英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

bonfire: bonfire: [14] A bonfire was originally a fire in which bones were burned. References to such (presumably rather evil-smelling) fires, which were large open air affairs, continue down to the 18th century, but latterly they have a distinctly antiquarian air, as if such things were a thing of the past. By the later 15th century the word was already passing to the more general modern meaning ‘large outdoor fire’, either celebratory (as in Bonfire Night, 5 November) or for destroying refuse.
=> bone
Apollyon: destroying angel of the bottomless pit (a name sometimes given to the Devil), late 14c., from present participle of Greek apollyein "to destroy utterly" (from apo- "from, away from" + olluein "to destroy"); a translation of Hebrew Abaddon (q.v.).
destroy (v.): early 13c., from Old French destruire (12c., Modern French détruire) "destroy, ravage, lay waste," from Vulgar Latin *destrugere (source of Italian distruggere), refashioned (influenced by destructus), from Latin destruere "tear down, demolish," literally "un-build," from de- "un-, down" (see de-) + struere "to pile, build" (see structure (n.)). Related: Destroyed; destroying.
dissolution (n.): late 14c., "separation into parts," also "frivolity, moral laxness, dissolute living," from Old French dissolution (12c.) and directly from Latin dissolutionem (nominative dissolutio) "a dissolving, destroying, interruption, dissolution," noun of action from past participle stem of dissolvere (see dissolve).
dys-: word-forming element meaning "bad, ill, abnormal," from Greek dys-, inseparable prefix "destroying the good sense of a word or increasing its bad sense" [Liddell & Scott], "bad, hard, unlucky," from PIE root (and prefix) *dus- "bad, ill, evil" (cognates: Sanskrit dus-, Old Persian duš- "ill," Old English to-, Old High German zur-, Gothic tuz- "un-"), a derivative of the root *deu- (1) "to lack, be wanting" (source of Greek dein "to lack, want").

Very productive in ancient Greek, where it could attach even to proper names (such as dysparis "unhappy Paris"); its entries take up nine columns in Liddell and Scott. Among the words formed from it were some English might covet: dysouristos "fatally favorable, driven by a too-favorable wind;" dysadelphos "unhappy in one's brothers;" dysagres "unlucky in fishing;" dysantiblepos "hard to look in the face."
excision (n.): late 15c., from Middle French excision (14c.) and directly from Latin excisionem (nominative excisio) "a destroying," noun of action from past participle stem of excidere (see excise (v.)).
interception (n.): early 15c., "action of intercepting" (the flow of a bodily fluid), from Latin interceptionem (nominative interceptio) "a seizing, taking away," noun of action from intercipere (see intercept). Specific football/rugby sense is attested by 1906. Meaning "action of closing in on and destroying an enemy aircraft, etc." is recorded from 1941.
mutilation (n.): 1520s, in Scots law, "act of disabling or wounding a limb," from Middle French mutilation and directly from Late Latin mutilationem (nominative mutilatio), noun of action from past participle stem of Latin mutilare "to cut or lop off," from mutilus "maimed," which perhaps is cognate with Greek mytilos "hornless." Of things, "a destroying of unity by damaging or removing a part," from 1630s.
ragtime (n.): also rag-time, "syncopated, jazzy piano music," 1897, perhaps from rag "dance ball" (1895, American English dialect), or a shortening of ragged, in reference to the syncopated melody. Rag (n.) "ragtime dance tune" is from 1899.
If rag-time was called tempo di raga or rague-temps it might win honor more speedily. ... What the derivation of the word is[,] I have not the faintest idea. The negroes call their clog-dancing "ragging" and the dance a "rag." [Rupert Hughes, Boston "Musical Record," April 1900]

Conceive the futility of trying to reduce the intangible ragness to a strict system of misbegotten grace notes and untimely rests! In attempting to perfect, and simplify, art is destroying the unhampered spirit in which consists the whole beauty of rag-time music. The very essence of rag-time is that it shall lack all art, depending for the spirit to be infused more upon the performer than upon the composer himself. ["Yale Literary Magazine," June, 1899]

Her first "rag-time" was "The Bully," in which she made great sport by bringing a little coloured boy on the stage with her. Miss [May] Irwin says the way to learn to sing "rag-time" is to catch a negro and study him. [Lewis C. Strang, "Famous Actresses of the Day in America," Boston, 1899]
sabotage (n.): 1907 (from 1903 as a French word in English), from French sabotage, from saboter "to sabotage, bungle," literally "walk noisily," from sabot "wooden shoe" (13c.), altered (by association with Old French bot "boot") from Middle French savate "old shoe," from an unidentified source that also produced similar words in Old Provençal, Portuguese, Spanish (zapata), Italian (ciabatta), Arabic (sabbat), and Basque (zapata).

In French, and at first in English, the sense of "deliberately and maliciously destroying property" originally was in reference to labor disputes, but the oft-repeated story (as old as the record of the word in English) that the modern meaning derives from strikers' supposed tactic of throwing shoes into machinery is not supported by the etymology. Likely it was not meant as a literal image; the word was used in French in a variety of "bungling" senses, such as "to play a piece of music badly." This, too, was the explanation given in some early usages.
SABOTAGE [chapter heading] The title we have prefixed seems to mean "scamping work." It is a device which, we are told, has been adopted by certain French workpeople as a substitute for striking. The workman, in other words, purposes to remain on and to do his work badly, so as to annoy his employer's customers and cause loss to his employer. ["The Liberty Review," January 1907]

You may believe that sabotage is murder, and so forth, but it is not so at all. Sabotage means giving back to the bosses what they give to us. Sabotage consists in going slow with the process of production when the bosses go slow with the same process in regard to wages. [Arturo M. Giovannitti, quoted in report of the Sagamore Sociological Conference, June 1907]

In English, "malicious mischief" would appear to be the nearest explicit definition of "sabotage," which is so much more expressive as to be likely of adoption into all languages spoken by nations suffering from this new force in industry and morals. Sabotage has a flavor which is unmistakable even to persons knowing little slang and no French .... ["Century Magazine," November 1910]
weevil (n.): Old English wifel "small beetle," from Proto-Germanic *webilaz (cognates: Old Saxon wibil, Old High German wibil, German Wiebel "beetle, chafer," Old Norse tordyfill "dung beetle"), cognate with Lithuanian vabalas "beetle," from PIE root *webh- "to weave," also "to move quickly" (see weave (v.)). The sense gradually narrowed by 15c. to a particular kind of beetle that, in larval or adult stages, bores into plants, often destroying them.
ovicidal (2): "Of, relating to, or effective in the killing or destroying of eggs or ova, especially those of insects, mites, or other pests or parasites", Mid 19th cent. From ovi- + -cidal. Compare later ovicide.
peremption: " Law . The action of quashing a suit, legal process, etc., after the expiry of a fixed period of time; the expiry of a right, etc., after a fixed period of time. Now US", Late 15th cent.; earliest use found in English Historical Review. From post-classical Latin peremption-, peremptio action or effect of killing or destroying from classical Latin perēmpt-, past participial stem of perimere to destroy, kill + -iō.
absumption: "The process of gradually destroying something, or of wasting away", Early 17th cent. From classical Latin absūmptiōn-, absūmptiō action of using up or spending (2nd or 3rd cent. a.d.), in post-classical Latin also destruction, wasting away from absūmpt-, past participial stem of absūmere + -iō.
ovicide (3): "The killing or destroying of eggs or ova", 1980s. From ovi- + -cide. Compare earlier ovicide.