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form [form 词源字典]: form: [13] Form comes via Old French forme from Latin forma ‘shape, contour’, a word whose origins have never been satisfactorily explained. Its semantic similarity to Greek morphé ‘form, shape’ (source of English morphology [19]) is striking, and has led some etymologists to suggest that the Latin word may be an alteration of the Greek one, presumably by metathesis (the reversal of sounds, in this case /m/ and /f/).

Another possibility, however, is that it comes from ferīre ‘strike’, from the notion of an impression, image, or shape being created by beating. Of the word’s wide diversity of modern senses, ‘school class’, a 16th-century introduction, was inspired by the late Latin usage forma prima, forma secunda, etc for different orders of clergy, while ‘bench’ may go back to the Old French expression s’asseoir en forme ‘sit in a row’.

Amongst forma’s derivatives that have found their way into English are formal [14], format [19], formula [17] (from a Latin diminutive form), and uniform.
=> formal, format, formula, inform, uniform[form etymology, form origin, 英语词源]
pew: pew: [14] Historically, pew and podium are the same word. Both go back ultimately to Greek pódion ‘small foot, base’, a diminutive form of poús ‘foot’ (a distant relative of English foot). This passed into Latin as podium ‘raised place, balcony’, acquired directly by English as podium [18]. Its plural podia passed into English via Old French puie ‘raised seat, balcony’ as pew.

This was originally used for a sort of raised enclosure in a church, court, etc. rather like a pulpit or dock; then for an enclosure in a church set aside for particular people to sit in (now known as a box pew); and finally (in the 17th century) for a church bench.
=> foot, pedal, podium
president: president: [14] A president is etymologically simply someone who ‘presides’. The word comes via Old French president from Latin praesidēns, the present participle of praesidēre ‘superintend’ (it literally meant ‘sit in front of’ – it was formed from the prefix prae- ‘before’ and sedēre ‘sit’ – and it has given English preside [17]). Another Latin derivative was the noun praesidium ‘garrison, fortification’, which English has acquired via Russian prezídium as presidium [20].
=> preside, presidium, sit
author (n.): c. 1300, autor "father," from Old French auctor, acteor "author, originator, creator, instigator (12c., Modern French auteur), from Latin auctorem (nominative auctor) "enlarger, founder, master, leader," literally "one who causes to grow," agent noun from auctus, past participle of augere "to increase" (see augment). Meaning "one who sets forth written statements" is from late 14c. The -t- changed to -th- 16c. on mistaken assumption of Greek origin.
...[W]riting means revealing onesself to excess .... This is why one can never be alone enough when one writes, why even night is not night enough. ... I have often thought that the best mode of life for me would be to sit in the innermost room of a spacious locked cellar with my writing things and a lamp. Food would be brought and always put down far away from my room, outside the cellar's outermost door. The walk to my food, in my dressing gown, through the vaulted cellars, would be my only exercise. I would then return to my table, eat slowly and with deliberation, then start writing again at once. And how I would write! From what depths I would drag it up! [Franz Kafka]
bank (v.): "to act as a banker," 1727, from bank (n.1). As "to deposit in a bank" from 1833. Figurative sense of "to rely on" (i.e. "to put money on") is from 1884, U.S. colloquial. Meaning "to ascend," as of an incline, is from 1892. In aeronautics, from 1911. Related: Banked; banking.
Bundestag (n.): German federal council, 1879, from German Bundestag, from genitive of Bund "league, confederacy, association" (related to English band (n.2) and bind (v.)) + tag, literally "day;" as a verb, tagen, meaning "to sit in conference" (see day; also compare adjourn). Hence also Bundesrat, from rat, rath "council" (see read (v.)).
centrist (n.): 1872, from French centriste, from centre (see center (n.)). Originally in English with reference to French politics; general application to other political situations is from 1890.
Where M. St. Hilaire is seen to most advantage, however, is when quietly nursing one of that weak-kneed congregation who sit in the middle of the House, and call themselves "Centrists." A French Centrist is--exceptis eoccipiendis--a man who has never been able to make up his mind, nor is likely to. ["Men of the Third Republic," London, 1873]
Greenwich: town on the south bank of the Thames adjoining London, Old English Gronewic (918), Grenewic (964), literally "green harbor" or "green trading place." The Royal Observatory there was founded June 22, 1675, by King Charles II specifically to solve the problem of finding longitude while at sea. In October 1884, 41 delegates from 25 nations met in Washington, D.C., for the International Meridian Conference. They decided to adopt a single world meridian, passing through the principal Transit Instrument at the observatory at Greenwich, as the basis of calculation for all longitude and a worldwide 24-hour clock. The Greenwich motion passed 22-1; San Domingo voted against it; France and Brazil abstained. The Greenwich Village quarter of New York City has been symbolic of "American bohemia" at least since 1903.
preside (v.): 1610s, from French présider "preside over, govern" (15c.), from Latin praesidere "stand guard; superintend," literally "sit in front of," from prae "before" (see pre-) + sedere "to sit" (see sedentary).
seat (v.): 1570s, "to be in a certain position" (implied in seated), from seat (n.2). Of diseases, in the body, from 1610s (hence deep-seated). Meaning "to cause to sit in a seat" is from 1610s, from seat (n.1). Related: Seated; seating.
sit-in: 1936, in reference to session musicians; 1937, in reference to union action; 1941, in reference to student protests. From the verbal phrase; see sit (v.) + in (adv.). To sit in is attested from 1868 in the sense "attend, be present;" from 1919 specifically as "attend as an observer."
try (v.): c. 1300, "examine judiciously, discover by evaluation, test;" mid-14c., "sit in judgment of," also "attempt to do," from Anglo-French trier (13c.), from Old French trier "to pick out, cull" (12c.), from Gallo-Roman *triare, of unknown origin. The ground sense is "separate out (the good) by examination." Sense of "subject to some strain" (of patience, endurance, etc.) is recorded from 1530s. To try on "test the fit of a garment" is from 1690s; to try (something) on for size in the figurative sense is recorded by 1946. Try and instead of try to is recorded from 1680s.