quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- Endymion



[Endymion 词源字典] - beautiful youth, son of Jupiter and Calyce, beloved by Moon-goddess Selene, from Greek, perhaps literally "diver, plunger," from endyein "to enter into, sink into, plunge, dive," which was used in reference to the sun or stars setting into the sea. On this theory, he originally was a solar deity, a personification of the setting sun.[Endymion etymology, Endymion origin, 英语词源]
- sun-wake (n.)




- rays of the setting sun reflected on water, 1891, from sun (n.) + wake (n.). Sailors' tradition says a narrow wake means good weather the following day and bad weather follows a broad wake.
- west




- Old English west (adv.) "in or toward the west, in a westerly direction," from Proto-Germanic *west- (cognates: Old Norse vestr, Old Frisian, Middle Dutch, Dutch west, Old High German -west, only in compounds, German west), from PIE *wes-, reduced form of *wes-pero- "evening, night" (cognates: Greek hesperos, Latin vesper "evening, west;" see vesper). Compare also High German dialectal abend "west," literally "evening." French ouest, Spanish oeste are from English.
As an adjective from late 14c.; as a noun from late 12c. West used in geopolitical sense from World War I (Britain, France, Italy, as opposed to Germany and Austria-Hungary); as contrast to Communist Russia (later to the Soviet bloc) it is first recorded in 1918. West Coast of the U.S. is from 1850; West End of London is from 1776; West Side of Manhattan is from, 1858. The U.S. West "western states and territories" originally (1790s) meant those just west of the Alleghenies; the sense gradually extended as the country grew. To go west "die" was "common during the Great War" [OED, 2nd ed.], perhaps from Celtic imagery or from the notion of the setting sun. In U.S. use, in a literal sense "emigrate to the western states or territories," from 1830.