英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

amphibious [amphibious 词源字典]: amphibious: [17] The Greek prefix amphimeant ‘both, on both sides’ (hence an amphitheatre [14]: Greek and Roman theatres were semicircular, so two joined together, completely surrounding the arena, formed an amphitheatre). Combination with bios ‘life’ (as in biology) produced the Greek adjective amphibios, literally ‘leading a double life’. From the beginning of its career as an English word it was used in a very wide, general sense of ‘combining two completely distinct or opposite conditions or qualities’ (Joseph Addison, for example, used it as an 18th-century equivalent of modern unisex), but that meaning has now almost entirely given way to the word’s zoological application.

At first, amphibious meant broadly ‘living on both land and water’, and so was applied by some scientists to, for example, seals; but around 1819 the zoologist William Macleay proposed the more precise application, since generally accepted, to frogs, newts, and other members of the class Amphibia whose larvae have gills but whose adults breathe with lungs.
=> biology[amphibious etymology, amphibious origin, 英语词源]
lens: lens: [17] The Latin word for a ‘lentil’ was lēns; and when 17th-century scientists wanted a term for a round biconvex (lentil-shaped) piece of glass, they needed to look no further than lens. English lentil [13] itself comes via Old French from Latin lenticula, a diminutive form of lēns.
=> lentil
tsunami: tsunami: [19] Japanese tsunami means literally ‘harbour waves’, a reference to the devastating effect Pacific tsunamis have had on Japanese coastal communities. For most of the 20th century the term was largely restricted to the specialized vocabulary of oceanographers and earth scientists, lay people preferring the more familiar tidal wave (a misnomer: strictly speaking, a tidal wave is one caused by the movement of the tide, whereas a tsunami is specifically generated by an undersea earthquake), but the disastrous inundation of southern Asian coasts at the end of 2004 lodged it firmly in the language’s everyday lexicon.
alpha (n.): c. 1300, from Latin alpha, from Greek alpha, from Hebrew or Phoenician aleph (see aleph). The Greeks added -a because Greek words cannot end in most consonants. Sense of "beginning of anything" is from late 14c., often paired with omega (last letter in the Greek alphabet) as "the end." Sense of "first in a sequence" is from 1620s. Alpha male was in use by c. 1960 among scientists studying animals; applied to humans in society from c. 1992.
ballpark (n.): "baseball stadium," 1899, from (base)ball + park (n.). Figurative sense of "acceptable range of approximation" first recorded 1954, originally in the jargon of atomic weapons scientists, perhaps originally referring to area within which a missile was expected to return to earth; the reference is to broad but reasonably predictable dimensions.
The result, according to the author's estimate, is a stockpile equivalent to one billion tons of TNT. Assuming this estimate is "in the ball park," clearly there is valid reason for urging candor on the part of our government. [Ralph E. Lapp, "Atomic Candor," in "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists," October 1954]
eo-: word-forming element, used from mid-19c. (first in Eocene) in compound words formed by earth-scientists, and meaning "characterized by the earliest appearance of," from Greek eos "dawn, morning, daybreak," also the name of the goddess of the morning, from PIE *aus- (1) "to shine," especially of the dawn (see aurora). Piltdown Man, before exposed as a fraud, was known as Eoanthropus.
extended (adj.): mid-15c., "occupying time, made longer," past participle adjective from extend (v.). Meaning "stretched out" in space is from 1550s; extended-play (adj.), in reference to recordings (especially 7-inch, 45 rpm vinyl records) is from 1953; in reference to pinball games by 1943. Extended family (n.) in sociology recorded from 1942.
A challenging question was asked RCA engineers and scientists in 1951. How can we increase the playing time of a 7-inch record, without using a larger disc? Sixteen months of research gave the answer, "45 EP"--Extended Play. [Radio Corporation of America magazine advertisement, May 1953]
extrovert (n.): 1916, extravert (spelled with -o- after 1918, by influence of introvert), from German Extravert, from extra "outside" (see extra-) + Latin vertere "to turn" (see versus). Used (with introvert) in English by doctors and scientists in various literal senses since 1600s, but popularized in a psychological sense early 20c. by Carl Jung. Related: Extroverted.
megabucks (n.): 1946, originally "one million dollars," from mega- in the scientific sense + slang buck (n.) "dollar." A jocular coinage of U.S. scientists working on expensive atomic research.
rocket (n.2): type of self-propelling projectile, 1610s, from Italian rocchetto "a rocket," literally "a bobbin," diminutive of rocca "a distaff," so called because of cylindrical shape. The Italian word probably is from a Germanic source (compare Old High German rocko "distaff," Old Norse rokkr), from Proto-Germanic *rukkon-, from PIE root *rug- "fabric, spun yarn."

Originally "fireworks rocket," meaning "device propelled by a rocket engine" first recorded 1919; rocket-ship in the modern sense first attested February 1927 ("Popular Science"); earlier as a type of naval warship firing projectiles. Rocket science in the figurative sense of "difficult, complex process or topic" is attested by 1985. Rocket scientist is from 1952.
That such a feat is considered within the range of possibility is evidenced by the activities of scientists in Europe as well as in America. Two of them, Prof. Herman Oberth and Dr. Franz Hoeff, of Vienna, are constructing a five-ton rocket ship in which they hope to reach the moon in two days. ["Popular Science," Feb. 1927]
sequoia (n.): large American coniferous tree, 1857, from Modern Latin tree genus name given 1847 by Austrian botanist Stephan Endlicher (1804-1849), originally to a different tree, the coast redwood, apparently in honor of Sequoya (a.k.a. George Guess, 1760-1843), Cherokee man who invented a system of writing for his people's language, whose name is from Cherokee (Iroquoian) Sikwayi, a word of unknown etymology.

Endlicher was a specialist in conifers, and he also was a philologist. But he never gave an etymology of this name and a search of his papers discovered no mention of Sequoya or the Cherokee writing system, and the connection is an assumption that some botanists have challenged, though no better candidate for a source has yet been found.

The giant sequoia was unseen by Europeans until 1833 and unknown to scientists until 1852. In May 1855, a pair of American botanists named it Taxodium giganteum, but that name was deemed inappropriate for several scientific reasons. Meanwhile, English botanist John Lindley, who had never been to California, in 1853 named it Wellingtonia in honor of the Duke of Wellington. "As high as Wellington towers above his contemporaries, as high towers this California tree above the forest surrounding it. Therefore, it shall bear for all time to come the name Wellingtonia gigantea." This sat poorly with the Americans, and much ink was spilled until a French botanist provided the solution by transferring Endlicher's name. In Britain still popularly called Wellingtonia.
spermaceti (n.): "waxy, fatty stuff in the head of certain whales," late 15c., from Medieval Latin sperma ceti "sperm of a whale" (it has when fresh something of the appearance of sperm), from Latin sperma "seed, semen" (see sperm) + ceti, genitive of cetus "whale, large sea animal" (see Cetacea). The substance in olden times was credited with medicinal properties, as well as being used for candle oil.
Use ... Sperma Cete ana with redd Wyne when ye wax old. [Sir George Ripley, "The Compound of Alchemy," 1471]
Scientists still are not sure exactly what it does. Sperm whale, short for spermaceti whale, is from 1830.
tantalum (n.): metallic element, 1809, Modern Latin, named 1802 by its discoverer, Swedish chemist Anders Ekberg (1767-1813), for Tantalus, according to Ekberg partly because of its inability to absorb acid recalled Tantalus' punishment in the afterlife (see tantalize). Sometimes it is said to be so called from the difficulty scientists faced in obtaining a pure specimen.
technocracy (n.): 1919, coined by W.H. Smyth as a name for a new system of government by technical experts, from techno- + -cracy.
William Henry Smyth, a distinguished engineer of Berkeley, California, wrote at the close of the war a series of thoughtful papers for the New York magazine "Industrial Management", on the subject of "Technocracy". His thesis was the need of a Supreme National Council of Scientists to advise us how best to live, and how most efficiently to realize our individual aspirations and our national purpose. ["The Bookman," March 1922]
vitamin (n.): 1920, originally vitamine (1912) coined by Polish biochemist Casimir Funk (1884-1967), from Latin vita "life" (see vital) + amine, because they were thought to contain amino acids. The terminal -e formally was stripped off when scientists learned the true nature of the substance; -in was acceptable because it was used for neutral substances of undefined composition. The lettering system of nomenclature (Vitamin A, B, C, etc.) was introduced at the same time (1920).