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eldorado [eldorado 词源字典]: eldorado: [16] Eldorado was the name given by the Spanish to a country or city which they believed to exist in the heart of the Amazonian jungle, rich in precious metals and gems. It means ‘the gilded one’: el is the Spanish definite article, and dorado is the past participle of the Spanish verb dorar ‘gild’, a descendant of Latin dēaurāre. This was a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix dē- and aurum ‘gold’. The first known use of the word in English is in the title of Sir Walter Raleigh’s book Discoverie of Guiana, with a relation of the Great and Golden City of Manoa (which the Spaniards call El Dorado) 1596.
[eldorado etymology, eldorado origin, 英语词源]
eglantine (n.): "sweet briar," c. 1400, from French églantine, from Old French aiglent "dog rose," from Vulgar Latin *aquilentus "rich in prickles," from Latin aculeus "spine, prickle," diminutive of acus "needle" (see acuity).
Euboea: large island of Greece north of Attica and Boeotia, literally "rich in cattle," from eu- "good, well" (see eu-) + bous "ox, cow" (see cow (n.)). Related: Euboean.
fabulous (adj.): early 15c., "mythical, legendary," from Latin fabulosus "celebrated in fable;" also "rich in myths," from fabula "story, tale" (see fable (n.)). Meaning "pertaining to fable" is from 1550s. Sense of "incredible" first recorded c. 1600, hence "enormous, immense, amazing," which was trivialized by 1950s to "marvelous, terrific." Slang shortening fab first recorded 1957; popularized in reference to The Beatles, c. 1963.
Fabulous (often contracted to fab(s)) and fantastic are also in that long list of words which boys and girls use for a time to express high commendation and then get tired of, such as, to go no farther back than the present century, topping, spiffing, ripping, wizard, super, posh, smashing. [Gower's 1965 revision of Fowler's "Modern English Usage"]
Related: Fabulously; fabulousness.
friend (v.): in the Facebook sense, attested from 2005, from the noun. Friend occasionally has been used as a verb in English since c. 1200 ("to be friends"), though the more usual verb for "join in friendship, act as a friend" is befriend. Related: Friended; friending. Old English had freonsped "an abundance of friends" (see speed (n.)); freondleast "want of friends;" freondspedig "rich in friends."
Jamaica: West Indian island, from Taino (Arawakan) xaymaca, said to mean "rich in springs." Columbus when he found it in 1494 named it Santiago, but this did not stick. Related: Jamaican. The Jamaica in New York probably is a Delaware (Algonquian) word meaning "beaver pond" altered by influence of the island name.
vaudeville (n.): 1735, "a country song," especially one for the stage, from French vaudeville (16c.), alteration (by influence of ville "town") of Middle French vaudevire, said to be from (chanson du) Vau de Vire "(song of the) valley of Vire," in the Calvados region of Normandy, first applied to the popular satirical songs of Olivier Basselin, a 15c. poet who lived in Vire. The alternative explanation is that vaudevire derives from Middle French dialectal vauder "to go" + virer "to turn." From the popularity of the songs in France grew a form of theatrical entertainment based on parodies of popular opera and drama, interspersed with songs.
The Théatre du Vaudeville is rich in parodies, which follow rapidly upon every new piece given at the Opera, or at the Théatre Français. Their parody upon Hamlet is too ludicrous for description, but irresistibly laughable; and the elegaut light ballet of La Colombe Retrouvée [The Dove found again], I saw parodied at the Vaudeville as "La Maison Retrouvée" [The House found again], with a breadth of farce quite beyond the genius of Sadler's Wells. Some of the acting here, particularly that of the men, is exquisite; and the orchestra like all the orchestras in Paris is full and excellent. ["France in 1816," by Lady Morgan]
As a sort of popular stage variety entertainment show suitable for families, from c. 1881 in U.S., displaced by movies after c. 1914, considered dead from 1932.
eutrophic: "(Of a lake or other body of water) rich in nutrients and so supporting a dense plant population, the decomposition of which kills animal life by depriving it of oxygen", Early 18th century (denoting a medicine promoting good nutrition): from Greek eutrophia, from eu 'well' + trephein 'nourish'. The current sense dates from the 1930s.
oligosaprobic: "Of, designating, or inhabiting an aquatic environment that is rich in dissolved oxygen and (relatively) free from decayed organic matter", 1920s. From oligo- + saprobic, after German Oligosaprob.