detached, disengaged," thus "perfect, pure." Meaning "despotic" (1610s) is from notion of "absolute in position." Absolute monarchy is recorded from 1735 (absolute king is recorded from 1610s); scientific absolute magnitude (1902), absolute value (1907) are from early 20c. In metaphysics, the absolute "that which is absolute" is from 1809. - Guinea




- region along the west coast of Africa, presumably from an African word (perhaps Tuareg aginaw "black people"). As a derogatory term for "an Italian" (1896) it is from Guinea Negro (1740s) "black person, person of mixed ancestry;" applied to Italians probably because of their dark complexions relative to northern Europeans, and after 1911 it was occasionally applied to Hispanics and Pacific Islanders as well. New Guinea was so named 1546 by Spanish explorer Inigo Ortiz de Retes in reference to the natives' dark skin and tightly curled hair. The Guinea hen (1570s) is a domestic fowl imported from there. Related: Guinean.
- Hebrides




- originally Ebudae, Haebudes, of uncertain origin. Apparently a scribal error turned -u- into -ri-. The Norse name, Suðregar, "Southern Islands," is relative to the Orkneys. Related: Hebridean.
- Mach




- measure of speed relative to the speed of sound (technically Mach number), 1937, named in honor of Austrian physicist Ernst Mach (1838-1916).
- Surrey




- Old English suþrige (722), literally "Southerly District" (relative to Middlesex), from suðer, from suð (see south) + -ge "district" (see yeoman). Bede and others use it as a folk-name, as if "People from Surrey." Meaning "two-seated, four-wheeled pleasure carriage" is from 1895, short for Surrey cart, an English pleasure cart (introduced in U.S. 1872), named for Surrey, England, where it first was made.
- ipsative




- "Designating or involving a measurement or scale calculated relative to a person's own performance or responses, rather than those of others", 1940s. From classical Latin ipse ipse + -ative, after normative.