英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

alderman [alderman 词源字典]: alderman: [OE] Alderman preserves the notion that those who are old (the ‘elders’) are automatically in charge. In Anglo-Saxon England the ealdor was the chief of a family or clan, by virtue of seniority (the word is based on the adjective eald ‘old’). Alderman (Old English ealdorman) was a political title or rank adopted probably in the early 8th century for someone who exercised in society at large an authority equivalent to that of the ealdor.

In effect, this meant that an alderman acted as a sort of viceroy to the king in a particular district. In the 12th century the title became applied to the governor of a guild, and as the guilds gradually took over some functions of local government, an alderman became a senior councillor. The title was officially abolished in Britain in 1974.
=> old[alderman etymology, alderman origin, 英语词源]
any: any: [OE] Any is descended from a prehistoric Germanic compound meaning literally ‘one-y’ (a formation duplicated in unique, whose Latin source ūnicus was compounded of ūnus ‘one’ and the adjective suffix -icus). Germanic *ainigaz was formed from *ain- (source of English one) and the stem *-ig-, from which the English adjective suffix -y is ultimately derived. In Old English this had become ǣnig, which diversified in Middle English to any and eny; modern English any preserves the spelling of the former and the pronunciation of the latter.
=> one
behave: behave: [15] To ‘behave oneself’ originally meant literally to ‘have oneself in a particular way’ – have being used here in the sense ‘hold’ or ‘comport’. The be- is an intensive prefix. Of particular interest is the way in which the word preserves in aspic the 15th-century pronunciation of have in stressed contexts. For much of its history behave has been used with reference to a person’s bearing and public dignity (‘He was some years a Captain, and behaved himself with great gallantry in several engagements’, Richard Steele, Spectator Number 2, 1711), and the modern connotations of propriety, of ‘goodness’ versus ‘naughtiness’, are a relatively recent, 19th-century development.

The noun behaviour [15] was formed on analogy with the verb from an earlier haviour, a variant of aver ‘possession’ [14], from the nominal use of the Old French verb aveir ‘have’.
=> have
claret: claret: [14] Claret was originally a ‘lightcoloured wine’ – pale red (virtually what we would now call rosé), but also apparently yellowish. The word comes ultimately from Latin clārus ‘clear’; from this was derived the verb clārāre, whose past participle was used in the phrase vīnum clārātum ‘clarified wine’. This passed into Old French as vin claret.

Modern French clairet preserves the word’s early sense ‘pale wine, rosé’, but in English by the later 17th century seems to have been transferred to red wine, and since in those days the vast majority of red wine imported into Britain came from Southwest France, and Bordeaux in particular, it was not long before claret came to mean specifically ‘red Bordeaux’.
=> clear
final: final: [14] Of all the English descendants of Latin finis ‘final moment, end’ or ‘limit’ (see FINANCE, FINE, and FINISH), final, which comes via Old French final from Latin finālis ‘last’, preserves most closely the meaning of its source. But although by classical times finis denoted a temporal conclusion, its original use was for a physical boundary, and it appears to be related to figere ‘fix’ (source of English fix) – as if its underlying meaning were ‘fixed mark’.
=> finance, fine, finish
flute: flute: [14] Provençal flaut was probably the original source of flute, and it reached English via Old French floute or floite. Where flaut came from, however, is another matter, and a much disputed one. Some etymologists claim that it is ultimately simply an imitation of a high-pitched sound, its initial consonant cluster perhaps provided by Provençal flajol ‘small flute or whistle’ (source of English flageolet [17], but itself of unknown origin) and Latin flāre ‘blow’; others suggest a specific blend of flajol with Provençal laut, source of English lute.

The sense ‘groove’ developed in English in the 17th century, from a comparison with the long thin shape of the instrument. Related forms in English include flautist [19], whose immediate source, Italian flautisto, preserves the au diphthong of the Provençal source word flaut (American English prefers the older, native English formation flutist [17]); and perhaps flout [16], which may come from Dutch fluiten ‘play the flute’, hence ‘whistle at, mock’.
=> flout
fraction: fraction: [14] Like fracture [15], which preserves its etymological meaning more closely, fraction comes ultimately from fractus, the past participle of Latin frangere ‘break’. This verb goes back to prehistoric Indo-European *bhr(e)g-, which also produced English break. The Latin derived noun fractiō simply meant ‘breaking’, particularly with reference to the breaking of Communion bread, but all trace of this literal sense has now virtually died out in English, leaving only the mathematical sense ‘number produced by division’ and its metaphorical offshoots.

Amongst the English meanings that have disappeared is ‘discord, quarrelling’, but before it went it produced fractious [18].
=> fracture, fragile, frail
frustrate: frustrate: [15] Frustrate comes from Latin frūstrātus ‘disappointed, frustrated’, the past participle of a verb formed from the adverb frūstrā ‘in error, in vain, uselessly’. This was a relative of Latin fraus, which originally meant ‘injury, harm’, hence ‘deceit’ and then ‘error’ (its English descendant, fraud [14], preserves ‘deceit’). Both go back to an original Indo- European *dhreu- which denoted ‘injure’.
=> fraud
improvise: improvise: [19] Etymologically, if you improvise something, it is because it has not been ‘provided’ for in advance. The word comes via French improviser from the Italian adjective improvviso ‘extempore’, a descendant of Latin imprōvīsus ‘unforeseen’. This in turn was formed from the negative prefix in- and the past participle of prōvīdere ‘foresee’ (source of English provide).

The earliest recorded use of the verb in English is by Benjamin Disraeli in Vivian Grey 1826: ‘He possessed also the singular faculty of being able to improvise quotations’. (The closely related improvident ‘not providing for the future’ [16] preserves even more closely the sense of its Latin original.)
=> provide
many: many: [OE] Many goes back ultimately to Indo- European *monogho-, *menogho-, which also produced Russian mnogij ‘many’ and Welsh mynych ‘often’. From it was descended prehistoric Germanic *managaz, *manigaz, which have differentiated into German manch, Dutch menig, Swedish många, Danish mange, and English many. The pronunciation /meni/ dates from the 13th century; it perhaps arose from association with the unrelated any. The derived manifold [OE] preserves the original pronunciation.
=> manifold
marzipan: marzipan: [19] The word marzipan has long puzzled etymologists. An elaborate theory was formulated in the early 20th century that traced it back to Arabic mawthabān ‘king who sits still’. That was applied by the Saracens to a medieval Venetian coin with a figure of the seated Christ on it. A series of fairly implausible semantic changes led from ‘coin’ via ‘box’ to ‘confectionery’, while the form of the word supposedly evolved in Italian to marzapane.

This turns out to be completely wide of the mark (not surprisingly), but the truth seems scarcely less remarkable. In Burma (now Myanmar) there is a port called Martaban, which was renowned in the Middle Ages for the jars of preserves and fruits exported from there to Europe. The name of the place came to be associated with its products, and in Italian, as marzapane, it denoted a type of sweetmeat (-pane for -ban suggests that some people subconsciously connected the word with Italian pane ‘bread’). Marzapane and its relatives in other languages (such as early modern French marcepain) entered English in the 16th century, and from the confusion of forms the consensus spelling marchpane emerged.

This remained the standard English word for ‘marzipan’ until the 19th century, when marzipan was borrowed from German; this was an alteration of Italian marzapane, based on the misconception that it came from Latin marci pānis ‘Mark’s bread’.
midwife: midwife: [14] A midwife is etymologically a ‘with-woman’. The mid- element represents the long extinct preposition mid ‘with’ (its Germanic relatives are still alive and well: German mit, Dutch met, and Swedish and Danish med). Wife preserves the original meaning of Old English wīf, ‘woman’. The idea underlying the word is that a midwife is ‘with’ a woman giving birth.
obituary: obituary: [18] Obituary goes back ultimately to a Latin euphemism for ‘die’, meaning literally ‘go down, make an exit’. This was obīre, a compound verb formed from the prefix ob- ‘down’ and īre ‘go’. From it was derived obitus ‘death’, which formed the basis of the medieval Latin adjective obituārius ‘of death’, source of English obituary. A parallel Latin formation was the adverb obiter ‘on the way, in passing along’, based on the noun iter ‘journey’ (a relative of īre and source of English itinerant [16] and itinerary [15]). English preserves it in obiter dictum [19], literally a ‘statement in passing’.
=> itinerant
only: only: [OE] Only is a compound formed in the Old English period from ān, ancestor of modern English one, and -lic ‘-ly’. It originally meant ‘solitary’ as well as ‘unique’, but this sense has been taken over by the related lonely. Only preserves the early diphthongal pronunciation which its source one has lost.
=> lonely, one
ramp: ramp: [18] A ramp is etymologically something you ‘climb’ up. The word was borrowed from French rampe, a derivative of the verb ramper ‘climb’, hence ‘slope’. This goes back to a Frankish *rampōn, and was borrowed into English in the 13th century as ramp. It now survives mainly in the form of its present participle, rampant [14], which preserves the sense ‘rearing up’. Rampage [18] may be a derivative.
should: should: [OE] Should started life as the past tense of shall. It preserves the word’s original connotations of ‘obligation’ which have all but disappeared from shall.
=> shall
squat: squat: [13] Someone who squats is etymologically ‘forced together’ – and indeed the verb originally meant ‘squash, flatten’ in English (‘This stone shall fall on such men, and squat them all to powder’, John Wyclif, Sermons 1380). Not until the early 15th century did the modern sense (based on the notion of hunching oneself up small and low) emerge. The word was adapted from Old French esquatir, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix es- and quatir ‘press flat’.

This in turn came from Vulgar Latin *coactīre ‘press together’, a verb based on Latin coāctus, the past participle of cōgere ‘force together’ (from which English gets cogent [17]). The adjectival use of squat for ‘thickset’, which preserves some of the word’s original connotations of being ‘flattened’, is first recorded in 1630. Swat ‘slap’ [17] originated as a variant of squat.
=> cogent, swat
strawberry: strawberry: [OE] The origins of strawberry have long puzzled etymologists. The two most plausible suggestions put forward are that the runners put out by strawberry plants, long trailing shoots that spread across the ground, reminded people of straws laid on the floor; and that word preserves a now defunct sense of straw, ‘small piece of straw or chaff’, supposedly in allusion to the fruit’s ‘chafflike’ external seeds.
tact: tact: [17] Tact originally denoted the ‘sense of touch’ (that is what Alexander Ross was referring to when he wrote ‘Of all the creatures, the sense of tact is most exquisite in man’, Arcana microcosmi 1651). But by the end of the 18th century it had evolved semantically via ‘refined faculty of perception’ to ‘skill in behaving or speaking with propriety or sensitivity’.

It was acquired via French tact from Latin tactus ‘sense of touch’, a noun use of the past participle of tangere ‘touch’ (source of English contact, tangent, tangible, etc). Tactile [17], from the Latin derivative tactilis, preserves the original notion of ‘touching’.
=> contact, contagion, tactile, tangent, tangible
tantalize: tantalize: [16] The verb tantalize was inspired by the sad story of Tantalus, a mythical king of Phrygia in the ancient world. He had displeased the gods in some way (versions differ as to how, the commonest being that he had stolen their food), and as a punishment he was condemned to stand for ever in water up to his chin, while overhead hung boughs laden with fruit: whenever he stooped to drink, the water disappeared, and when he tried to reach the fruit, the wind blew it away. The term tantalus, coined in the 19th century for a lockable decanter stand whose contents can be seen but not got at, preserves the same idea.
vicar: vicar: [13] A vicar is etymologically a ‘substitute’ for or ‘representative’ of someone else: thus the pope is the vicar of God on Earth, and the vicar of a parish was originally someone who stood in for the parson or rector. The word comes via Old French vicaire from Latin vicārius ‘substitute, deputy’. This was a noun use of the adjective vicārius ‘substituting’ (source of English vicarious [17], which more closely preserves the meaning of its Latin original). And vicārius in turn was derived from vicis ‘change, turn, office’, source also of English vicissitude [16] and the prefix vice-.
=> vicarious, vicissitude
wake: wake: English has two distinct words wake. The older, ‘not sleep’ [OE], goes back ultimately to the prolific Indo-European base *wog-, *weg- ‘be active or lively’. This proliferated semantically in many directions, including ‘growth’ (in which it gave English vegetable) and ‘staying awake’, which developed into ‘watching’ and from there into ‘guarding’ (all three preserved in vigil).

The original sense ‘liveliness’ is represented in vigour. The prehistoric Germanic base *wak- took over the ‘not sleep, watch’ group of senses. From it was derived the verb *wakōjan, which subsequently split into two in English, producing wake and watch. The noun wake, which (unlike the verb) preserves the ‘watch’ strand of meaning (now specialized to ‘watching over a dead body’), comes from the same base. Waken [12] was borrowed from the related Old Norse vakna. Wake ‘track of a boat’ [16] probably came via Middle Low German wake from Old Norse vök ‘hole in the ice’.
=> vegetable, vigil, vigour, waft, wait, watch
auld (adj.): variant of old that more accurately preserves the Anglo-Saxon vowel. Surviving in northern English and Scottish; distinctly Scottish after late 14c.
beat (v.): Old English beatan "inflict blows on, thrash" (class VII strong verb; past tense beot, past participle beaten), from Proto-Germanic *bautan (cognates: Old Norse bauta, Old High German bozan "to beat"), from PIE root *bhau- "to strike" (see batter (v.)). Of the heart, c. 1200, from notion of it striking against the breast. Meaning "to overcome in a contest" is from 1610s (the source of the sense of "legally avoid, escape" in beat the charges, etc., attested from c. 1920 in underworld slang).

Past tense beat is from c. 1500, probably not from Old English but a shortening of Middle English beted. Dead-beat (originally "tired-out") preserves the old past participle. Meaning "strike cover to rouse or drive game" (c. 1400) is source of beat around the bush (1570s), the metaphoric sense of which has shifted from "make preliminary motions" to "avoid, evade." Command beat it "go away" first recorded 1906 (though "action of feet upon the ground" was a sense of Old English betan). To beat off "masturbate" is recorded by 1960s. For beat generation see beatnik.
bison (n.): c. 1600, from French bison (15c.), from Latin bison "wild ox," borrowed from Proto-Germanic *wisand- "aurochs" (cognates: Old Norse visundr, Old High German wisunt "bison," Old English/Middle English wesend, which is not attested after c. 1400). Possibly ultimately of Baltic or Slavic origin, and meaning "the stinking animal," in reference to its scent while rutting (see weasel). A European wild ox formerly widespread on the continent, including the British Isles, now surviving on forest reserves in Lithuania. Applied 1690s to the North American species commonly mis-called a buffalo.
bully (n.): 1530s, originally "sweetheart," applied to either sex, from Dutch boel "lover; brother," probably a diminutive of Middle Dutch broeder "brother" (compare Middle High German buole "brother," source of German Buhle "lover;" see brother (n.)).

Meaning deteriorated 17c. through "fine fellow" and "blusterer" to "harasser of the weak" (1680s, from bully-ruffian, 1650s). Perhaps this was by influence of bull (n.1), but a connecting sense between "lover" and "ruffian" may be in "protector of a prostitute," which was one sense of bully (though not specifically attested until 1706). The expression meaning "worthy, jolly, admirable" (especially in 1864 U.S. slang bully for you!) is first attested 1680s, and preserves an earlier, positive sense of the word.
cast (n.): mid-13c., "a throw, an act of throwing," from cast (v.). In early use especially of dice, hence figurative uses relating to fortune or fate. Meaning "that which is cast" is from c. 1550s. Meaning "dash or shade of color" is from c. 1600. The sense of "a throw" carried an idea of "the form the thing takes after it has been thrown," which led to widespread and varied meanings, such as "group of actors in a play" (1630s). OED finds 42 distinct noun meaning and 83 verbal ones, with many sub-definitions. Many of the figurative senses converged in a general meaning "sort, kind, style" (mid-17c.). A cast in the eye (early 14c.) preserves the older verbal sense of "warp, turn."
clean (adj.): Old English clæne "free from dirt or filth; pure, chaste, innocent; open, in the open," of beasts, "ritually safe to eat," from West Germanic *klainoz "clear, pure" (cognates: Old Saxon kleni "dainty, delicate," Old Frisian klene "small," Old High German kleini "delicate, fine, small," German klein "small;" English preserves the original Germanic sense), from PIE root *gel- "bright, gleaming" (cognates: Greek glene "eyeball," Old Irish gel "bright").

"Largely replaced by clear, pure in the higher senses" [Weekley], but as a verb (mid-15c.) it has largely usurped what once belonged to cleanse. Meaning "whole, entire" is from c. 1300 (clean sweep in the figurative sense is from 1821). Sense of "innocent" is from c. 1300; that of "not lewd" is from 1867; that of "not carrying anything forbidden" is from 1938; that of "free of drug addiction" is from 1950s. To come clean "confess" is from 1919, American English.
conch (n.): type of shell, early 15c., from Latin concha "shellfish, mollusk," from Greek konkhe "mussel, shell," from PIE root *konkho-. The name for natives of Florida Keys since at least 1833; the prefered pronunciation there ("kongk") preserves the classical one.
cooper (n.): "craftsman who makes wooden vessels," attested from late 12c. as a surname, either from Old English (unattested) or from a Low German source akin to Middle Dutch cuper, East Frisian kuper, from Low German kupe (German Kufe) "cask," cognate with Medieval Latin cupa (see coop (n.)).
A dry cooper makes casks, etc., to hold dry goods, a wet cooper those to contain liquids, a white cooper pails, tubs, and the like for domestic or dairy use. [OED]
The surname Cowper (pronounced "cooper") preserves a 15c. spelling.
craft (n.): Old English cræft (West Saxon, Northumbrian), -creft (Kentish), originally "power, physical strength, might," from Proto-Germanic *krab-/*kraf- (cognates: Old Frisian kreft, Old High German chraft, German Kraft "strength, skill;" Old Norse kraptr "strength, virtue"). Sense expanded in Old English to include "skill, dexterity; art, science, talent" (via a notion of "mental power"), which led by late Old English to the meaning "trade, handicraft, calling," also "something built or made." The word still was used for "might, power" in Middle English.

Use for "small boat" is first recorded 1670s, probably from a phrase similar to vessels of small craft and referring either to the trade they did or the seamanship they required, or perhaps it preserves the word in its original sense of "power."
criminal (adj.): early 15c., from Middle French criminel (11c.), from Latin criminalis "pertaining to crime," from crimen (genitive criminis); see crime. Preserves the Latin -n-. Criminal law (or criminal justice) distinguished from civil in English at least since late 15c.
esprit (n.): 1590s, "liveliness, wit, vivacity," from Middle French esprit "spirit, mind," from Old French espirit "spirit, soul" (12c.), from Latin spiritus "spirit" (see spirit (n.)). For initial e-, see e-.

Esprit de corps, recorded from 1780 in English, preserves the usual French sense. French also has the excellent phrase esprit de l'escalier, literally "spirit of the staircase," defined in OED as, "a retort or remark that occurs to a person after the opportunity to make it has passed." It also has espirit fort, a "strong-minded" person, one independent of current prejudices, especially a freethinker in religion.
extreme (adj.): early 15c., "outermost, farthest;" also "utter, total, in greatest degree" (opposed to moderate), from Old French extreme (13c.), from Latin extremus "outermost, utmost, farthest, last; the last part; extremity, boundary; highest or greatest degree," superlative of exterus (see exterior). In English as in Latin, not always felt as a superlative, hence more extreme, most extreme (which were condemned by Johnson). Extreme unction preserves the otherwise extinct sense of "last, latest" (15c.).
fair (adj.): Old English fæger "pleasing to the sight (of persons and body features, also of objects, places, etc.); beautiful, handsome, attractive," of weather, "bright, clear, pleasant; not rainy," also in late Old English "morally good," from Proto-Germanic *fagraz (cognates: Old Saxon fagar, Old Norse fagr, Swedish fager, Old High German fagar "beautiful," Gothic fagrs "fit"), perhaps from PIE *pek- (1) "to make pretty" (cognates: Lithuanian puošiu "I decorate").

The meaning in reference to weather preserves the oldest sense "suitable, agreeable" (opposed to foul (adj.)). Of the main modern senses of the word, that of "light of complexion or color of hair and eyes, not dusky or sallow" (of persons) is from c. 1200, faire, contrasted to browne and reflecting tastes in beauty. From early 13c. as "according with propriety; according with justice," hence "equitable, impartial, just, free from bias" (mid-14c.).

Of wind, "not excessive; favorable for a ship's passage," from late 14c. Of handwriting from 1690s. From c. 1300 as "promising good fortune, auspicious." Also from c. 1300 as "above average, considerable, sizable." From 1860 as "comparatively good."

The sporting senses (fair ball, fair catch, etc.) began to appear in 1856. Fair play is from 1590s but not originally in sports. Fair-haired in the figurative sense of "darling, favorite" is from 1909. First record of fair-weather friends is from 1736 (in a letter from Pope published that year, written in 1730). The fair sex "women" is from 1660s, from the "beautiful" sense (fair as a noun meaning "a woman" is from early 15c.). Fair game "legitimate target" is from 1776, from hunting.
Others, who have not gone to such a height of audacious wickedness, have yet considered common prostitutes as fair game, which they might pursue without restraint. ["Advice from a Father to a Son, Just Entered into the Army and about to Go Abroad into Action," London, 1776]
fossil (n.): 1610s, "any thing dug up;" 1650s (adj.) "obtained by digging" (of coal, salt, etc.), from French fossile (16c.), from Latin fossilis "dug up," from fossus, past participle of fodere "to dig," from PIE root *bhedh- "to dig, pierce."

Restricted noun sense of "geological remains of a plant or animal" is from 1736 (the adjective in the sense "pertaining to fossils" is from 1660s); slang meaning "old person" first recorded 1859. Fossil fuel (1833) preserves the earlier, broader sense.
gang (n.): from Old English gang "a going, journey, way, passage," and Old Norse gangr "a group of men, a set," both from Proto-Germanic *gangaz (cognates: Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Danish, Dutch, Old High German, German gang, Old Norse gangr, Gothic gagg "act of going"), from PIE root *ghengh- "to step" (cognates: Sanskrit jangha "shank," Avestan zanga- "ankle," Lithuanian zengiu "I stride"). Thus not considered to be related to go.

The sense evolution is probably via meaning "a set of articles that usually are taken together in going" (mid-14c.), especially a set of tools used on the same job. By 1620s this had been extended in nautical speech to mean "a company of workmen," and by 1630s the word was being used, with disapproving overtones, for "any band of persons traveling together," then "a criminal gang or company" (gang of thieves, gang of roughs, etc.). By 1855 gang was being used in the sense "group of criminal or mischievous boys in a city." In American English, especially of slaves working on plantations (1724). Also formerly used of animal herds or flocks (17c.-19c.). Gangway preserves the original sense of the word, as does gangplank.
hard (adj.): Old English heard "solid and firm, not soft," also, "difficult to endure, carried on with great exertion," also, of persons, "severe, rigorous, harsh, cruel," from Proto-Germanic *hardu- (cognates: Old Saxon hard, Old Frisian herd, Dutch hard, Old Norse harðr "hard," Old High German harto "extremely, very," German hart, Gothic hardus "hard"), from PIE *kortu- (cognates: Greek kratos "strength," kratys "strong"), suffixed form of root *kar-/*ker- "hard."

Meaning "difficult to do" is from c. 1200. Of water, in reference to the presence of mineral salts, 1650s; of consonants, 1775. Hard of hearing preserves obsolete Middle English sense of "having difficulty in doing something." In the sense "strong, spiritous, fermented" from 1789 (as in hard cider, etc.), and this use probably is the origin of that in hard drugs (1955). Hard facts is from 1853; hard news in journalism is from 1918. Hard copy (as opposed to computer record) is from 1964; hard disk is from 1978; the computer hard drive is from 1983. Hard times "period of poverty" is from 1705. Hard money (1706) is specie, as opposed to paper. Hence 19c. U.S. hard (n.) "one who advocates the use of metallic money as the national currency" (1844). To play hard to get is from 1945. Hard rock as a pop music style recorded from 1967. To do something the hard way is from 1907.
horseradish (n.): 1590s, Cochlearia armoricia; the common name preserves the once-common figurative sense of horse as "strong, large, coarse" (as in in obsolete horse mushroom, horse parsley, Old English horsminte "horse mint," etc.); also see radish.
idle (adj.): Old English idel "empty, void; vain; worthless, useless; not employed," common West Germanic (cognates: Old Saxon idal, Old Frisian idel "empty, worthless," Old Dutch idil, Old High German ital, German eitel "vain, useless, mere, pure"), of unknown origin. Idle threats preserves original sense; meaning "lazy" is c. 1300.
immortelle (n.): "flower which preserves its shape and color after being dried," 1832, from French fem. of immortel "undying" (see immortal).
landwehr (n.): German military reserves, from German Landwehr, from Old High German lantweri, from lant "land" (see land (n.)) + weri "protection" (see weir).
lay (v.): Old English lecgan "to place on the ground (or other surface)," also "put down (often by striking)," from Proto-Germanic *lagjan (cognates: Old Saxon leggian, Old Norse leggja, Old Frisian ledza, Middle Dutch legghan, Dutch leggen, Old High German lecken, German legen, Gothic lagjan "to lay, put, place"), causative of lie (v.2). As a noun, from 1550s, "act of laying." Meaning "way in which something is laid" (as in lay of the land) first recorded 1819.

Meaning "have sex with" first recorded 1934, in U.S. slang, probably from sense of "deposit" (which was in Old English, as in lay an egg, lay a bet, etc.), perhaps reinforced by to lie with, a phrase frequently met in the Bible. The noun meaning "woman available for sexual intercourse" is attested from 1930, but there are suggestions of it in stage puns from as far back as 1767. To lay for (someone) "await a chance at revenge" is from late 15c.; lay low "stay inconspicuous" is from 1839. To lay (someone) low preserves the secondary Old English sense.
lease (v.): late 15c., "to take a lease," from Anglo-French lesser, Old French laissier "to let, leave" (see lease (n.). Related: Leased; leasing. Lessor, lessee in contract language preserves the Anglo-French form.
medicine (n.): c. 1200, "medical treatment, cure, remedy," also used figuratively, of spiritual remedies, from Old French medecine (Modern French médicine) "medicine, art of healing, cure, treatment, potion," from Latin medicina "the healing art, medicine; a remedy," also used figuratively, perhaps originally ars medicina "the medical art," from fem. of medicinus (adj.) "of a doctor," from medicus "a physician" (see medical); though OED finds evidence for this is wanting. Meaning "a medicinal potion or plaster" in English is mid-14c.

To take (one's) medicine "submit to something disagreeable" is first recorded 1865. North American Indian medicine-man "shaman" is first attested 1801, from American Indian adoption of the word medicine in sense of "magical influence." The U.S.-Canadian boundary they called Medicine Line (first attested 1910), because it conferred a kind of magic protection: punishment for crimes committed on one side of it could be avoided by crossing over to the other. Medicine show "traveling show meant to attract a crowd so patent medicine can be sold to them" is American English, 1938. Medicine ball "stuffed leather ball used for exercise" is from 1889.
It is called a "medicine ball" and it got that title from Prof. Roberts, now of Springfield, whose fame is widespread, and whose bright and peculiar dictionary of terms for his prescription department in physical culture is taught in every first-class conducted Y.M.C.A. gymnasium in America. Prof. Roberts calls it a "medicine ball" because playful exercise with it invigorates the body, promotes digestion, and restores and preserves one's health. ["Scientific American Supplement," March 16, 1889]
miser (n.): 1540s, "miserable person, wretch," from Latin miser (adj.) "unhappy, wretched, pitiable, in distress," of unknown origin. Original sense now obsolete; main modern meaning of "money-hoarding person" recorded 1560s, from presumed unhappiness of such people.

Besides general wretchedness, the Latin word connoted also "intense erotic love" (compare slang got it bad "deeply infatuated") and hence was a favorite word of Catullus. In Greek a miser was kyminopristes, literally "a cumin seed splitter." In Modern Greek, he might be called hekentabelones, literally "one who has sixty needles." The German word, filz, literally "felt," preserves the image of the felt slippers which the miser often wore in caricatures. Lettish mantrausis "miser" is literally "money-raker."
Neapolitan (n.): early 15c., "native or resident of Naples," literally "of Naples," from Latin Neapolitanus, from Neapolis (see Naples); it preserves in English the Greek name of the city. As an adjective from 1590s. As a type of ice cream, from 1871; originally meaning both "ice cream of three layers and flavors" and "ice cream made with eggs added to the cream before freezing." In early 18c., Neapolitan consolation meant "syphilis."
night (n.): Old English niht (West Saxon neaht, Anglian næht, neht) "night, darkness;" the vowel indicating that the modern word derives from oblique cases (genitive nihte, dative niht), from Proto-Germanic *nakht- (cognates: Old Saxon and Old High German naht, Old Frisian and Dutch nacht, German Nacht, Old Norse natt, Gothic nahts).

The Germanic words are from PIE *nekwt- "night" (cognates: Greek nuks "a night," Latin nox, Old Irish nochd, Sanskrit naktam "at night," Lithuanian naktis "night," Old Church Slavonic nosti, Russian noch', Welsh henoid "tonight"), according to Watkins, probably from a verbal root *neg- "to be dark, be night." For spelling with -gh- see fight.
The fact that the Aryans have a common name for night, but not for day (q.v.), is due to the fact that they reckoned by nights. [Weekley]
Compare German Weihnachten "Christmas." In early times, the day was held to begin at sunset, so Old English monanniht "Monday night" was the night before Monday, or what we would call Sunday night. The Greeks, by contrast, counted their days by mornings.

To work nights preserves the Old English genitive of time. Night shift is attested from 1710 in the sense of "garment worn by a woman at night" (see shift (n.1)); meaning "gang of workers employed after dark" is from 1839. Night soil "excrement" (1770) is so called because it was removed (from cesspools, etc.) after dark. Night train attested from 1838. Night life "habitual nocturnal carousing" attested from 1852.
nines (n.): in phrase to the nines "to perfection" (1787) first attested in Burns, apparently preserves the ancient notion of the perfection of the number as three times three (such as the nine Muses).
[T]he Book of St. Albans, in the sections on blasonry, lays great stress on the nines in which all perfect things (orders of angels, virtues, articles of chivalry, differences of coat armour, etc.) occur. [Weekley]
No one seems to consider that it might be a corruption and misdivision of to then anes, literally "for the one (purpose or occasion)," a similar construction to the one that yielded nonce (q.v.).
order (n.): early 13c., "body of persons living under a religious discipline," from Old French ordre "position, estate; rule, regulation; religious order" (11c.), from earlier ordene, from Latin ordinem (nominative ordo) "row, rank, series, arrangement," originally "a row of threads in a loom," from Italic root *ord- "to arrange, arrangement" (source of ordiri "to begin to weave;" compare primordial), of unknown origin.

Meaning "a rank in the (secular) community" is first recorded c. 1300; meaning "command, directive" is first recorded 1540s, from the notion of "to keep in order." Military and honorary orders grew our of the fraternities of Crusader knights. Business and commerce sense is attested from 1837. In natural history, as a classification of living things, it is first recorded 1760. Meaning "condition of a community which is under the rule of law" is from late 15c.

Phrase in order to (1650s) preserves etymological notion of "sequence." The word reflects a medieval notion: "a system of parts subject to certain uniform, established ranks or proportions," and was used of everything from architecture to angels. Old English expressed many of the same ideas with endebyrdnes. In short order "without delay" is from 1834, American English; order of battle is from 1769.