英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

absent [absent 词源字典]: absent: [14] Absent is based ultimately on the Latin verb ‘to be’, esse. To this was added the prefix ab- ‘away’, giving Latin abesse ‘be away’; and the present participial stem of abesse was absent-. Hence, via Old French, the adjective absent and the noun absence. It has been conjectured, incidentally, that the present stem used for Latin esse was a descendant of Indo-European *sontos ‘truth’, from which English sooth comes.
[absent etymology, absent origin, 英语词源]
arsenal: arsenal: [16] The word arsenal has a complicated history, stretching back through Italian to Arabic. The Arabic original was dāras- sinā‘ah, literally ‘house of the manufacture’. This seems to have been borrowed into Venetian Italian, somehow losing its initial d, as arzaná, and been applied specifically to the large naval dockyard in Venice (which in the 15th century was the leading naval power in the Mediterranean).

The dockyard is known to this day as the Arzenale, showing the subsequent addition of the -al ending. English acquired the word either from Italian or from French arsenal, and at first used it only for dockyards (‘making the Arsenal at Athens, able to receive 1000 ships’, Philemon Holland’s translation of Pliny’s Natural history 1601); but by the end of the 16th century it was coming into more general use as a ‘military storehouse’.

The English soccer club Arsenal gets its name from its original home in Woolwich, south London, where there used to be a British government arsenal.
arsenic: arsenic: [14] The term arsenic was originally applied to the lemon-yellow mineral arsenic trisulphide, and its history reveals the reason: for its appears to be based ultimately on Persian zar ‘gold’ (related forms include Sanskrit hari ‘yellowish’, Greek khlōros ‘greenish-yellow’, and English yellow itself). The derivative zarnīk was borrowed into Arabic as zernīkh, which, as usual with Arabic words, was perceived by foreign listeners as constituting an indivisible unit with its definite article al ‘the’ – hence azzernīkh, literally ‘the arsenic trisulphide’.

This was borrowed into Greek, where the substance’s supposed beneficial effects on virility led, through association with Greek árrēn ‘male, virile’, to the new forms arrenikón and arsenikón, source of Latin arsenicum and, through Old French, of English arsenic. The original English application was still to arsenic trisulphide (orpiment was its other current name), and it is not until the early 17th century that we find the term used for white arsenic or arsenic trioxide.

The element arsenic itself was isolated and so named at the start of the 19th century.
=> chlorine, yellow
assent: assent: see sense
consent: consent: [13] The notion underlying ‘giving one’s consent’ is ‘feeling together’ – that is, ‘agreeing’, and hence ‘giving approval or permission’. The word comes from Old French consente, a derivative of the verb consentir. This was a descendant of Latin consentīre ‘agree’, a compound verb formed from the prefix com- ‘together’ and sentīre ‘feel’ (source of English sense, sentence, sentiment, etc). Consensus, originally the past participle of Latin consentīre, was borrowed into English in the 19th century.
=> consensus, sense, sentence, sentiment
dissent: dissent: see sense
essence: essence: [14] Essence and its derivative essential [14] are the English descendants of the Latin verb ‘to be’, esse (which came ultimately from the Indo-European base *es- ‘be’, source also of English is). From it was formed the abstract noun essentia ‘being, existence’, acquired by English through Old French essence. In the adjective essential, the sense ‘absolutely necessary’ developed via ‘inherent’ and ‘indispensable’ in the 16th century.
=> is
passenger: passenger: [14] Originally a passenger was a passager – someone who goes on a ‘passage’, makes a journey. The word was borrowed from Old French passager, at first an adjective meaning ‘passing’, which was derived from passage. The n began to appear in the mid-15th century, a product of the same phonetic process as produced the n of harbinger and messenger.
=> pass
present: present: [13] The Latin adjective praesēns ‘at hand, now here’ originated as the present participle of praeesse ‘be before one’, a compound verb formed from the prefix prae- ‘in front’ and esse ‘be’. English acquired it via Old French present, the same route as was taken by its derivative praesentia on its way to English presence [14]. The use of the related noun present for ‘gift’ originated in Old French in the concept of ‘bringing something into someone’s presence’, and hence of giving it to them. The verb present [13] comes from the Latin derivative praesentāre.
quintessence: quintessence: [15] Just as modern particle physicists search for the ultimate constituent of matter, the common denominator of all known forces, so medieval alchemists tried to find a fifth primary essence, which together with earth, air, fire, and water formed the substance of all heaven and earth. This fifth essence, higher and more ethereal than the other four, was postulated by Aristotle, who called it aithēr ‘either’.

Another Greek term for it was pemptē ousíā ‘fifth essence’, which was translated into medieval Latin as quinta essentia – whence, via French, English quintessence. The metaphorical sense ‘most perfect or characteristic embodiment’ began to emerge in the second half of the 16th century. Other English words based on quintus ‘fifth’, the ordinal form of Latin quinque ‘five’, include quintet [19] and quintuple [16].
represent: represent: [14] English borrowed represent from Latin repraesentāre, which meant ‘present again, bring back’, hence ‘show’. It was a compound verb formed from the prefix re- ‘back, again’ and praesentāre, source of English present. The notion of ‘standing in the place of another’ is a post-classical development.
=> present
resent: resent: [17] Etymologically, to resent something is to ‘feel it strongly’. The word was borrowed from early modern French resentir, a compound verb formed from the intensive prefix re- and sentir ‘feel’ (a relative of English sense, sentiment, etc). It had a range of meanings in English in the 17th and 18th centuries, including its original ‘feel strongly’ and also simply ‘experience a particular emotion’ (‘God resents an infinite satisfaction in the accomplishment of his own will’, Robert Boyle, Treatise of Seraphic Love 1648), but gradually they all gave way to ‘feel aggrieved at’.
=> sensation, sense, sentiment
sarsen: sarsen: see saracen
sassenach: sassenach: [18] Sassenach, the Gaelic name for the English, etymologically means ‘Saxon’. Its ultimate source is probably Saxonēs, the Latin version of Seaxe, which was the Old English term for the Saxon people. The Celts of Scotland took this over as Sasunnoch, the Irish as Sasanach, and the Welsh as Seisnig. The English form of the word appears to have been established by Sir Walter Scott in the early 19th century.
=> saxon
senate: senate: [13] The Roman senate was etymologically an assembly of ‘elders’. Latin senātus was a derivative of senex ‘old’, which has also given English senile, senior, sir, etc. English acquired the word via Old French senat. Senator [13] comes from the Latin derivative senātor.
=> senile, senior, sir
send: send: [OE] English shares send with the other Germanic languages – German senden, Dutch zenden, Swedish sönda, and Danish sende. These all go back to a prehistoric ancestor *santhjan, which originated as a causative derivative of a base denoting ‘go, journey’ – so etymologically send means ‘cause to go’.
senior: senior: [14] Senior was borrowed direct from Latin senior, which was the comparative form of senex ‘old’. This in turn was descended from the Indo-European base *sen-, which also produced Welsh hen, Gothic sineigs, Lithuanian senas, and Armenian hin, all meaning ‘old’. English is also indebted to senex for senate and senile [17], while senior has contributed sir and the whole range of Romance terms of address, including monsieur, sennor, and signor.
=> senate, senior, sir
sennight: sennight: see fortnight
señor: señor: see sir
sense: sense: [14] Sense comes ultimately from Latin sentīre ‘feel’, a prodigious contributor to English vocabulary (it is also the source of assent [13], consent, dissent [16], resent, sentence, sentient [17], and sentiment). From it was derived the noun sēnsus ‘faculty of perceiving’, which was borrowed by English as sense. And sēnsus in turn spawned its own derivatives, which have given English sensation [17], sensible [14], sensitive [14], sensual [15], and sensuous [17].
=> assent, consent, dissent, resent, sensible, sentence, sentiment
sentence: sentence: [13] ‘Complete grammatical unit’ is a comparatively recent meaning of sentence, which only emerged in English in the 15th century. Its Latin ancestor sententia originally meant ‘feeling’, for it was a derivative of sentīre ‘feel’ (source also of English sense, sentiment, etc). It subsequently broadened out to ‘opinion, judgment’, which was the starting point for the use of English sentence for ‘judicial declaration of punishment’. Sententia also came to denote ‘meaning’, and hence ‘meaning expressed in words’ and ‘maxim’.

The former lies behind the grammatical sense of English sentence, while the latter survives in the derived adjective sententious [15].
=> sense, sententious
sentiment: sentiment: [17] Sentiment comes via Old French sentiment from medieval Latin sentīmentum ‘feeling’, a derivative of Latin sentīre ‘feel’ (from which English gets sensation, sense, sentence, etc). It originally meant ‘feeling’ and ‘opinion’ (the former now defunct, the latter surviving with a somewhat old-fashioned air in such expressions as ‘My sentiments exactly!’). The sense ‘(excessively) refined feeling’ did not emerge until the mid-18th century.
=> sense
sentry: sentry: [17] Sentry is probably short for the now obsolete centrinell ‘sentry’. This first appeared in the 16th century as a variant of sentinel [16], which came via French sentinelle from Italian sentinella. It is not altogether clear where the Italian noun came from, but it may well have been derived from the verb sentire ‘perceive, watch’, a descendant of Latin sentīre ‘feel’ (from which English gets sense, sentence, sentiment, etc).
=> sentinel
absence (n.): late 14c., from Old French absence (14c.), from Latin absentia, noun of state from absentem (nominative absens), present participle of abesse "be away from, be absent," from ab- "away" (see ab-) + esse "to be" (see essence).
Absence makes the heart grow fonder
[Thomas Haynes Bayly (1797-1839) "Isle of Beauty"]
absent (adj.): late 14c., from Middle French absent (Old French ausent), from Latin absentem (nominative absens), present participle of abesse "be away from, be absent" (see absence). Related: Absently; absentness.
absent (v.): "to keep away" (from), c. 1400, from Middle French absenter, from Late Latin absentare "cause to be away," from Latin absentem (see absent (adj.)). Related: Absented; absenting.
absent (prep.): "in the absence of," 1944, principally from U.S. legal use, from absent (v.).
absentee (n.): 1530s, from absent (v.) + -ee.
absenteeism (n.): 1829, from absentee + -ism; originally in reference to landlords, especially in Ireland (absentee in this sense is in Johnson's dictionary); reference to pupils or workers is from 1922.
absentminded (adj.): also absent-minded, "preoccupied," 1810, from absent + minded. Related: Absentmindedly; absentmindedness.
arisen: past participle of arise (q.v.).
arsenal (n.): c. 1500, "dockyard, dock with naval stores," from Italian arzenale, from Arabic dar as-sina'ah "workshop," literally "house of manufacture," from dar "house" + sina'ah "art, craft, skill," from sana'a "he made."

Applied by the Venetians to a large wharf in their city, which was the earliest reference of the English word. Sense of "public place for making or storing weapons and ammunition" is from 1570s. The London football club (1886) was named for the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, where the original players worked.
arsenic (n.): late 14c., from Old French arsenic, from Latin arsenicum, from late Greek arsenikon "arsenic" (Dioscorides; Aristotle has it as sandarake), adapted from Syriac (al) zarniqa "arsenic," from Middle Persian zarnik "gold-colored" (arsenic trisulphide has a lemon-yellow color), from Old Iranian *zarna- "golden," from PIE root *ghel- (2) "to shine," with derivatives referring to bright materials and gold (see glass).

The form of the Greek word is folk etymology, literally "masculine," from arsen "male, strong, virile" (compare arseno-koites "lying with men" in New Testament) supposedly in reference to the powerful properties of the substance. The mineral (as opposed to the element) is properly orpiment, from Latin auri pigmentum, so called because it was used to make golden dyes.
assent (v.): c. 1300, from Old French assentir "agree; get used to" (12c.), from Latin assentare "to agree with," frequentative of assentire, from ad- "to" (see ad-) + sentire "to feel, think" (see sense (n.)). Related: Assented; assenting.
assent (n.): early 14c., "consent, approval," from Old French assent, a back-formation from assentir (see assent (v.)).
baseness (n.): 1550s, from base (adj.) + -ness.
boysenberry (n.): 1935, developed early 1900s by California botanist Rudolf Boysen (1895-1950) and named for him.
Bunsen burner: 1879, named for Prof. Robert Wilhelm Bunsen (1811-1899) of Heidelberg, who invented it in 1855. He also was co-inventor of the spectroscope.
chosen (n.): "the elect, the select," especially those selected by God, c. 1200, from past participle of choose (v.). Chosen people for "the Jews" is recorded from 1530s.
closeness (n.): mid-15c., "confined condition," from close (adj.) + -ness. Meaning "stuffiness" (of air) is from 1590s; meaning "nearness" is from 1716.
coarsen (v.): 1805, from coarse + -en (2). Related: Coarsened; coarsening.
common sense (n.): 14c., originally the power of uniting mentally the impressions conveyed by the five physical senses, thus "ordinary understanding, without which one is foolish or insane" (Latin sensus communis, Greek koine aisthesis); meaning "good sense" is from 1726. Also, as an adjective, commonsense.
commonsensical (adj.): 1860, from common sense, with ending as in nonsensical, etc.
conciseness (n.): "expression of much in few words," 1650s, from concise + -ness.
[Conciseness] is the English word familiar to the ordinary man: concision is the LITERARY CRITIC'S WORD, more recent in English, used by writers under French influence & often requiring the reader to stop & think whether he knows its meaning. [Fowler]
consensual (adj.): 1754, "having to do with consent," from stem of Latin consensus (see consensus) + -al (1). Meaning "by consent" is attested from 1800.
consensus (n.): 1854 as a term in physiology; 1861 of persons; from Latin consensus "agreement, accord," past participle of consentire (see consent). There is an isolated instance of the word from 1633.
consent (v.): early 13c., from Old French consentir (12c.) "agree, comply," from Latin consentire "feel together," from com- "with" (see com-) + sentire "to feel" (see sense (n.)). "Feeling together," hence, "agreeing, giving permission," apparently a sense evolution that took place in French before the word reached English. Related: Consented; consenting.
consent (n.): c. 1300, "approval," also "agreement in sentiment, harmony," from Old French consente, from consentir (see consent (v.)). Age of consent is attested from 1809.
delicatessen (n.): 1889, American English, from German delikatessen, plural of delikatesse "a delicacy, fine food," from French délicatesse (1560s), from délicat "fine," from Latin delicatus (see delicate).
desensitize (v.): 1904; see de- "do the opposite of" + sensitize. Originally of photography development; psychological sense is first recorded 1935. Related: Desensitized; desensitizing.