英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

vary: vary: [14] Latin varius meant ‘speckled, variegated, changeable’ (it gave English various [16], and may have been related to Latin vārus ‘bent, crooked, knock-kneed’, source of English prevaricate). It had a range of derivatives, which have given English variable [14], variance [14], variant [14], variegate [17], variety [16], variola ‘smallpox’ [18] (which retains the original notion of ‘speckling’), and vary.
=> prevaricate, variegate, variety, variola, various
bespeckle (v.): c. 1600, from be- + speckle. Related: Bespeckled; bespeckling.
bunting (n.2): lark-like bird, c. 1300, bountyng, of unknown origin. Perhaps from buntin "plump" (compare baby bunting, also Scots buntin "short and thick;" Welsh bontin "rump," and bontinog "big-assed"), or a double diminutive of French bon. Or it might be named in reference to speckled plumage and be from an unrecorded Old English word akin to German bunt "speckled," Dutch bont.
Cerberus: "watch-dog guardian of Hades," late 14c., Latinized form of Greek Kerberos, which is of unknown origin, according to Klein perhaps cognate with Sanskrit karbarah, sabalah "spotted, speckled;" Sabalah was the name of one of the two dogs of Yama.
cheetah (n.): 1704, from Hindi chita "leopard," from Sanskrit chitraka "hunting leopard, tiger," literally "speckled," from chitra-s "distinctively marked, variegated, many-colored, bright, clear" (from PIE *kit-ro-, from root *(s)kai- (1) "bright, shining;" see shine (v.)) + kayah "body," from PIE *kwei- "to build, make" (see poet).
musket (n.): "firearm for infantry" (later replaced by the rifle), 1580s, from Middle French mousquette, also the name of a kind of sparrow-hawk, diminutive of mosca "a fly," from Latin musca (see midge). The hawk so called either for its size or because it looks speckled when in flight. Early firearms often were given names of beasts (compare dragoon, also falcon, a kind of cannon mentioned by Hakluyt), and the equivalent word in Italian was used to mean "an arrow for a crossbow." The French word was borrowed earlier into English (early 15c.) in its literal sense of "sparrow-hawk."
perch (n.2): "spiny-finned freshwater fish," c. 1300, from Old French perche, from Latin perca "perch," from Greek perke "a perch," from PIE root *perk- "speckled, spotted" (cognates: Sanskrit prsnih "speckled, variegated;" Greek perknos "dark-colored," perkazein "to become dark"), typically in names of animals.
speckle (v.): mid-15c. (implied in speckled), probably related to Old English specca "small spot, speck" (see speck) or from a related Middle Dutch or Middle High German word. Related: Speckled; speckling. The noun is first attested mid-15c.
variola (n.): "smallpox," 1771, medical Latin diminutive of Latin varius "changing, various," in this case "speckled, spotted" (see vary).
wall-eyed (adj.): c. 1300, wawil-eghed, wolden-eiged, "having very light-colored eyes," also "having parti-colored eyes," from Old Norse vagl-eygr "having speckled eyes," from vagl "speck in the eye; beam, upper cross-beam," from Proto-Germanic *walgaz. Meaning "having one or both eyes turned out" (and thus showing much white) is first recorded 1580s.
guttate: "Resembling drops; having drop-like markings", Early 19th century: from Latin guttatus 'speckled', from gutta 'a drop'.